It turns out that today is Robert Heinlein's 100th birthday! I spent many a night in my adolescence staying up late and reading his books. Fans apparently went crazy and planned a big gala celebration to mark the event.Although I did enjoy his adolescent SF, along with Starship Troopers, Friday and Job: A Comedy of Justice when I was young, I think the book I appreciate the most and the one I still really like is The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.
Some of his more famous books I found kind of boring, like Stranger in a Strange Land and some even just annoyed me. I remember getting about 3/4 of the way through I Will Fear no Evil (which is about a rich old man who has his brain transplanted into the body of his hot, young secretary) and throwing the damned book across the room because I couldn't take it any more. I mean, I'm not above a good appreciation for the lascivious and bawdy, but come on, enough is enough!
I've always liked many of his themes, like rebellion against society, sexual liberation, anti-authoritarianism, self-determination and experimentation with group marriage, notwithstanding his recurring fixation with older men as mentors / father figures for young, attractive and adventurous women, but overall I think he's best as a young person's SF writer. I can't imagine my youth without him, but few of his works still make me want to pick them up and read them again.
The picture at the top will be recognized by fans as Michael Whelan's cover art for Friday, which was the first Heinlein book I read when I was about 14 and which I'm surprised hasn't been made into a movie yet. For almost 25 years I've had a deep crush on the woman in that painting and I can't imagine the main character looking like anyone else. Of course, in the book itself the character of Friday is described as being dark skinned...
Whelan deserves his own blog entry, along with Boris Vallejo, Frank Frazetta and Neal Adams who painted the covers of the Tarzan series back in the '70s for their effect on my appreciation for Fantasy and SF. (See here for some great super hero art from Boris Vallejo and his wife Julie Bell.)
To close, because Heinlein was a great source for quotes, here's one of my favorites:
- "A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."
- — From Time Enough for Love
1 comment:
I really, really like that quote!
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