Robert A. Heinlein: A real-life Forrest Gump

Tor Blogs ^ | August 11, 2010 | MITCH WAGNER

[SevenofNine]

I think safe to say you could find anything on Amazon.com Bender

[bert]

I do not have a closed mind. Your preaching is offensive to me

[Bender2]

My apology, I should have seen there were many, many repeats on the webpage before I posted it—

[Bender2]

Re: Incest was a continuing theme for LL (RAH alter-ego). Recommend you do as I have done and leave this author 30-years in the past. Heinlein is a good historical study and this book would probably interest me. But I’d stay away from Heinlein’s kind of thinking as long and as far as possible. Just a suggestion.

Gadzooks... bert, let RAH solve this with the following quote of his: The correct way to punctuate a sentence that starts: “Of course it is none of my business, but —” is to place a period after the word “but.” Don't use excessive force in supplying such a moron with a period. Cutting his throat is only a momentary pleasure and is bound to get you talked about.

BTW I was not and have not been comfortable with RAH's use of incest in his Lazarus Long books following Methuselah's Children, but in the fictional world he conjures up, it makes a kind of sense for his characters.

[VermiciousKnid]

LOL Bendy. Nope, he didn’t mention the snow cone. Had he asked me, though, I would have fetched him one lickety-split!

That sweet little girl grew up to be...well...Mom. A mom who can, in fact, shoot pretty well, but I haven’t had cause to use my ability in an action-packed situation in a really long time. (I DID have to use it once, though, about 25 years ago. The same action with the same weapon today would make me a felon here in NY.)

<3
VK

PS: Look at those Spock bangs, willya? I must have done that to myself. At least they were straight...

[GOPJ]

Cool - I knew there was a reason I liked Heinlein - read all his stuff when I was a kid...

[Bender2]

Re; Look at those Spock bangs... willya? I must have done that to myself. At least they were straight...

I find your bangs... fascinating--

Gadzooks, Spock! Stop horning in... on my flirting!

[Sherman Logan]

Heinlein was a huge influence on me. Probably behind only Tolkien.

But I figured out a long time ago that RAH had some really odd places in his mind where I didn’t care to follow.

Luckily the best of his writing is only lightly tainted. He didn’t really get weird till his last years, and those works aren’t all that good anyway.

His best works, like Starship Troopers and The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, are truly profound. Much more than just stories.

[Ransomed]

Here’s something I found a while ago, a list from a 1968 Galaxy mag of sci-fi authors for and against the Vietnam war. You might have to zoom to read it properly. I would take the pro authors over the antis on this one as far as which side I would want to read. Heinlein is pro, by the way.

http://www.natsmusic.net/articles_galaxy_magazine_viet_nam_war.htm

Freegards, thanks for all the pings on FR

[Bender2]

Re: Sherman Logan comment "But I figured out a long time ago that RAH had some really odd places in his mind where I didn’t care to follow."

Forgive, my boy, Bend... I couldn't get him to do the normal sniffing greeting either--

Forgive me, Sherman... I just couldn't help myself!

[GOPsterinMA]

“Lena Dunham”

I refuse to call that a woman or female.
Fugly shemale, maybe.

[DNME]

The cited Heinlein quote — “What are the facts? ...” — is from his book “Time Enough for Love.” The central figure in the story is a man who ... um ... never got around to dying, and lived a ridiculously long life, name of Lazarus Long.

Two chapters in the book are titled “Intermission, Excerpts from the Notebooks of Lazarus Long” and are collections of sayings. Some of the quotes are favorites of mine. (I don’t have the book in front of me, so my apologies for minor wording glitches.) To wit:

“Get off your first shot quick. This upsets him long enough to make your second shot perfect.”

“Your enemy is never a villain in his own eyes. Keep this in mind. It may offer you a way to make him your friend, and if not you can kill him without hate, and quickly.”

“Always place clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark.”

“Rub her feet.”

And many, many more.

[narses]

Nice find, thanks!

[Bender2]

From http://www.natsmusic.net/articles_galaxy_magazine_viet_nam_war.htm

...

[DNME]

Sorry ... can’t stop.

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”

“Don’t handicap your children by making their lives easy.”

“Everything in excess! To enjoy the flavor of life, take big bites. Moderation is for monks.”

“People who go broke in a big way never miss any meals. It is the poor jerk who is shy a half slug who must tighten his belt.”

[Resettozero]

Thanks for taking the time to respond to me. Preaching? Not really. Offensive? Obviously. Please try to keep an open mind about these kinds of posts, though, since this is a conservatives-oriented website.

[Resettozero]

Heinlein was a huge influence on me. Probably behind only Tolkien.

Me too. In those days, I would rather read a Heinlein book that eat. In front of Heinlein, for me, was E. R. Eddison with P. D. Ouspensky also. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis came behind.

It took many decades and the Grace of God to get my mind free from all the stuff I read in my late teens and throughout my twenties. Words have power.

[narses]

My experience mirrors yours.

[Billthedrill]

RH started out a little to the left of Left - quite a few bright people did in the Depression because there was a sense that somebody had to do something and that pretty much any change would be for the better. What saved him and his subsequent literature was the realization that there is little home for individualism on the Left despite its earnest protests to the contrary.

Nevertheless, he was certainly not a conventional thinker. To typify him as conservative is to ignore some pretty wild deviations from orthodoxy; to call him liberal would likely have garnered you a punch in the nose. Nor was his apparent political outlook consistent over his career.

What I find admirable that is consistent over his literary arc is a fierce belief in the individual, in liberty, and in the the creativity and beauty of the human being freed from governmental constraint. That does occasionally lead in some rather startling directions. He would tell you to accept or reject them as you please - that it's up to you, not some authority figure. I'm good with that.

His wife published the posthumous Grumbles From The Grave which is a rather interesting last word. In it is the original ending of Podkayne Of Mars which, had the publishers allowed it, would have vaulted that novel from its cheery juvenile ending into something much darker and, I think, better. Highly recommended.