[EXTERNAL] Re: Heinlein's Universe and The Long Sun

Stephen Hoy · 27 Jan 2020, 21:47 · from 2020-January.txt.gz

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From: stephenhoy15 at gmail.com (Stephen Hoy)
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 2020 16:47:25 -0500
Subject: (urth) [EXTERNAL] Re: Heinlein's Universe and The Long Sun
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Appreciating the Heinlein connections noted by Gem and Gerry; a reminder
that RAH is still relevant in the 21st century, as Christopher Nuttall
might put it.

The interesting bit about the conveyor belt roads of Heinlein's The Roads
Must Roll is that it has a precedent, and a much better fit with TLA, in
H.G.Wells' When the Sleeper Awakens (1899). Wells' title recalls a
noticeable sentence in TLA Chapter One "Now it seems to me that I must have
been asleep a long time before I got into bed" followed by several
"awakenings" throughout TLA.

Note that Wells and Wolfe each relate the struggle of a potential ruler of
a dystopian society who gets caught up in a struggle between opposing
factions. I don't think the parallels go much beyond this. It's a lot like
Wolfe's choice of Baskin-Robbins as an allusion to Andromeda (Messier-31
Flavors) in An Evil Guest, or the allusion to Boris Badenov in a
conversation at a cafe in TLA, "I don't trust that conductor. Why is he so
short?" to draw attention to Papa Zenon's lack of stature.

Aramini's Black-Red-White trichotomy helps us think about a lot of TLA's
mysteries, although I suspect there is a lot of cloning going on along with
the imprinting of personalities. Imprinting is found in Home Fires, TLA, A
Borrowed Man. There's cloning/imprinting of some sort in A Borrowed Man,
and I think something similar is happening in The Land Across.

- Stephen

On Mon, Jan 27, 2020 at 10:21 AM Norwood, Frederick Hudson <
NORWOODR at mail.etsu.edu> wrote:

> Another Wolfe novel, The Land Across, is, I think strongly influenced by
> Heinlein, and essentially a satire of Heinlein. This is just my opinion,
> I?ve never heard anyone else say this. But the Rolling Roads early in the
> novel, which play no other part in the plot, I take as a hint.
>
>
>
> Best,
>
> Rick
>
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