amigo2@ihuxq.UUCP (John Hobson) (02/01/84)
More flame on Heinlein. Someone, I think it was George Orwell, said that H. G. Wells was "a natural storyteller who has sold his birthright for a pot of message." I think that the same is true of Heinlein. One of the best examples of this is Glory Road, of which the first two-thirds is a rollicking adventure story (I think that it is a bit heavy handed in the sex department, but that is one of Heinleins major failings generally), but in the last third he gets on his high horse and starts preaching his socio-political message and gets impossible to read. Starship Troopers is another good example of Heinlein's writing merely to preach. Johnny Rico (the hero--Heinlein does not have protagonists, he has heros. See Lazarus Long) is a mere cardboard cutout, not a character, and any novel that has has verbatim lectures from courses in "History and Moral Philosophy" makes me think that the author has other motives than just telling a story. I first read it in college when I took an SF course, and the professor, knowing that I had served a tour as an infantry officer in Viet Nam, asked me what I thought of ST. I said, knowing nothing of Heinlein's background, "This author has an intimate knowledge of the military, but he has never served in combat. No one who has ever been in combat could have possibly written this novel. It glorifies war." It turned out that I was perfectly correct, Heinlein graduated from Annapolis in the late 1920s, and has invalided out of the Navy in the mid-30s with tuberculosis. He spent WWII in an R&D job in Philadelphia (for you Heinlein fans out there, I am not trying to disparage him, just pointing out his lack of combat experience, which is important in judging any author who writes war novels). For an antidote to ST, read Joe Haldeman's The Forever War, which I am told was written in answer to ST. I like Gene Wolfe. The Book of the New Sun reminds me very much of James Branch Cabell. Has anyone else noticed this? John Hobson AT&T Bell Labs Naperville, IL (312) 979-7293 ihnp4!ihuxq!amigo2
tbray@mprvaxa.UUCP (Tim Bray) (02/07/84)
x <-- USENET insecticide I'm always happy to read someone flaming Heinlein. I hate Heinlein so much that I hate myself when I occasionally am trapped in the grip of his once-formidable storytelling ability. Heinlein is a classic example of great talent foundering under the weight of totally corrupt and indefensible ideology. The Richard Wagner of SF. So how can someone with the sense to hate Heinlein also put down Gene Wolfe?!?! If anyone is reading this and doesn't know about Gene Wolfe they should run, not walk, to the nearest bookstore and pick up The Fifth Head of Cerberus, Gene Wolfe's Book of Days, and The Devil In a Forest. Tim Bray ...decvax!microsoft!ubc-vision!tbray