Canonize This: Why We All Should Read Heinlein

Canonize This: Why we all should read Heinlein

In 1907, in Butler, Missouri, on July 7th Robert Anson Heinlein was born. He would go on to write science fiction. He would win an unprecedented four Hugo awards, for Double Star, Starship Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land, and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. He would also win the first ever Grandmaster of Science Fiction Nebula Award, even though he never won a regular Nebula.

But why canonize him, with people like Thoreau and Frost? Should Robert Heinlein's work be considered part of American Literature? The answer is yes it should. Of course this begs the question "What is literature?" but I'm going to avoid it simply try to show why Heinlein's writing is literature.

Heinlein's writing, or at least some of it is worthy of the moniker literature for numerous reasons. When Stranger in a Strange Land hit the shelves in 1961 it met critical praise and massive fan support. This is due to the coming social upheaval of the time, and the ideas in the book, especially the idea of the leader of the free world running the government on advice from his wife's astrologer. The book now exists in a nearly unique situation; it is in print in two different versions. The original version can be bought new today, and the newer "uncut" version can be too. The "uncut" version is significant since it nearly doubles the size of the original. This all I'm going to mention about his most famous work because it is unique for Heinlein, he never wrote anything else like it and it doesn't fit into any of his "universes" (They are "Future History" and "World-as-myth").

The most significant of his early works is Starship Troopers. It came out post World War II and is bleak vision of the ultimate military nation told along with the coming of age story of Juan "Johnnie" Rico. In Johnnie's world only veterans can vote, and this, along with peer pressure, is what drives him to join up. But more important than Johnnie's story are Heinlein's ideas; "Heinlein uses Troopers as a vehicle for his autocratic ideals, espousing public floggings and a nation where only service veterans can vote," (Engler, 2). We can get many of the ideas of such a nation through the speeches of certain characters, most notably is Mr. Dubois a teacher who teaches a class that "everybody had to take it but nobody had to pass it," (Starship Troopers, 24). The class is called "History and Moral Philosophy" and Mr. Dubois is a veteran with voting privilege. Perhaps the most infamous speech he has is his famous answer to the idea that 'violence never solves anything,' "Anyone who clings to the historically untrue--and thoroughly immoral--doctrine that 'violence never solves anything' I would advise to conjure up the ghosts of Napoleon Bonaparte and of the Duke of Wellington and let them debate it. The ghost of Hitler could referee, and the jury might well be the Dodo, the Great Auk, and the Passenger Pigeon. Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and freedoms," (Starship Troopers, 26).

This is one of the basic ideas of the society that Heinlein thrusts upon his reader, and it where Johnnie grows up. This entire story is propelled along with Heinlein's trademark "unstylish style," (Engler, 3). That is to say his prose style is easily accessible. It is straightforward, plain, and clear. This works wonderfully since the story is told by an older Johnnie, who is by that time former military, so Heinlein's style and Johnnie's voice match up in a way that makes his language very natural. He also uses slang as device for characterization. The very rough Sgt. Ace is characterized by such slang with the most famous line from the book "Come on, you apes! You wanta live forever," (Starship Troopers 205). He says this just before leading a squad into what appears to be certain doom.

For his autocratic ideas presented in this book Heinlein was called a "neo-fascist." This is misguided, Starship Troopers stands as more of critique of a fascist nation, a nation where only the ones who agree with the ideas of the body politic may vote, and where violence is the ultimate answer. Heinlein is not supporting such a place, he is just using it get across some of his more radical ideas, like public flogging, and why he thinks representative democracy doesn't work. In this way his ideas were very radical, and some of them still are. The idea of parents spanking children is discussed, and of course supported by the people in the novel. Our time and the idea of "time-out" and other non-violent forms of punishment are viewed in a "Can you believe it?" fashion. This idea comes up again in Time Enough for Love where again spanking in viewed in a favorable light, but only if administered immediately. This is an odd thing for Heinlein to confront since he never actually had any children, and none of his wives did even after leaving him.

In many ways Troopers isn't typical Heinlein. It ignores the idea of marriage, and the only mentions of male-female interaction are very few and formal. This is because it was originally intended as a "juvenile," book for younger readers and in 1959 there were just some things that couldn't go into such a book, male-female interaction being one of them. It was printed as an adult book any way because of the intense violence throughout the book.

On the whole Starship Troopers should be in the canon because it is one of Heinlein's most politically controversial works, and a very entertaining read. It is literature. It will make you think about society today and the societies that formed the axis of WWII. The society Johnnie lives in and fights for is a synthesis of those two ways of life, a sort of "democratic fascism." The ideas of Heinlein and the world he created for this novel resonate today just as they did in 1959, when it won him his second Hugo.

I was surprised when I found that I wasn't the only person who believed Heinlein should be canonized. I found that The Moon is a harsh Mistress is on the suggested reading list of the Adam Smith Institute. It is the most quintessentially American work that Heinlein ever wrote. It is about love, revolution, liberty, and war. It won him his final Hugo in 1966, and also got a nomination for a Nebula award. It is acclaimed by many of his fans to be his best work. It also marks a change in the way Heinlein wrote.