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TTBRAHWTMG · 12th April 2007, 01:17 PM

It's so hard to pick favourites...all of his works have amazing value in them. Tunnel in the Sky and Citizen of the Galaxy were two of the juvies that affected me first, and therefore stick with me the most. They are all pearls though (a few shinier than others, to be sure!)

Disagree with your thoughts on his later work (although I admit, many agree)...I think his intention was not to "treat literature as a soapbox for increasingly contentious, cranky, and unexamined ideologies" but rather to provoke thought, criticism, and review of EXISTING "contentious, cranky, and unexamined ideologies". Heinlein's goal was always to examine, reflect, debate...often having characters present ideas that he was opposed to and having his characters chew on them.

If you attribute the thoughts and opinions of his characters directly to Heinlein, you can often miss the mark by a WIDE stretch.

But if you review my other posts, you may find I'm not the most unbiased of people on this subject!

PS...you have the restored version of Podkayne on your bibliography there, but missed the 1990 restoration of Red Planet. The restored version of this one is far, far, superior...if you haven't read it, and are a fan of Heinlein's juvies, I highly recommend it to you.

12th April 2007, 01:17 PM	#10 (permalink)
TTBRAHWTMG I am only an egg Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Canada Posts: 403	Re: Heinlein's juveniles It's so hard to pick favourites...all of his works have amazing value in them. Tunnel in the Sky and Citizen of the Galaxy were two of the juvies that affected me first, and therefore stick with me the most. They are all pearls though (a few shinier than others, to be sure!) Disagree with your thoughts on his later work (although I admit, many agree)...I think his intention was not to "treat literature as a soapbox for increasingly contentious, cranky, and unexamined ideologies" but rather to provoke thought, criticism, and review of EXISTING "contentious, cranky, and unexamined ideologies". Heinlein's goal was always to examine, reflect, debate...often having characters present ideas that he was opposed to and having his characters chew on them. If you attribute the thoughts and opinions of his characters directly to Heinlein, you can often miss the mark by a WIDE stretch. But if you review my other posts, you may find I'm not the most unbiased of people on this subject! PS...you have the restored version of Podkayne on your bibliography there, but missed the 1990 restoration of Red Planet. The restored version of this one is far, far, superior...if you haven't read it, and are a fan of Heinlein's juvies, I highly recommend it to you.