MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Sci-fi authors you (and I) should NEVER read

charleski · 11-11-2009, 07:03 AM

I suppose I should apologise for having brought up Heinlein, since he seems to have unduly dominated much of this thread.

I have one thing to say though: any author who voices extremist views and then needs to be defended by the claims that they have to be viewed 'in context' or that 'they're just the views of the characters' has failed. Either they have failed through over-subtlety and obscurantism or they have failed through a lack of the courage of their convictions, however vile those might be. Heinlein's failure may well have been a mix of both of these, and I think the extents to which people have to go to defend him demonstrates how confused and disordered his thinking was.

I see someone has mentioned The Female Man as another book that was designed to shock. Whatever you may think of Russ, it would be absurd to claim that Russ didn't really mean what she said in that work, and doing so would be an attempt to strip the book of its power. When it comes to Heinlein, though, people start waving their hands around and having to explain, which simply demonstrates the real problem.

11-11-2009, 07:03 AM	#106
charleski Wizard Posts: 1,196 Karma: 1281258 Join Date: Sep 2009 Device: PRS-505	I suppose I should apologise for having brought up Heinlein, since he seems to have unduly dominated much of this thread. I have one thing to say though: any author who voices extremist views and then needs to be defended by the claims that they have to be viewed 'in context' or that 'they're just the views of the characters' has failed. Either they have failed through over-subtlety and obscurantism or they have failed through a lack of the courage of their convictions, however vile those might be. Heinlein's failure may well have been a mix of both of these, and I think the extents to which people have to go to defend him demonstrates how confused and disordered his thinking was. I see someone has mentioned The Female Man as another book that was designed to shock. Whatever you may think of Russ, it would be absurd to claim that Russ didn't really mean what she said in that work, and doing so would be an attempt to strip the book of its power. When it comes to Heinlein, though, people start waving their hands around and having to explain, which simply demonstrates the real problem.