Course Title: Literature 201, SF Classic Series: Robert A. Heinlein

Prerequisite:  None

Credits: 3

Robert A. Heinlein(7/7/07-5/8/88) was a Science Fiction writer of great stature. He wrote over 4 dozen novels and many other stories, he was truly influential. So much has been written by him, and about him, that RSU honors him in a course from our Literature Department, along side greats Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clark, and Douglas Adams.

What is a characteristic of a Heinlein novel? Like many great writers, Heinlein stories carry a common thread. One of those threads is an idea of a cosmos made up of multi verses. In many novels, like Number of the Beast the setting is a reality where the players can jump from one universe to another, like teleporting to a different world. In Heinlein's novels, universes are often as common as worlds.

Another thread is the proliferation of homo sapiens species in these multi verses. Although common ancestors are not identified, and a common past often never spoken of, a human like being is spread throughout the worlds of Heinlein novels, and it is this construct that facilitates another common thread of Heinlein novels.

Love is most common of all traits in Heinlein novels. Typically not an erotic love, but a love of each other, for who we are, and yes, sexual in nature.

Its never easy to single out a very limited selection of novels to represent the entire works of great writers, and obviously Robert A. Heinlein presents no exception. For Heinlein 201, the four novels that rose to the fore are Glory Road, The Number of the Beast, Time Enough For Love, and Stranger in a Strange Land.

Glory Road was originally written in 1963, republished in 1991 and 1993 and is 294 pages long. The cover proudly proclaims, "One of the best SF novels of All Time." And who's to argue? The story has all the classic elements of Science Fiction classic: multi verses, adventure, hero, heroine, love, and space travel, amongst other things.

Included in this course on the book notes that were taken during reading Glory Road.

Number of the Beast was written in 1980, one of the last novels of the prolific writer. Its pages number 511. This is a book of classic Heinlein traits. Not to be redundant, but multi verse reality takes center stage in this book. A provocative book, not unlike most Heinlein books, and of course, filled with sensuality. In a great literary hook, many of Heinlein's past characters come together for a grand party in this book.

Time Enough For Love was written in 1973, and has nearly 600 pages. This is a book of magnificent story telling of a man, Lazarus Long(1916-4272), who loved all, and especially life. Billed as the "crowning achievement of Heinlein's famous Future History", for Lazarus Long is a character in other Heilein stories as well. This story traces Mr. Long's latter years, as well as his yet untold earlier years. In another great twist, the Long genealogy is masterfully entwined with both past, present, and future generations.

Proudly proclaimed on the cover of Stranger in a Strange Land, "The Most Famous Science Fiction Novel Ever Written." Valentine Michael Smith is the central Martian in this story of, what else, love. Originally published in 1961, and over 430 pages, this is the novel that put Heinlein on the map of serious Science Fiction writers.

As with many great writers, brief summary's of their work rarely does justice to the genius exposed in their novels. It is the intention of RSU to promote the works, without prejudicing too much the new reader as to what to expect. We hope that this course is an entry point into the writings of Robert Heinlein, not the conclusion.