Pappas@YALE.ARPA (10/04/84)
From: Andrea Pappas <Pappas@YALE.ARPA> try tiptree instead. -------
rob@osiris.UUCP (Robert St. Amant) (05/15/85)
I have a lot of respect for Heinlein's writing, but I have some comments that I wonder if anyone else might agree with. I love the first half of Stranger in a Strange Land, and parts of the Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Friday, and so on. But when RAH writes about line marriages and free sex and so on, it seems self-conscious and strained. His "old-fashioned" treatment of women also bothers me. For example, in SIASL, Jubal constantly calls his female assistants girls, but when Digby refers to Jill as the little lady, it sets her off. One of Jill's comments: "Nine times out of ten when a girl gets raped it's partly her fault." In the Puppet Masters our hero's fiance is as tough and free spirited as they come, until they get married and she becomes his chattel (exaggeration.) Even Friday bows down before male authority in the end, unless I'm remembering badly. I haven't read anything more recent. Have there been changes? BTW, even with RAH's faults, it's hard to find sf better than his. Rob St. Amant