Heinlein in Dimension: A Critical Analysis

Alexei Panshin

Advent Publ., 1974 - Literary Criticism - 214 pages

From the early 1940s until his death in 1988, Robert A. Heinlein reigned unchallenged as the most influential contemporary author of science fiction. His first few stories turned the field upside down, and set new standards of narrative and scientific excellence. He was justly credited with introducing narrative techniques which are now taken for granted, but were revolutionary at the time. This book was the first full-length critical analysis of Heinlein's work and his place in modern science fiction. Like Damon Knight, Mr. Panshin works on the assumption that the ordinary standards of literature apply with full force to science fiction; a vaulting imagination does not excuse bad writing or foolish plotting. In addition there are criteria of narrative technique and scientific plausibility that are peculiar to science fiction. Rigorously applying these standards, Mr. Panshin discusses Heinlein's fiction and analyzes its strengths and weaknesses; he traces the constants and the variables in Heinlein's interests and viewpoints; and he offers a suggestion as to the ultimate significance of Heinlein both in science fiction and in literature as a whole. Neither adulatory nor carping, this is a study in depth which is both readable and comprehensive. With bibliographies of Heinlein's works up to 1968.

About the author

James Benjamin Blish was born on May 23, 1921 in East Orange, N.J. Blish trained as a biologist at Rutgers and Columbia University, and spent 1942 - 1944 as a medical technician in the United States Army. After the war he became the science editor for the Pfizer pharmaceutical company. His first published story appeared in 1940, and his writing career progressed until he gave up his job to become a professional writer. From 1962 to 1968, he worked for the Tobacco Institute. Between 1967 and his death from lung cancer in 1975, Blish wrote authorized short story collections based upon the 1960s TV series Star Trek. He wrote 11 volumes adapting episodes of the series. He died midway through writing Star Trek 12. Perhaps Blish's most famous works were the "Okies" stories, known collectively as Cities in Flight, published in the science-fiction digest magazine Astounding Science Fiction. Some of James Blish's other works include The Vanished Jet, And All the Stars a Stage, The Quincunx of Time, and Flight of Eagles.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Heinlein in Dimension: A Critical Analysis
• Author: Alexei Panshin
• Contributor: James Blish
• Edition: revised
• Publisher: Advent Publ., 1974
• ISBN: 0911682120, 9780911682120
• Length: 214 pages
• Subjects: Literary Criticism / General; Literary Criticism / Science Fiction & Fantasy