When I was a child one of my favorite science fiction novels was Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein. I loved the novel back then because it presented an exciting future with spaceships and battles and a philosophy which sounded reasonable to my young mind. I probably read the novel a half-dozen times before moving on to other SF stories and authors.
In the years since I've reread the novel every decade or so. Doing so brings back pleasant memories of the first time I read it. But these rereadings also open the novel to understandings and insights I didn't have when I was a child. I still believe that the novel is one of Heinlein's best, and a critical inspiration for much of today's science fiction. Without this novel today's SF literature, movies and video games would likely be unrecognizable.
But that's doesn't mean there's not plenty to critique in the book.
This morning I reread Starship Troopers again and tweeted my reactions. Here are selected comments from me and others.
And make sure you don't miss Anne Leonard's hilarious feminist satire of Starship Troopers, which was inspired by my tweet-critique.
First Reactions to Rereading Starship Troopers
I have many critiques of Starship Troopers, including wrongness of much of Heinlein's philosophy, but it's one of his most important novels.
— Jason Sanford (@jasonsanford) February 22, 2015
Starship Troopers opened up entirely new areas of science fiction for exploration. Hard to imagine our genre if the book had never existed.
— Jason Sanford (@jasonsanford) February 22, 2015
In Starship Troopers Heinlein praises traditional values, like having Rico's father never write a damn letter to tell him his mom was killed
— Jason Sanford (@jasonsanford) February 22, 2015
I'm rereading Starship Troopers and wondering if Heinlein was simply incapable of describing a female character without the word "pert."
— Jason Sanford (@jasonsanford) February 22, 2015
Of Rico's mom Heinlein writes "She never had a chance to know, any more than a bird can understand swimming." Nice sexist dismissal there.
— Jason Sanford (@jasonsanford) February 22, 2015
@wa7trel @jasonsanford Sexist dismissal and a bad metaphor.
— Michael Healy (@MichaelHealy18) February 22, 2015
But even getting away from the sexism of previous statement, did Heinlein not know about penguins. You know, birds that swim. ;-)
— Jason Sanford (@jasonsanford) February 22, 2015
Heinlein's Starship Troopers was actually ahead of its time in regards to diverse characters & women in combat roles. But still hard to read
— Jason Sanford (@jasonsanford) February 22, 2015
Also interesting how in Starship Troopers one of Heinlein's major reasons for collapse of USA are gangs and juvenile delinquents. LOL
— Jason Sanford (@jasonsanford) February 22, 2015
@jasonsanford Now, if they were corporate gangs and delinquents, I could see that.
— Jonathan Danz (@JonathanDanz) February 22, 2015
The older I get the more I understand that Heinlein was not a great literary writer. He simply can't avoid page after page of sermonizing.
— Jason Sanford (@jasonsanford) February 22, 2015
I say that as one who loved Heinlein in my youth. But returning to his prose now is like being a Stranger in a Strange Land. Sorry. Bad joke
— Jason Sanford (@jasonsanford) February 22, 2015
@jasonsanford Awful joke. But true enough.
— K. E. Bergdoll (@rookberg) February 22, 2015
The Intersection of Spanking and Hard SF
Did you know that Heinlein goes on for pages in Starship Troopers about how not spanking kids helped collapse society? Shakes head & laughs.
— Jason Sanford (@jasonsanford) February 22, 2015
@jasonsanford Well you know, violence solves all problems. If you tried and it didn't work, well, you just didn't violent hard enough!
— Andrew Barton (@ActsofAndrewB) February 22, 2015
@AaronPound @jsuttonmorse @jasonsanford "Hard" sf is just sf that appears rigorous, usually through character rhetoric.
— Nick Mamatas (@NMamatas) February 22, 2015
@AaronPound @jsuttonmorse @jasonsanford So long discussions on the virtue of spankings count.
— Nick Mamatas (@NMamatas) February 22, 2015
@NMamatas @jsuttonmorse @jasonsanford Does that make 50 Shades of Grey hard sf?
— Undead for 2015 (@AaronPound) February 22, 2015
More Thoughts on Diversity in Starship Troopers
@jasonsanford Pls tweet when Rico's Filipino-ness is mentioned. Seemed like it was a "twist" near end, but could be mentioned earlier?
— Michael Janairo (@mjanairo) February 22, 2015
.@ActsofAndrewB @mjanairo What's interesting is Heinlein reveals Rico's family speaks Tagalog on nearly the last page of the book.
— Jason Sanford (@jasonsanford) February 22, 2015
.@ActsofAndrewB @mjanairo This causes another character to ask Rico where he's from, but the question isn't answered.
— Jason Sanford (@jasonsanford) February 22, 2015
.@ActsofAndrewB @mjanairo Almost like Heinlein was afraid to rub his characters' diverse backgrounds in his readers' faces.
— Jason Sanford (@jasonsanford) February 22, 2015
@jasonsanford What always gets me about Heinlein is that so many of his characters talk like they're from 1920s Missouri. Word choices &c.
— Andrew Barton (@ActsofAndrewB) February 22, 2015
@mjanairo @ActsofAndrewB I can't speak to Heinlein's intentions. But the book is full of a diversity which most books of its time lacked.
— Jason Sanford (@jasonsanford) February 22, 2015
@mjanairo @ActsofAndrewB Of course, all of Heinlein's diverse characters act and speak and think just like him.
— Jason Sanford (@jasonsanford) February 22, 2015
Still, stereotypes abound in Starship Troopers. Character of Hassan called the Assassin, described as something fisherman let out of bottle.
— Jason Sanford (@jasonsanford) February 22, 2015
Women in Starship Troopers
Heinlein has a women inspire Rico to join military. Then he becomes officer partly b/c of "privilege of eating with the ladies." #facepalm
— Jason Sanford (@jasonsanford) February 22, 2015
While Starship Trooper puts women in combat as pilots & navy officers, Heinlein describes female part of ship as "ladies' country." Sigh.
— Jason Sanford (@jasonsanford) February 22, 2015
Heinlein describes the female captain of one warship as having "a nice smile when she wasn't being stern." Double #facepalm
— Jason Sanford (@jasonsanford) February 22, 2015
@jasonsanford Heinlein's weird that way. He can see a need for full-spectrum equality but has no clue what it would look like.
— Anne Leonard (@anneleonardauth) February 22, 2015
.@anneleonardauth I totally agree. It's like he intellectually understood the diversity of humanity but never actually experienced it.
— Jason Sanford (@jasonsanford) February 22, 2015
New project, inspired by @jasonsanford Heinlein tweets: feminist flash fiction SF parody called "Starship Cooties." *Rolls up sleeves*
— Anne Leonard (@anneleonardauth) February 22, 2015
Instead of working on my novel, I wrote this: "Starship Cooties." http://t.co/s8fLE8XRVn @Cecily_Kane @jasonsanford
— Anne Leonard (@anneleonardauth) February 22, 2015
Did Heinlein Hate the Military?
Am I the only one who wonders if Heinlein hated soldiers who didn't serve on the front lines? Ironic since Heinlein never served in battle.
— Jason Sanford (@jasonsanford) February 22, 2015
@jasonsanford I think you can probably find non-combatant figures in other novels who are treated sympathetically.
— Kenneth Schneyer (@ken_schneyer) February 22, 2015
@ken_schneyer @jasonsanford I actually asked him about that in around 1970 -- he seemed resentful of anyone not fighting in VN if able.
— Cascade Writers (@cascadewriters) February 22, 2015
@ken_schneyer @jasonsanford He also seemed conflicted that his brother could serve and he could not.
— Cascade Writers (@cascadewriters) February 22, 2015
@jasonsanford @ken_schneyer He was recovering from a surgery at the time, so may have felt his lack of ability to serve more acutely.
— Cascade Writers (@cascadewriters) February 22, 2015
No, Heinlein Isn't a "Hard" SF Writer
Heinlein is held up as a "hard" science fiction author but in last battle of Starship Troopers a "special talent" (psychic) locates enemy.
— Jason Sanford (@jasonsanford) February 22, 2015
@jasonsanford Telepathy is "hard science", don't you know? Also, people living forever and time travel is totes hard science too.
— Undead for 2015 (@AaronPound) February 22, 2015
@jasonsanford Psionics was hard for science fiction back in the day. Because Campbell loved it so much.
— Andrew Barton (@ActsofAndrewB) February 22, 2015
@ActsofAndrewB Ah yes. I forgot that. For an editor who supposedly created modern SF, Campbell believed a ton of pseudo-science crap.
— Jason Sanford (@jasonsanford) February 22, 2015
@jasonsanford Psionics. And the Dean Drive. And Dianetics. And human supremacy. And so on.
— Andrew Barton (@ActsofAndrewB) February 22, 2015
.@jasonsanford this is the weirdest thing for me. That silly rant recently called psychohistory "hard" science too, and I just got confused.
— Jonah Sutton-Morse (@jsuttonmorse) February 22, 2015
@AaronPound @jasonsanford I've read a few of Heinlein's books and stories, but none of them seemed primarily interested in physics problems
— Jonah Sutton-Morse (@jsuttonmorse) February 22, 2015
@jsuttonmorse @jasonsanford I've read pretty much everything Heinlein published, and calling him "hard science fiction" seems off-base.
— Undead for 2015 (@AaronPound) February 22, 2015
@AaronPound @jsuttonmorse Agreed. But he's held up as the epitome of what true science fiction should be.
— Jason Sanford (@jasonsanford) February 22, 2015
@jasonsanford @jsuttonmorse By people whose science fiction reading seems too narrow to be believed.
— Undead for 2015 (@AaronPound) February 22, 2015
Closing Thoughts
While I've grumbled a bit about Heinlein's prose, he does have some good sentences.
— Jason Sanford (@jasonsanford) February 22, 2015
"I heard the breathing of 50 men like muted sibilance of surf, broken only by necessary orders in the fewest possible words." -- Heinlein
— Jason Sanford (@jasonsanford) February 22, 2015
@jasonsanford "Come on you apes, you wanna live forever?!" -- Starship Troopers
— shaunduke (@shaunduke) February 22, 2015