guthrie
11-01-03, 12:35 PM
This was sparked by consideration of Heinleins characters. Alexei Panshin pointed out here:
http://www.enter.net/~torve/critics/Heinleinsex/sexintro.htm
Roughly speaking, Panshin says that Heinleins main characters are too innocent, and proceeds to various other deductions about heinlein and his writing. The characters insist upon marriage, are ignorant of the most basic functions of handmaidens, and are more like caricatures of victorian innocence than real life tough spacers or soldiers. its was something that had always bugged me about Heinlein, but Panshin put it into words for me. Now, I intend to segue this into a rambnle about innocence in general in sci-fi books. for example, where would we be without the innocent character to whome things have to be explained, and who experiences the extraordinary world in the storys for the first time. Well, we would be less well informed for starters. Actually, nowadays, the innocent character is more likely I think to be a half wit, or someone whose somehow very different, i'm thinking of RAT Korba in Delaneys "stars in my pocket like grains of sand". There is no room for an innocent character any more, in our technological wonderlands of massive information banks and computers. Although some writers have portrayed somewhat innocent characters, take manuel in Gregory Benfords "Against Infinity". His innocence is based upon simply being 13 years old at the start of the book, and benford does a good job of protraying this, better than most authors. At the opposite is iain M Banks, whose books have no trace of innocence that i have found yet, but plenty of cynicism.
Then theres innocence of the reader. We can to some extent assume that the earlier scifi readers were more innocent than people today. So stories like Heinleins etc were written in order not to shock them too much, nto rock the boat. Which to some extent is doing them a disservice, in my opinion good sci-fi has to be more provocative than normal fiction. But then heinlein wrote "stranger in a strange land" a book apparently intended to cause a ruckus. In this he succeeded, yet looking back at it now, as modern reader, I find hte book to be entertaining, but not ulitmately provocative. My hypothesis is that it is due ot the oss of innocence of the reader. Now, we know about sex, homosexuality, various religions, etc, and these books, like the new wave writings, are just not provocative and pointed like they once were. In one sense that is the are sci-fi is stuck in nowadays, with knowing characters and all the darker side of human experience laid bare, noir thrillers and cybersex, megadeaths and planetary destruction. So my challenge to you readers is suggest some works which are still innocent in some way or another, or rip away your own innocence. Or better still, write one yourself.
http://www.enter.net/~torve/critics/Heinleinsex/sexintro.htm
Roughly speaking, Panshin says that Heinleins main characters are too innocent, and proceeds to various other deductions about heinlein and his writing. The characters insist upon marriage, are ignorant of the most basic functions of handmaidens, and are more like caricatures of victorian innocence than real life tough spacers or soldiers. its was something that had always bugged me about Heinlein, but Panshin put it into words for me. Now, I intend to segue this into a rambnle about innocence in general in sci-fi books. for example, where would we be without the innocent character to whome things have to be explained, and who experiences the extraordinary world in the storys for the first time. Well, we would be less well informed for starters. Actually, nowadays, the innocent character is more likely I think to be a half wit, or someone whose somehow very different, i'm thinking of RAT Korba in Delaneys "stars in my pocket like grains of sand". There is no room for an innocent character any more, in our technological wonderlands of massive information banks and computers. Although some writers have portrayed somewhat innocent characters, take manuel in Gregory Benfords "Against Infinity". His innocence is based upon simply being 13 years old at the start of the book, and benford does a good job of protraying this, better than most authors. At the opposite is iain M Banks, whose books have no trace of innocence that i have found yet, but plenty of cynicism.
Then theres innocence of the reader. We can to some extent assume that the earlier scifi readers were more innocent than people today. So stories like Heinleins etc were written in order not to shock them too much, nto rock the boat. Which to some extent is doing them a disservice, in my opinion good sci-fi has to be more provocative than normal fiction. But then heinlein wrote "stranger in a strange land" a book apparently intended to cause a ruckus. In this he succeeded, yet looking back at it now, as modern reader, I find hte book to be entertaining, but not ulitmately provocative. My hypothesis is that it is due ot the oss of innocence of the reader. Now, we know about sex, homosexuality, various religions, etc, and these books, like the new wave writings, are just not provocative and pointed like they once were. In one sense that is the are sci-fi is stuck in nowadays, with knowing characters and all the darker side of human experience laid bare, noir thrillers and cybersex, megadeaths and planetary destruction. So my challenge to you readers is suggest some works which are still innocent in some way or another, or rip away your own innocence. Or better still, write one yourself.