Robert anson heinlein was born in Batra, Missouri on July 7, 1907. He studied at the University of Missouri and entered the Naval Academy in Annapolis on 1925. After graduation, he served as a noncommissioned officer of an aircraft carrier and destroyer in the navy for five years. 1934 was demobilized due to illness. He studied physics at UCLA. During World War II, he worked as an engineer at the Naval Aviation Laboratory in Philadelphia. Known as "the father of modern American science fiction", "an unparalleled outstanding writer of American science fiction" and "one of the four great talents in the golden age of American science fiction".
Heinlein's Science Fiction Creation
Heinlein's sci-fi creation began at 1939, and his first novel "Lifeline" was published in the world. Thanks to the appreciation of Campbell, editor of the magazine, most of heinlein's early works were published in Amazing. Most of these early works belong to his "Future History" series, and later they were collected in The Moon Soldier (1950), Green Hills on the Earth (195 1) and Uprising 2100 (1950). The children of Messersla (1943) and orphans in heaven (1963) also belong to this series. Heinlein showed his talent in these works. He regards the future as a fait accompli, avoids lengthy statements and explanations in his writing, and skillfully conveys information to readers through dialogue and behavior. Smart and subtle description, lively writing, more attention to characters than interest in new scientific and technological gadgets make him one of the four great talents in the "golden age" of American science fiction.
Since 1947, his short stories have appeared in Saturday Evening Post and other high-priced magazines, while his novels are a series of children's science fiction stories, such as Galileo Rocket Spacecraft (1947), Alternate Space Officer (1948) and Red Planet (. These works not only attract teenagers, but also adult readers. Some critics even think that these works are his masterpieces.
Since 1950s, heinlein has basically turned to novel creation, such as Master Puppet (195 1), Double Star (1956), Entering the Summer Gate (1957) and Forces on the Starship. Although it won the Hugo Award, many people think that this work about Star Wars is too radical and militaristic. Of course, some critics think this is a patriotic science fiction.
The most sensational work-a stranger in a foreign land
Heinlein's most sensational work is Stranger in a Foreign Land. In this 800-page novel, the author describes a young savior character Smith from Mars. After learning about the crisis of earth civilization, he tried his best to spread the thoughts and philosophy of Mars, but in the end he met the same fate as Jesus Christ. The novel not only criticizes the earth civilization and discipline, but also expounds the author's unique views on various fields of social culture, which completely caters to the anti-cultural trend of thought in the United States in the 1960 s, so it is highly praised by college students and even regarded as the Bible of hippies.
Hugo Award-winning work-Moon is a strict housewife.
The Moon is a Strict Housewife (also translated as the Strict Moon) (1966) is the fourth Hugo Award of heinlein. It describes a revolution among lunar colonists, and many events in the novel clearly echo the American War of Independence. Part of the reason why this work is important is that it clearly shows heinlein's political views and proves that the author is deeply influenced by social Darwinism philosophy and is a libertarian.
Characteristics of heinlein's Works
Generally speaking, Heinlein's works have the following characteristics: the writer is an excellent story structurer; Its protagonists are all American, and its novels are a reflection of the "American dream"; Extensive use of American slang and folk stories; Paying attention to American tradition, the so-called "future history" is largely American history; Pay attention to causality and detail credibility. The deficiency mainly lies in the lack of scientific depth, and the theme of the work is militaristic.
Although his later works are not vivid enough, he is still the most influential science fiction writer in America. He is a World Science Fiction Convention guest of 194 1, 19 1, 1976, and also 1957, 1960,1966. Even after his death 1988, readers still elected him as "the best author ever".
Heinlein's life
Heinlein was born in Missouri and grew up in Kansas City. He is the only native American among the three sci-fi giants. Although this environment has a lot of influence on his works, he later broke through many values and morals in his writing and personal life. He joined the United States Naval Academy, graduated with 1929, and served in the United States Navy. He was assigned to serve on the first American aircraft carrier, the Washington. There are not many records about his first marriage. His second wife, Leslyn Macdonald, has been a political activist since 1932. According to Asimov's memory, heinlein was a "complete liberal" during this period. During the period of 1933- 1934, he served on USS Roper and was promoted to lieutenant. 1934 retired due to tuberculosis. Later, during his long hospitalization, he invented the waterbed, only because his detailed descriptions in three books later lost the opportunity to apply for a patent. Military life has given heinlein the second most important lifelong influence: he firmly believes in qualities related to soldiers, such as loyalty and leadership.
After retirement, heinlein informally attended graduate courses in mathematics and physics at UCLA for several weeks, and then gave up for health reasons, political plans or both. After that, he engaged in a series of occupations, including real estate and silver mining, to make a living. In the early 1930s, he took part in the socialist epic movement in upton sinclair. 1934, Heinlai worked hard for Sinclair's failed democratic election for the governor of California. He personally ran for the California Senate in 1938, which also ended in failure. In his later years, heinlein kept a close eye on this stage of participating in the socialist activities, and kept a close eye on his own political history. For example, in 1954, he wrote: "Many Americans firmly believe that McCarthy initiated a' reign of terror'. Are you scared? I am not afraid, although my political background is much more left-wing than Senator McCarthy. "
Although he didn't have a navy disability allowance, he began to write to pay for the house. 1939, the first novel Lifeline was published in the magazine Shocking Science Fiction edited by American godfather Campbell. Soon, he became one of the recognized leaders of the social science fantasy movement. His early works were pieced together into a fairly coherent series of future history. The chronology of this series was published by Campbell in the magazine Shocking Science Fiction in 194 1 and later reprinted in his anthology Past to Tomorrow.
During World War II, Heinlai worked in marine machinery for the Navy, and hired young Asimov and L. Sprague de Camp to be employed by the Naval Aircraft Factory. From 65438 to 0945, the war came to an end and heinlein began to re-evaluate his career direction. The atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the beginning of the Cold War prompted him to write some non-fiction works about politics. At the same time, he also published four important story works in Saturday Evening Post, and his first Castle Peak of the Earth was published in February 1947, which was the first time that an American science fiction writer published it in a mainstream literary magazine. He won the Oscar for Best Special Effects in the movie Destination Moon, for which he wrote a script and conceived special effects. More importantly, during this period, he began to write a series of novels for teenagers for Scribner Publishing House, which lasted until 1950s, when The Rolling Stones Roamed in Space was published in 1952.
Heinlein divorced his second wife Leslie on 1948, and married his third wife Virginia heinlein (formerly known as Virginia Gerstenfeld) on 1948. She is not only heinlein's lifelong companion, but also the prototype of many intelligent and extremely independent female characters in his works. During the period of 1953- 1954, heinlein and his wife made a trip around the world. He described the trip in The Royal Tramp, which also provided the background for some of his novels about space travel (such as Bode Kane of Mars). Asimov believes that when heinlein married Ginny, he suddenly turned to the far right in politics. The Hayes formed the Patrick Henry League in 1958 and played for barry goldwater in the presidential election in 1964. In addition, heinlein's book The Royal Tramp includes two paragraphs defending McCarthy's hearing. However, this U-turn may be due to the fact that the method of distinguishing the left and right wings of American political tradition is not necessarily applicable to libertarianism, and heinlein himself is unique and unwilling to be bound by traditional ideological definitions (including libertarianism). Ginny's influence on her husband can be seen more clearly in literature and science. She is the first reader of his manuscript and is said to be better than him in engineering.
Heinlein's juvenile literature has created a generation of adult readers who are sensitive to science and society. Most of his juvenile literature series reuse a series of themes. However, the 1959 version of Starship Warrior was rejected by the editor of Scribner Publishing House because it was too controversial. Heinlein believes that this freed him from the bondage of children's works and began to "write his own things in his own style", writing a series of challenging novels and redefining the boundaries of science fiction. These novels include his most famous Alien (196 1) and The Severe Moon (1966), which is considered as his best work.
After 1970, heinlein experienced a series of health crises and occasionally worked hard. A peritonitis in the early 1970s took him more than two years to recover. But immediately after his recovery, he began to write Time Enough for Love (1973). He and Ginny traveled all over the United States to promote blood donation, and they were the guests of World Science Fiction Convention (Kansas City, Missouri, 1976) for the third time. From 65438 to 0977, he almost had a stroke because of the blockage of the cardiovascular system, and then he underwent one of the earliest heart bypass operations. In the same year, he testified at the hearing of the special committees of both houses of Congress that the by-products of space technology helped the elderly and the infirm. After the operation, heinlein's energy was strong again. 1980 to1May 8, 988, died in his sleep due to emphysema and congestive heart failure. He wrote five novels, and finally sorted out the early materials and wrote the Sixth World as mine.