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there is has an overtly symbolic or illustrative function. The middle novels are different: here, an allegorical purpose gradually informs and transforms conventional adventure. Rightfully, then, Heinlein's later "problem" novels are hybrids. In their didactic and "philosophical" emphasis, they mark a return to the more static patterns of the early stories. At the same time, however, their form has benefited from the development of Heinlein's art during the decade of juvenile writing. The curious subversion of the linear patterns of intrigue and initiation in these works has contributed as much to the form of Stranger (in a Strange Land) as the vertical configurations of a story like "Waldo."
In spite of this merger, these adventure forms have a certain life of their own in Heinlein. Running parallel to the revival of openly philosophical works on a grand scale in the 1960s is a current of shorter works in which the impetus of a decade of action and intrigue is sustained. Though the subtitle of Podkayne of Mars: Her Life and Times (1963) shows that it has been touched by some new interest in exemplary fiction, the novel remains basically a juvenile adventure. Farnham's Freehold is essentially a tale of adventure; this time, the motive force is time instead of space travela "tunnel in the sky" of a different sort. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (1965) is a story of political intrigue and revolution in the manner of Double Star. True, these novels eventually blend with the philosophical stream, if only through the fact that their heroes get progressively older. We go in the span of a decade from youth to middle age, and finally to senescence. In Heinlein's latest work, Time Enough for Love, adventure of all sorts (intrigue as well as the drama of coming of age) is absorbed into a new narrative centerthe exemplary life of ancient and deathless Lazarus Long. (. . .)
Overwhelmingly, the heroes of Heinlein's early stories are adults. His latest novels mark a complete return to this adult world and beyond. To a critic like Brian Aldiss, no maturity of understanding seems to result from this process. On the contrary these "adult" works provide a classic case of arrested developmentthe mature world continually cast in terms of a retentive childhood. Perhaps Heinlein is at his best when things are turned around. In Glory Road (as in Space Suit), the juvenile hero grapples with adult problems, but in some other distant world. When he returns to his own world, the growing up still waits to be done. It seems, moreover, that Scar Gordon (like Kip before him) accomplished what he did only because he remained a child. Indeed, the essence of Heinlein's philosophy in these two novels, with its refusal of limits of any kind, tyrannical or utopian, is

 
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