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The Martian named Smith: Critical perspectives on Robert A. Heinlein's Stranger in a strange land
209 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
66 people want to read
About the author
William H. Patterson Jr.
9 books6 followersWilliam Patterson lived in San Francisco, California. He published numerous articles and two books on the works of Robert A. Heinlein, and he was a frequent public speaker on Heinlein and his works.
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January 3, 2019
This is a study of various aspects of Robert A. Heinlein's _Stranger in a Strange Land_, whose main effort is to examine the book as a Menippean satire, or anatomy. Britannica describes a literary anatomy as "the seperating or dividing of a topic into parts for detailed examination or analysis."
In particular, it is - and this should be obvious even to those who have not read _Grumbles from the Grave_ - a satire on sex and religion, as they were practiced in the United States in the late 1950s; that is, a satire on hypocrisy. This argument is reasonably well-made, especially in the authors' use of external sources such as Heinlein's letters in which he described _SiaSL_ as a "Cabellian satire," meaning, in the manner of James Branch Cabell. To try to explain Cabell for those unfamiliar with him would be too much of a digression here; indeed, the authors apparently found it too much of a digression: which is odd, because the book is _full_ of digressions; is, in fact, itself, an anatomy.
It is a fascinating read, for those (like me) who enjoy such things, though it has its flaws.
Perhaps the greatest of these is defensiveness - not of the authors' own theses, but of the reputation of _SiaSL_. The longest chapter in the book, entitled "Martyrdom," is a sequential defenestration of various critics (mostly within the SF world) who had the nerve to say bad things about it.
I also find it fascinating that the authors never seemed to pick up on another genre to which _SiaSL_ clearly belongs: the American tall tale. The first page of the restored edition makes this clear. Valentine Michael Smith and especially Jubal Harshaw are the type of over-the-top characters whose adventures would be related around a campfire (a mode to which Heinlein's folksy sit-down-and-I'll-tell-you-a-story style was well suited).
The authors bring up some interesting points: for example, viewed in the light of satire, Foster's Church of the New Revelation is not an "opposite" of Smith's Church of All Worlds, but its complement. The two are actually structured very similarly, with inner and outer layers to the church/Nest, but where the Fosterite church is externally Dionysian but internally Apollonian, the Nest is externally Apollinian and becomes more Dionysian as seekers move deeper into it.
One interesting claim, which is central to some of their arguments, is that the Martian language is "mathematical" in its nature. I do not recall anything in _SiaSL_ which would justify this claim; nor do the authors provide any citation to support it.
Still, as I said above, I enjoyed engaging with this book - even where I disagree with it.
In particular, it is - and this should be obvious even to those who have not read _Grumbles from the Grave_ - a satire on sex and religion, as they were practiced in the United States in the late 1950s; that is, a satire on hypocrisy. This argument is reasonably well-made, especially in the authors' use of external sources such as Heinlein's letters in which he described _SiaSL_ as a "Cabellian satire," meaning, in the manner of James Branch Cabell. To try to explain Cabell for those unfamiliar with him would be too much of a digression here; indeed, the authors apparently found it too much of a digression: which is odd, because the book is _full_ of digressions; is, in fact, itself, an anatomy.
It is a fascinating read, for those (like me) who enjoy such things, though it has its flaws.
Perhaps the greatest of these is defensiveness - not of the authors' own theses, but of the reputation of _SiaSL_. The longest chapter in the book, entitled "Martyrdom," is a sequential defenestration of various critics (mostly within the SF world) who had the nerve to say bad things about it.
I also find it fascinating that the authors never seemed to pick up on another genre to which _SiaSL_ clearly belongs: the American tall tale. The first page of the restored edition makes this clear. Valentine Michael Smith and especially Jubal Harshaw are the type of over-the-top characters whose adventures would be related around a campfire (a mode to which Heinlein's folksy sit-down-and-I'll-tell-you-a-story style was well suited).
The authors bring up some interesting points: for example, viewed in the light of satire, Foster's Church of the New Revelation is not an "opposite" of Smith's Church of All Worlds, but its complement. The two are actually structured very similarly, with inner and outer layers to the church/Nest, but where the Fosterite church is externally Dionysian but internally Apollonian, the Nest is externally Apollinian and becomes more Dionysian as seekers move deeper into it.
One interesting claim, which is central to some of their arguments, is that the Martian language is "mathematical" in its nature. I do not recall anything in _SiaSL_ which would justify this claim; nor do the authors provide any citation to support it.
Still, as I said above, I enjoyed engaging with this book - even where I disagree with it.
Displaying 1 of 1 review