From: avatar (avatar@renegadeclothing.com.au)
Date: Tue Feb 04 2003 - 03:32:13 MST
Sorry, unreserved apologies. He's not an occasional neo-fascist. I am sure he did not support Fascist leaders in any shape or form.
I actually quite like him. I read a bio. of him, his coast guard stuff, plus all his books up to Job (plus Nof theB). I was not aware he ran as a Democrat in the 30s. Haven't read the book on his world travels yet. I was upset when he died. Yes, sometimes private views and writings don't always coincide, e.g. Heinlein's decision not to freeze himself vs. his fiction character's stance.
Whatever you argue I believe the long repetative speeches in many of his books reflect aspects of his private thinking. Starship Troopers and tanstaafl etc. etc. His work is so heavily laced with libertarian thinking of a variety of types including a weird authoritarian or social darwinist form that critics commonly refer to it as a literary fault. Tolkein had a bias against urbanization which you can see Lord of the Rings. As a practicising writer I don't buy your argument 100%, particularly in this case, although I have found it extremely common for writers not to express their personal opinions on anything other than generic matters relating to the field.
Heinlein had a huge influence on me, he was someone I had a very deep love for, even when I disagreed with him. Some of his views I found very zippy.
Avatar Polymorph
(that's the name on my driver's licence, two first names, no surname)
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