{"id":954,"date":"2008-08-03T03:07:34","date_gmt":"2008-08-03T07:07:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/s265039441.onlinehome.us\/philpaine\/?p=954"},"modified":"2018-08-12T21:06:15","modified_gmt":"2018-08-13T01:06:15","slug":"robert-a-heinlein-four-frontiers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=954","title":{"rendered":"(Robert A. Heinlein) Four Frontiers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"08-08-03<\/a>\"08-08-03<\/a>This is an omnibus vol\u00adume pre\u00adsent\u00ading Robert Hein\u00adlein\u2019s first four \u201cjuve\u00adnile\u201d nov\u00adels, orig\u00adi\u00adnal\u00adly pub\u00adlished by Scrib\u00adn\u00ader\u2019s in 1947, 1948, 1949, and 1950. Hein\u00adlein wrote twelve sci\u00adence fic\u00adtion nov\u00adels for teenagers, and put more care and artistry into them than most writ\u00aders put into seri\u00adous adult fic\u00adtion. Their impact has been aston\u00adish\u00ading, and they remain wide\u00adly read long after their sci\u00adence and \u201cfutu\u00adri\u00adty\u201d has become out\u00addat\u00aded. They were tremen\u00addous\u00adly lib\u00ader\u00adat\u00ading for young read\u00aders, espe\u00adcial\u00adly when you judge them in the con\u00adtext of North Amer\u00adi\u00adcan soci\u00adety when they were writ\u00adten. Unlike any author writ\u00ading for young peo\u00adple, up to that time, Hein\u00adlein treat\u00aded his read\u00aders with hon\u00adesty and respect, as well as pro\u00advid\u00ading them with a rich intel\u00adlec\u00adtu\u00adal feast. Hein\u00adlein strug\u00adgled with his edi\u00adtors, who con\u00adstant\u00adly pan\u00adicked over the pos\u00adsi\u00adble \u201cunsuit\u00adabil\u00adi\u00adty\u201d of his treat\u00adment and sub\u00adject mat\u00adter. But they were devoured by libraries, and thus were avail\u00adable to peo\u00adple (like me) who were in no posi\u00adtion to buy books. Scrib\u00adn\u00ader\u2019s pub\u00adlished them in a hand\u00adsome for\u00admat, with illus\u00adtra\u00adtions of great artis\u00adtic mer\u00adit by Clif\u00adford Geary. I came to them when they were start\u00ading to show their age, but their \u201csense of won\u00adder\u201d and their moral impact remained vivid. Cit\u00adi\u00adzen of the Galaxy<\/em>, for exam\u00adple, was one of the three books that most stim\u00adu\u00adlat\u00aded my life-long fas\u00adci\u00adna\u00adtion with the issue of free\u00addom and slavery.<\/span>
\n <\/span>
\nRock\u00adet Ship Galileo<\/em> (1947) was Hein\u00adlein\u2019s first attempt in the series, and it was crude com\u00adpared to the books that fol\u00adlowed. The plot of a sci\u00aden\u00adtist recruit\u00ading three teenagers to help him make the first flight to the moon because it nei\u00adther the gov\u00adern\u00adment nor cor\u00adpo\u00adra\u00adtions could afford to do it, and mak\u00ading the jour\u00adney only to encounter a secret base of escaped Nazis was pret\u00adty ludi\u00adcrous. But it hint\u00aded at some of the dis\u00adtinc\u00adtive ele\u00adments of the lat\u00ader books. The sec\u00adond, Space Cadet<\/em> (1948), had a much more believ\u00adable premise, and includ\u00aded a well fleshed out \u201cfuture his\u00adto\u00adry\u201d con\u00adtext, and great tech\u00adni\u00adcal accu\u00adra\u00adcy. The plot thin, but much more believ\u00adable, and the tech\u00adni\u00adcal detail was exact. The book was so pop\u00adu\u00adlar, that it trig\u00adgered a wave of \u201cspace cadet\u201d tele\u00advi\u00adsion and radio shows, among them Tom Cor\u00adbett, Space <\/em>Cadet<\/em> and the lost Cana\u00addi\u00adan series Space Com\u00admand<\/em>. For a few years, chil\u00addren all across the con\u00adti\u00adnent ter\u00adror\u00adized their par\u00adents with plas\u00adtic ray-guns and bub\u00adble space helmets.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"08-08-03<\/a>\"08-08-03<\/a>But it was with Red Plan\u00adet<\/em> (1949) that Hein\u00adlein per\u00adfect\u00aded his art. His evo\u00adca\u00adtion of a Mar\u00adt\u00adian land\u00adscape, a human colony on Mars, and an alien soci\u00adety of Mar\u00adtians was so vivid and detailed that it still seems crisply real\u00adis\u00adtic to read\u00ader today, despite the fact that it is all com\u00adplete\u00adly impos\u00adsi\u00adble. It was, in fact, every bit as impos\u00adsi\u00adble when it was writ\u00adten. Hein\u00adlein used every trick at his dis\u00adpos\u00adal to cre\u00adate a plau\u00adsi\u00adble \u201cMars\u201d based on the ideas expound\u00aded by Per\u00adci\u00adval Lovell in Mars<\/em> (1895), Mars and Its Canals<\/em> (1906), and Mars As the Abode of Life<\/em> (1908). In 1949, this vision of Mars had long been dis\u00adcard\u00aded by sci\u00adence. But Hein\u00adlein\u2019s pre\u00adsen\u00adta\u00adtion is so con\u00advinc\u00ading that one com\u00adplete\u00adly for\u00adgets that it was con\u00adceived with tongue in cheek. The same Mar\u00adt\u00adian soci\u00adety appears, some\u00adwhat dif\u00adfer\u00adent\u00adly described, in his adult nov\u00adels Dou\u00adble Star<\/em> (1956) and Stranger In a Strange Land<\/em> (1961). In fact, I can think of no oth\u00ader case in lit\u00ader\u00adary his\u00adto\u00adry were there exists, in the work of one author, a con\u00adti\u00adnu\u00adity in themes and detailed con\u00adtent between a sto\u00adry for teenagers and a mas\u00adsive Menip\u00adpean satire writ\u00adten for adults.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Red Plan\u00adet<\/em>, Hein\u00adlein began to give the char\u00adac\u00adters an emo\u00adtion\u00adal life with some depth, along with the sci\u00aden\u00adtif\u00adic and social ele\u00adments. In Farmer In the Sky<\/em> (1950), the saga of a youth pio\u00adneer\u00ading on Jupiter\u2019s largest moon, Hein\u00adlein achieved the bal\u00adance between emo\u00adtion\u00adal issues and sci\u00adence fic\u00adtion\u00adal themes that was to char\u00adac\u00adter\u00adize all the lat\u00ader books. Young read\u00aders learned as much about them\u00adselves from get\u00adting in the skin of the char\u00adac\u00adters as they learned about the phys\u00adi\u00adcal world from the sci\u00aden\u00adtif\u00adic con\u00adtent, and were forced to con\u00adfront issues that were tough and real. The prose style reached the stan\u00addard that he would main\u00adtain through\u00adout the remain\u00ading eight titles in the series. If you want to play an inter\u00adest\u00ading, but futile game, try to get old read\u00aders of the Hein\u00adlein juve\u00adniles to agree on which of these books was the best. <\/span><\/p>\n

con\u00adtains:<\/span>
\n16386. [3] (Robert A. Hein\u00adlein) Rock\u00adet Ship Galileo <\/span>
\n16387. [3] (Robert A. Hein\u00adlein) Space Cadet<\/span>
\n16388. [5] (Robert A. Hein\u00adlein) Red Planet<\/span>
\n16389. [5] (Robert A. Hein\u00adlein) Farmer in the Sky<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is an omnibus vol\u00adume pre\u00adsent\u00ading Robert Hein\u00adlein\u2019s first four \u201cjuve\u00adnile\u201d nov\u00adels, orig\u00adi\u00adnal\u00adly pub\u00adlished by Scrib\u00adn\u00ader\u2019s in 1947, 1948, 1949, and 1950. Hein\u00adlein wrote twelve sci\u00adence fic\u00adtion nov\u00adels for teenagers, and put more care and artistry into them than most \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[946,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-b-reading","category-bs-reading-2008"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=954"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8377,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954\/revisions\/8377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}