Robert Heinlein, considered by many to be the "Dean of Science Fiction Writers," was born on this day in 1907.Among craftsmen in the field of science fiction are those who set a high standard for science plausibility, while others set a high standard for literary quality.
IMHO, Heinlein did both.
Heinlein wrote both short and novel-length fiction for books and periodicals, screenplays, and scripts for radio and television. Me? ... I preferred his novels, beginning with my first 'taste' of Heinlein, "Tunnel in the Sky."
It's hard to imagine a single writer whose individual works have been embraced my more divergent groups than Heinlein ..... whether it was "Stranger In a Strange Land" by the counter-culture and emergent New-Agers, or "Starship Troopers" by the military and the neo-conservatives, or "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress" by the libertarians.
There are some clues to how or why that can be, by learning more of the man behind the words. Wikipedia has a good biography about Heinlein with A LOT of links for further study, and there is also a website maintained by The Heinlein Society, a non-profit group founded by Virginia Heinlein on behalf of her late husband, to "pay forward" the legacy of Robert A. Heinlein to future generations of "Heinlein's Children."
Or you can read his books ..... what better way to grok a writer?
No comments:
Post a Comment