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in: 1907 births, 1988 deaths

Robert A. Heinlein

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Robert Anson Heinlein ( Butler (Missouri) , July 7 1907 - Carmel-by-the-Sea ( California ), May 8 1988 ) was one of the most influential American science fiction writers . Along with Isaac Asimov and Arthur Clarke , he belonged to the "big three" of science fiction from the 20th century .

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 [ hide ] *1 Biography

Biography [ edit ][]

Heinlein grew up in Kansas City , Missouri, where he underwent the influence of the so-called Bible Belt , the devout Protestant southern region of the U.S.. Later he put himself strongly against the social conventions that prevailed here and became an advocate of religious and sexual freedom . Was his great love, besides writing and reading science fiction, the navy .

[1][2]Heinlein in 1929 as a naval officer

He completed officer training at the military academy and went into the 20s serve as a naval officer on various ships in the Pacific including the first aircraft carrier of the U.S. Navy. Unfortunately, in his lungs developed tuberculosis and was also found to be quite sensitive Heinlein seasickness ; in 1934 he was forced to leave where he was an active duty lieutenant had brought. He also continued after his discharge a strong supporter of military values ​​as leadership and loyalty.

In 1929, Heinlein married his first wife but divorced after a year. Then he married a second time and divorced in 1947. In 1948 he married his last wife, Virginia "Ginny", with whom he remained married until his death. Her strong character was often a model for many heroines in Heinlein's stories.

[3][4]Heinlein and Ginny in 1980

After his resignation from the Navy he held several short-lived jobs like working with real estate, mining and in politics he was interested.A few times did Heinlein for election to public office. In 1939 he published his first story that immediately became popular. Heinlein was quickly recognized as a good and innovative science-fiction writer, and since he could live his stories. After 1970, Heinlein began to quail with his health seriously and several times he spent there just living off eg in acute peritonitis . Even with his lungs and heart, he got more and more problems. Between years, often requiring recovery periods Heinlein was still able to write many stories but finally died in 1988. Posthumous some stories were still published by his widow. [1]

Topics in Heinlein's book [ edit ][]

In his books, his nostalgia came to and respect for the military life, the person strong leader and loyalty to "the cause" always forward.The former American values ​​of " frontier "and the" wild west "and the character of the independent" self-made "man who does not need the state and even distrust, comes in almost all Heinlein's stories. His heroes (and heroines) are usually macho-like figures of the type of John Wayne who, despite opposition from devious villains or inscrutable (government) bureaucracies , save the situation or else go down fighting heroically. In 1959 Heinlein published Starship Troopers which a militaristic society is described in which eg only veterans have the right to vote. Some [2] accused Heinlein following this story (and also because Heinlein at the same time stand against the criticism of "left" opponents of President Eisenhower on the atomic bomb held when controlled trials) even fascist sympathies, though that may seem excessive . Anyway Heinlein had the freedom of the individual and his personal responsibility are paramount, and would have none of compulsory social security imposed by the government and law, tax increases and extensive government involvement in citizens goes with it. The characters in his stories carry out this vision regularly. He himself regarded therefore as a " libertarian with a stubborn conservative morality , "as he once told his friend and fellow science fiction writer Alfred Bester said.

Heinlein suggested alongside the philosophical idea of pantheistic solipsism , or the world as a myth . This idea combines the idea of a truth-in-all with the idea that reality coincides with our ideas about this. In Heinlein's view, this means that the whole of myths and fictional characters that is created by an author somewhere in the reality of the overarching multiverse a parallel universe forms. This parallel universe can correspond to both other parallel universes like our own reality. In other words, each internally consistent set of fictional universe in a story, without contradictions, must in an infinite universe, by definition, something real. In Heinlein's latest stories like The number of the beast , and To sail beyond the sunset , he goes into this and it Heinlein meet many characters together even on a kind of interdimensional conference 'real and fictional heroes.

Influence of Heinlein [ edit ][]

His book Stranger in a strange land belongs to the most influential and controversial science fiction books ever written. The book is essentially a messiah story. The main character grew up on Mars , and when he emigrated to Earth, inspires his wayward lifestyle people on Earth so that there is a cult around him arises. The cult is very similar to the hippie cult which occurred in the second half of the sixties developed in the western world. It seems that at the time the book among American youth an underground acquired status. To what extent the book contributed to the hippie culture in general has been the subject of speculation.Singer Billy Joel mentions the book in his song "We Did not Start the Fire", also known as a protest song can be seen.

Another book by Heinlein, Starship Troopers is also controversial to mention. The book presents individual bravery and civic center and introduces a society in which only people who have volunteered to participate in a period of social service have the right to vote, against the background of a conflict of humanity based on freedom against aliens that are organized in a communist way. The eponymous film by Paul Verhoeven turns the book in such a large extent that of the original message remains nothing and the whole becomes a 'satire' on a militaristic America.

Another notable book of Job: A Comedy of Justice (1984), in which Heinlein the fundamentalist Christianity of the American so-called Bible Belt takes on the heel.

Generally can be Heinlein said that his work is laced with socially critical themes.

Heinlein's books have been translated for the most part in Dutch.

Bibliography [ edit ][]

Some books in Dutch [ edit ][]

Early Heinlein books [ edit ][]

  • For Us, The Living: A Comedy of Customs (1939)
  • Methuselah's Children (1941)
  • Beyond This Horizon (1942)
  • Sixth Column aka The Day After Tomorrow (1949)
  • The Puppet Masters (1951, filmed under the same title )
  • Double Star (1956) (Hugo Award, 1956)
  • The Door into Summer (1957)
  • Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) (Hugo Award, 1962)
  • Glory Road (1963)
  • Farnham's Freehold (1965)

Books for a young audience [ edit ][]

  • Rocketship Galileo (1947)
  • Space Cadet (1948)
  • Red Planet (1949)
  • Farmer in the Sky (1950) (Retro Hugo Award, 1951)
  • Between Planets (1951)
  • The Rolling Stones (1952)
  • Starman Jones (1953)
  • The Star Beast (1954)
  • Tunnel in the Sky (1955)
  • Time for the Stars (1956)
  • Citizen of the Galaxy (1957)
  • Have Space Suit-Will Travel (1958)
  • Starship Troopers (1959) (Hugo Award, 1960)
  • Podkayne of Mars (1963)

Late Heinlein books [ edit ][]

  • I Will Fear No Evil (1970)
  • Time Enough For Love (1973)
  • The Number of the Beast (1980)
  • Friday (1982)
  • Job: A Comedy of Justice (1984)
  • The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (1985)
  • To Sail Beyond the Sunset (1987)

"Future History" short stories [ edit ][]

  • Life-Line (1939)
  • Misfit (1939)
  • The Roads Must Roll (1940)
  • Requiem (1940)
  • If This Goes On ... (1940)
  • Coventry (1940)
  • Blowups Happen (1940)
  • Universe (1941)
  • Methuselah's Children (1941)
  • Logic of Empire (1941)
  • Space Jockey (1947)
  • It's Great to Be Back! (1947)
  • The Green Hills of Earth (1947)
  • Ordeal in Space (1948)
  • The Long Watch (1948) (en: The long wait )
  • Gentlemen, Be Seated (1948)
  • The Black Pits of Luna (1948)
  • Delilah and the Space Rigger (1949)
  • The Man Who Sold the Moon (Retro Hugo Award, 1951)

Short Stories [ Edit ][]

  • Waldo (1940)
  • They (1941)
  • "And He Built a Crooked House-" (1941)
  • By His Bootstraps (1941) (en: The time gate )
  • We Also Walk Dogs (1941)
  • Lost Legacy (1941)
  • When Else (1941)
  • The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag (1942)
  • Magic, Inc.. (1942)
  • Jerry Was a Man ​​(1947)
  • Our Fair City (1948)
  • Gulf (1949)
  • The Menace From Earth (1957)
  • The Man Who Traveled in Elephants (1957)
  • "All You Zombies" (1959)
  • Searchlight (1962)

Books with short stories [ edit ][]

  • The Man Who Sold the Moon (1950)
  • Waldo & Magic, Inc.. (1950)
  • The Green Hills of Earth (1951)
  • Assignment in Eternity (1953)
  • Revolt in in 2100 (the 1953rd)
  • The Robert Heinlein Omnibus (1958)
  • The Menace from Earth (1959)
  • The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag (1959)
  • Orphans of the Sky (1963)
  • Three by Heinlein (1965)
  • A Robert Heinlein Omnibus (1966)
  • The Past Through Tomorrow (1967)
  • The Best of Robert A. Heinlein (1973)
  • Expanded Universe (1980)
  • A Heinlein Trio (1980)
  • The Fantasies of Robert A. Heinlein (1999)

Non-fiction [ edit ][]

  • Grumbles from the Grave (1989)
  • Take Back Your Government: A Practical Handbook for the Private Citizen (1992)
  • Tramp Royale (1992)

Major awards [ edit ][]

Hugo Award

  • Double Star (1956) - novel
  • Starship Troopers (1960) - novel
  • Stranger in a Strange Land (1962) - novel
  • The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (1967) - novel
  • Farmer in the Sky (2001) - novel (Retro Hugo)
  • The Man Who Sold the Moon (2001) - novella (Retro Hugo)

Nebula Grand Master Award (1975)

Locus Award

  • Job: A Comedy of Justice (1985) - fantasy novel
  • Grumbles from the Grave (1990) - nonfiction
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