tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4269925294673930988.post5541523388772336801..comments2023-11-22T09:17:05.368-08:00Comments on TAD's Back-Up Plan: In search of Damon KnightTADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13853931230081777310noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4269925294673930988.post-88570796789965969462009-12-12T02:52:15.378-08:002009-12-12T02:52:15.378-08:00B: So I got U 2 read a review of a book of 50-yr-o...B: So I got U 2 read a review of a book of 50-yr-old science fiction criticism U weren't really intrested in? Not bad. 4 my next trick....<br />I'll B getting back in2 the music reviews more (in fact I've already posted another new 1).... But there R more books stacked-up here (a few of them R even music-related) that I'll B reporting on soon....<br /><br />R: Don't get me wrong about Heinlein. I know modern SF wouldn't have happened without him. I think THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS is 1 of the best SF novels ever -- a revolution story set on the Moon, it's funny, action-filled, involving, gripping, rollicking, & the characters R GREAT -- it's everything NE1 who's ever raved about how good Heinlein is was talking about -- & more. & the WAY it's written is VERY diffrent, so much so that after reading it U'll B thinking in "Loonie" 4 a coupla days....<br />But I didn't like RAH's short stories much when I was 13, & I doubt I could get in2 them now. Even then I thot they were clunky, skeletal, awkward, kinda dull. But mayB I was reading the wrong stuff. "Requiem," "The Roads Must Roll," "By His Bootstraps," even the gimmicky time-travel-paradox story "All You Zombies" -- none of it worked 2 well 4 me. As 4 the novels, I tried 2 read BETWEEN PLANETS (1 of his juveniles) at the same age & couldn't get in2 it. But that might just have bn me not wanting 2 do the work. (HAVE SPACE SUIT... is sposta B 1 of his best novels ever, I'll try it if I C a copy.)<br />Later (around 15 or 16) I read STARSHIP TROOPERS & wasn't bothered by the supposedly war-hawk outlook -- I doubt it woulda occurred 2 me 2 B bothered by it back then. I finished the book, but I barely remember it.<br />STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND I remember well as a long-winded bore. Couldn't get in2 TIME ENOUGH FOR LOVE, either, tho the sections published seprately as the "Notebooks of Lazarus Long" R hysterical! I have no reservations about HARSH MISTRESS, tho -- great stuff. & RAH's book of essays & letters, GRUMBLES FROM THE GRAVE, is Xcellent!<br />So I guess I didn't like Heinlein much, but I don't think he was speaking 2 me. & I think his early "Can Do!" competent-man attitude reflected the attitudes of American men who helped pull this country outta the Great Depression. There were just other SF writers from the same period who I Njoyed more. (I'm not much of a fan of Asimov, either -- tho "Nightfall" & "The Last Question" R brilliant, & the middle section of THE GODS THEMSELVES is pretty wild.)<br />This all may Cm a little weird, cos a couple '70s writers I like a lot -- John Varley & Spider Robinson -- have both said they got a lot of their approach & confidence from studying Heinlein....<br />Sorry 2 get so wordy. U wanna talk about SF some more....? My tastes run more 2 Roger Zelazny, George R.R. Martin, Robert Silverberg, Harlan Ellison, Frederik Pohl, Samuel R. Delany, James Tiptree Jr., John Varley, William Gibson, Kim Stanley Robinson, Bruce Sterling, John Brunner, Ian McDonald, some Joanna Russ, Edward Bryant, some Ray Bradbury, James Blish, Frank Herbert, Spider Robinson, Neal Stephenson, Pat Cadigan, some Ursula K. LeGuin, some Connie Willis.... Let me know if U wanna compare notes....-- TAD.TADhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13853931230081777310noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4269925294673930988.post-1960659983040142342009-12-11T08:14:14.048-08:002009-12-11T08:14:14.048-08:00Tad
If by "early Heinlein" you mean th...Tad <br /><br />If by "early Heinlein" you mean the 40's, then it sounds like the only work of his you care for are his juveniles, written in the '50's.<br /><br />Which is cool: <i>Citizen of the Galaxy</i> is probably my favorite Heinlein novel, and I've read <i>Tunnel in the Sky</i> a couple times as well. And now that I'm thinking, <i>Have Space Suit Will Travel</i>, despite the silly title, depicts one of the most populous galaxies this side of David Brin.<br /><br />But to call early Heinlein conservative and straight-laced misses the point I think in much the way that Panshin's criticism misses the point. <br /><br />Perhaps Heinlein's early stuff is not pan-global, pan-sexual, pan-theistic, multidisciplinary, multicolored, or multicultural. And perhaps he does use his narrative voice as a bully pulpit from which to dispense his political views, those "opinions-as-facts" which Panshin talks about.<br /><br />But, so what? The only sin that conservatism could possibly commit would be to bore the reader, and of course, Heinlein is eminently readable, and is very rarely boring. <br /><br />I think as a reader, Heinlein's conservative views or more accurately, his vision of a conservative America, are no more bothersome to me than, say, Haldeman's brand of hippie liberalism as expressed in <i>The Forever War</i>.<br /><br />You end up criticizing Heinlein for being Heinlein, which isn't fair criticism at all . . . .rastronomicalshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16475251545087211066noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4269925294673930988.post-17162233848724108042009-12-11T05:10:59.601-08:002009-12-11T05:10:59.601-08:00That was a nice comprehensive and delicate review,...That was a nice comprehensive and delicate review, Tad,kinda the first review of a book I read on your blog ... Though I am not much into books though,but I found it worth reading ! And yea, Hope you come up with some music reviews too, coz atleast I would be much interested in your music writings ! Rock on...bearockrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00820751260419572484noreply@blogger.com