Heinlein Thread #24 1. In one of the Facebook comment threads Ive been reading about Pattersons book, his friend Robert James, who assisted in the research, says that in the editing process, Patterson was forced to omit much of the good and useful material that was in his original draft. My problem with the published book is that so much of what remains isnt useful to anyone who cares about what Heinleins stories really say and mean, but instead concerns stuff like the Heinleins triumphant return from long vacations and their subsequent stays in the hospital for one thing or another. Is it possible that Patterson, in editing himself, made a wrong decision about what was important and ought to be retained and what wasnt, and cut away the meat while retaining the fat? 2. At an earlier point, I was asked what I made of Heinlein as a collector of blood. Now that Ive been reading the relevant part of the book, what I make of it is this: Heinlein declared in a letter that his hyper-patriotism was the closest he came to having a religion. This attachment could well have been a result of his discomfort about not being allowed to serve in World War II. But you dont hear much about his super-patriotism after his attempt to demonstrate it with a call to arms in the Who Are the Heirs of Patrick Henry? ad fell completely flat. My guess is that the blood drives -- which take on an overwhelming presence in Pattersons narrative -- represented a more successful attempt on Heinleins part to do something selfless and noble, and consequently he worked very very hard at them. 3. In 1976, Heinlein was Guest of Honor at the Worldcon in Kansas City. But Patterson writes that prior to the convention his relations with the MidAmeriCon had turned rocky. ... The sponsoring committees change of attitude was inexplicable. Polite requests were met with incomprehensible refusals, and the chairman was not speaking to them anymore. Jerry Pournelle stepped in to try to smooth things over. Pournelle told Patterson: At some point I told the Committee Do you think I am a bit old fashioned and fuddy duddy and hard to deal with? They all grinned (well this was by phone so I infer the grins). He graduated from the Naval Academy before I was born, I pointed out. Robert was very old fashioned in some of his beliefs about proper etiquette, and pretty damned rigid in his expectations. It all worked out but it cost me more time than I think either Robert or Ginny realized. I sure took pains to see they didnt know. 4. Patterson also writes: Heinlein took special pains to acknowledge his colleagues at this convention. He had been warmed to find that not only was he mistaken about the general attitude of his colleagues to him, but the fraternal feeling in the SFWA _in general_ was much more pronounced than he knew -- or could reasonably have expected. Well, Ill be damned. They didnt hate him after all.
Posted on: Sun, 29 Jun 2014 23:13:08 +0000
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