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Robert A. Heinlein: Books
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In later books, Heinlein dealt with incest and the sexual nature of children. In Time Enough For Love, Lazarus Long uses genetic arguments to initially dissuade a brother and sister he has adopted from sexual experimentation with each other, but he later arranges for them to be married, having discovered that they (in an extremely rare but scientifically possible circumstance) are not brother and sister on a genetic level; he ... consummates his strong sexual attraction to his own mother, whom he goes back in time to see again. In some of Heinlein's books, To Sail Beyond the Sunset, for instance, sexual urges between daughters and fathers are exemplified and briefly discussed on several occasions. Later in the same book, the protagonist/narrator (Maureen Johnson) discovers that her two youngest children are engaged in heterosexual incest. After failing to dissuade them from the relationship, she forcibly returns the two to their father, and never mentions them again. The protagonist of The Cat Who Walks Through Walls recalls a homosexual experience with a Boy Scouts leader, which he didn't find unpleasant.
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Since the Scribner's contract contained an option for Heinlein's next juvenile book, this purchase set up an annual series of enduringly popular boys' books and gave Heinlein the income and market presence he was looking for. He wrote five popular articles on the impact of atomic weaponry (three of which he later published in EXPANDED UNIVERSE). He wrote a topical how-to book, titled, straightforwardly, HOW TO BE A POLITICIAN -- he wanted an aware electorate to take control of their government. There were no takers. As the international situation continued to deteriorate, he gave up the effort. Except for a speculative article co-written with his friend, Caleb Laning for Colliers, "Flight Into the Future," he was never able to sell any of his cautionary writing for adults.
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Heinlein's interest in spaceflight and his fears of Nazis gaining supremacy on the moon would later find expression in Young Atomic Engineers, finally published in 1947 as Rocket Ship Galileo. (It was incidentally his first book for young people. His second juvenile novel, Space Cadet, would go on to become the inspiration for the 1950s TV series Tom Corbett: Space Cadet.) Ironically these very novels and programs would inspire many of the young people that later peopled the American space program.
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Heinlein's influence reaches far beyond a single book, of course. He was the first sci-fi author to make the bestseller lists, the winner of multiple awards, and the inspiration for a legion of proteges and imitators whose own volumes now weigh down bookstore shelves. He was not the most accomplished literary stylist in his genre, but he spun a good yarn, grappled with big questions, and left an enduring imprint on a popular field. He was arguably the preeminent sci-fi author of the 20th century.
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As a young man, Heinlein encountered Jack London, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Rudyard Kipling, Bellamy, and George Bernard Shaw, and the Oz books of L. Frank Baum, but he was most devoted to Mark Twain. Heinlein developed a serious bibliographical passion for Twain, and he tracked down all of Twain's diverse publications for his personal library. Twain is one of the strongest of all Heinlein's literary influences.
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Heinlein was a vocal proponent of the notion that juvenile readers were far more sophisticated and able to handle complex or difficult themes than most people realized. Thus even his juvenile stories often had a maturity to them that make them readable for adults. Red Planet, for example, portrays some very subversive themes, including a revolution in which young students are involved; his editor demanded substantial changes in this book's discussion of topics such as the use of weapons by children and the misidentified gender of the Martian character. Heinlein was always aware of the editorial limitations put in place by the editors of his novels and stories, and while he observed those restrictions on the surface, was often successful in introducing ideas not often seen in other authors' juvenile SF.
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