< previous page page_122 next page >

Page 122
protagonists are multi-talented individuals, and, as his work and thinking mature, he becomes steadily more overt in his insistence that a responsible person must have a sound base of diverse knowledge. The theme is implicit in the eclectic curriculum laid out for young Matt Dodson of Space Cadet (1948), predicated on the belief that the person "who can think correctly [i.e., in broad terms] will automatically behave morally." It becomes explicit in Have Space SuitWill Travel (1958) when Professor Reisfeld grumbles that he "[deplores] this modern overspecialization." Lazarus Long, fifteen years later, concludes a list of abilities that every human being should have by asserting, "Specialization is for insects." And Heinlein himself, speaking in his own voice, remarks in Expanded Universe (1980) that history, languages, and mathematics hold up ''the 3-legged stool of understanding." The theme exists. Of that there is no doubt.
What gives Heinlein's theme of breadth its larger significance, though, is that he develops it through the presentation of a series of imaginary societies. The expansion, he notes, is part of the science-fiction writer's obligation to "create the scene and the culture and make it come alive." If the culture portrayed is alive, rounded, and plausible, no matter how alien it may otherwise be, it leads the reader to new perspectives on existence. These perspectives, in turn, constitute what Heinlein sees as a major virtue of science fiction. The genre necessarily deals with change; and change, if it is to become progress, requires a solid foundation of knowledge. Thus, by teaching readers that the world will change, science fiction "leads in the direction of . . . adaptability [and] . . . preaches the need for freedom of the mind and the desirability of knowledge."
Heinlein's determination to preach this need to young people (he calls it his "own propaganda purposes") permeates his twelve Scribner juveniles and the Scribner-rejected Starship Troopers. Within these books, his determination gives substance to the fictional characters' imaginary world, relating it to the real world of the readers' present and giving life to the culture described; outside them, it unobtrusively sensitizes young American readers to their own involvement in a distinctive national culture. The result is a cluster of provocative science fiction novels that handily document the validity of E. D. Hirsch's theories of "cultural literacy" even as they provide their young readers with visions of a future in which versatile knowledge will be at a premium. (. . .)
Heinlein's books leave no doubt as to the society he seeks. In them, the American past and the changing future work together, suggesting to his

 
< previous page page_122 next page >