> Thanks for the information from the book.
You're quite welcome. I will post more after I finish it if my opinions
or impressions change... ;-)
The more I read, the less interesting it is in the context
of feministsf. It's one of the few Heinlein novels that has
essentially zero female presence.
> The only thing that I know about Heinlein is that he wrote "Stranger in a
> Strange Land." I believe that the book was banned or under heavy controversy
> for awhile, and was just reissued several years back. DO you know anything
> about this book? Just curious.
Yeah. A little. I haven't read it in years, but I'll try to tell you
a bit about it. It's got more women in it, and although they all seem
to be waiting on the men in one way or another, several of them are very
strong characters. Actually, thinking about it, that does seem to be
kind of an underlying truth. I am having trouble thinking of an
woman in Heinlein's work who is not a kind of satellite around a man.
Hazel Stone comes pretty close, I suppose, and "Mama" Maureen. If you
look at the development of feminism in science fiction as a two-stage
process--the first developing strong female characters and the second
letting them be independent from the strong male characters--Heinlein
didn't venture much past the first. Of course, as has been pointed out
on this list in the past, there were more forward-looking writers
before, during, and (of course ;-) after the time that Heinlein was
writing. On the other hand, he was far more popular and mainstream
than they.
The book was banned (it amazes me what has been banned, but this
one is kind of understandable--not that I agree with banning books,
but I understand the motivations). There is the notion of cannabalism
(kind of--after one's death, one's friends eat one's body). There
is also rather free sex, if I remember right. The book introduced
the word "grok" into the SF vocabulary along with "I am only an
egg." The story is about a human raised by Martians and then
re-introduced to Earth (American) society. Heinlein liked Kipling
a lot. :-) After Stranger came out, it really clicked for a LOT
of people. There was a definite kind of religious reaction to it,
apparently, and Heinlein started getting a lot of "wierdo" visitors
who saw him as a kind of prophet. The book didn't have that kind
of effect on me. I liked the first third or half of it and thought
that it went downhill when the main character gets a religious
movement going (promoting essentially Martian religion)... It does
poke fun at consumer religion (for lack of a better term), and that
seems to resonate with some of the modern "religious" organizations.
That actually shows up in a couple of his other works and I was reminded
of this general theme when reading Grass and looking at the church
that Tepper has in there. I'm sure I've seen it elsewhere, too.
_Grumbles from the Grave_ is an interesting read if you have any
interest in how Heinlein saw some of his own work and if you are
interested in some of the interactions between him and his editors
(usually through his agent). _Grumbles_ is a collection of letters
and some commentary gathered by Virginia Heinlein after his death.
I don't know anything about either of his wives, but I do wonder
sometimes... ;-)
Pax,
-allen
--
Allen Briggs - end killing - briggs@macbsd.com
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