Reading in a Strange Land

I just finished Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein. I first read this novel almost 30 years ago, and, not surprisingly, had little or no recollection of it. I recalled that I thought Stranger middling, but it is considered a classic of science fiction, and was on my shelf for some reason, so I thought that I would dive back in. After finishing it, I realized that Stranger is an exemplar for everything that makes classic science fiction so interesting and so exasperating.

The plot of Stranger is typical sci-fi. Michael Valentine Smith is the sole survivor of an earth expedition to Mars, where he was stranded as a baby and raised by Martians. He is discovered by a subsequent expedition 20 years later and brought back to earth. Over the course of the novel, he learns the ways of us earthlings, and contrasts it to Martian teachings, not in a good way.

Smith intuits that we Earth dwellers fail to grok (the Martian word for understand, that means so much more) the basic Martian principal that each of us is God. Once we come to accept that tenet we can live in peace and harmony. Apparently, we can also acquire telepathic powers, as well as the ability to make things (and people) disappear. Smith also reveals that death is not the end, allowing us to accept our transformation into a new type of existence. And, oh yes, grokking this axiom removes all sexual inhibitions.

The idea of Stranger is interesting. The thought of a human raised with non-human beliefs having to adapt and understand earthly ways opens doors for an examination of human institutions and mores. Heinlein focuses mainly on religious practices, and the inbred contradictions and hypocrisy they engender. Not surprisingly, Smith’s message that we are all God does not go over well with the established churches.

An engrossing story could have emerged out of this premise if the book was not so badly written. I was shocked at the incompetence of the writing from someone who is so revered. After all, Heinlein won four Hugo awards, four Nebula awards and was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America. Yet, his writing style would be embarrassing for a college Freshman in a Creative Writing 101 course.

For example, any time a character wants to emphasize a point, they use “ain’t”. As when patriarch, lawyer and doctor Jubal Harshaw is interrupted in one of his lectures to Mike, he bellows back, “I ain’t through”. I guess that’s supposed to tell us that this is important, but it just sounds silly. Worse are the caricatures masquerading as characters, like the two male aides to Harshaw who talk as if they just escaped from a Bowery Boys movie (“I’ll murdalize you Sach”).

Then there is the way the way ideal relationships between men and women are depicted. I know that Stranger was published in 1961, but even in that pre-women’s lib era it should have been embarrassing to conjure what is little more than a male high school freshman fantasy. Women are smart and capable, but submissive. They revel in being ogled by men and are quick to hop into bed with any Martian trained male, once they too have been enlightened. One woman even goes so far as to say, “If you hear my scream, and reach into my mind and I’m in real trouble, [feel free to intervene]. But I was coping with wolves when you were still on Mars. Nine times out of ten, if a girl gets raped, it’s partly her fault. So don’t be hasty”. Oy vey.

The fact that this book is praised as a classic, says much about the world of sci-fi. For so long it was the domain of white male geeks. People who were intrigued by offbeat ideas but viewed the world through a prism of their own unfulfilled desires. These were the guys who would corner you near the beer keg at a party to regale you with the significance of some obscure space opera that “you just have to read”.

I say this as a lifelong science fiction fan. Yes, I immersed myself in Asimov, Clarke, etc. Yes, I thrilled at the concepts of interstellar travel, cyberworlds, and alternative dimensions. Yes, I cared whether Star Trek was more highly praised than Star Wars (which it should be). I like to think that most of the works I gobbled up were not as cringeworthy as Stranger in a Strange Land, but I can’t bet on it. Many of these writers had a scientific background, but were literary hacks who had a decent idea they spun out into a novel. Not a bad way to make a living.

The promise of sci-fi is its ability to create a surrogate world, and then use that world to comment on our own. It is both useful and thought-provoking. It can be a vehicle to introduce a different viewpoint, and new uses of technology. Science Fiction can capture the imagination in ways other literature cannot. Stranger did that, and I am sure that is why it was so highly thought of.

As science fiction has matured it has grown out of the world of the Fantastic or Weird Worlds magazines. Today’s sci-fi authors are just as inventive but apparently care more about logical structure and literary quality. Plus, a lot more women seem to have entered the field, which can only broaden its perspectives. There is still plenty of dross, but that’s true in every genre.

I don’t read as much science fiction as I once did. The ideas are can be mundane and repetitive. Plus, many sci-fi writers seem to think anything under 400 pages is not worth the while. Still, when sci-fi clicks it is as intriguing as anything out there. A platform for creative minds with a slight bent that should not be overlooked, despite its weaknesses.

P.S. Some sci-fi I can recommend – Anything by Douglas Adams; Atwood, Oryx and Crake; Bester, The Demolished Man; Fforde, Early Riser; Le Guin, the Dispossessed; Melville, The City and the City; Mitchell, The Bone Clocks; St. John Mandell, Station Eleven (sorry Peter); Vandermeer, Annihilation; Zemiatan, We.