51 pages • 1 hour read
Stranger in a Strange Land
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Background
Authorial Context: Robert Heinlein
Robert Heinlein is considered one of the major figures in the early days of American science fiction. With a background in aeronautical engineering, Heinlein was one of the first writers in the genre to emphasize scientific accuracy in his work, and he is often credited as the “dean” of hard science fiction. This knowledge of engineering is evident early in the narrative in Heinlein’s descriptions of “free-fall orbits” and “bounce tubes.” The crew of the Envoy is carefully selected according to a range of scientific skills—biochemistry, astrophysics, electronic engineering, semantics—that someone with a background in science would deem necessary.
Heinlein, famously, had other interests: politics and religion chief among them, and those interests inform the narrative. As a staunch libertarian, he had little patience for political meddling in the private affairs of citizens. “Government! Three fourths parasitic and the other fourth stupid fumbling” (“33 of the Best Robert Heinlein Quotes on Liberty, Politics, and Culture.” Foundation for Economic Education, 10 Feb. 2023). Heinlein’s Federation government is a corrupt hierarchy in which prominent players make power grabs and trample on individual rights to maintain their influence. The government and its “S.S. goons” are more than happy to exploit Smith’s wealth and extraordinary gifts, and it is only through Harshaw’s deft legal maneuvering that Smith walks free. Heinlein’s libertarianism extends to personal sexual freedom as well, evident in the organization of Smith’s Church of All Worlds. Members are free to engage in sexual relations with any members they choose. In fact, it’s encouraged as a goodness, a “growing closer,” and a path to enlightenment. Heinlein rebels against the puritanical restrictions that American society has traditionally associated with sex. Heinlein views sex as a joyous coupling to be celebrated rather than denounced.
As for organized religion, Heinlein acknowledges its ability to comfort and assuage fear but suggests its reliance on faith alone cultivates lazy thinking. In his novel Friday (1982), he argues, “The great trouble with religion—any religion—is that a religionist, having accepted certain propositions by faith, cannot thereafter judge those propositions by evidence.” Religion, in Stranger in a Strange Land, more closely resembles a carnival con game than a vehicle for spiritual salvation. The Fosterites, no better or worse than any other religion, are at least more open about their capitalist tendencies. Slot machines, merchandising, and corporate sponsorship are on full display at Fosterite services. In fact, it is Smith’s exposure to the theatrics and mass euphoria of Fosterism that convinces him to use his religion to bring his message to the masses. Regardless of its relationship to truth, religion is a rhetorically powerful technique for persuasion.
Social/Cultural Context: The Cold War Era
Stranger in a Strange Land was written during the height of the Cold War. The Cuban Missile Crisis was only a year away, and the United States and the Soviet Union were engaged in a global power struggle that, but for luck and mutual, grudging respect, might have erupted in World War III. Another world war seemed so likely that many sci-fi writers, Heinlein included, have prophesized it in fiction. While humanity has eluded the devastation of another global conflict (so far), many of the era’s other historical and cultural moments make appearances in the narrative. The Cold War played out not only in proxy wars and political rhetoric but in terrestrial orbit as well. The space race saw both sides pour vast resources into conquering the skies above Earth—first satellites, then unmanned and manned rockets. The race for outer space was fueled by paranoia that whoever took control of the skies would rain down hellfire on their enemy. That paranoia is reflected in Smith’s captivity and isolation. Although biologically human, he is regarded as “other,” so the government assumes him to be hostile. Gillian Boardman notes Smith’s gentle disposition—his Martian upbringing precludes violence—and yet he is under constant armed guard. Only when Jubal Harshaw forces the government’s hand by citing legal precedent do the authorities release him.
Culturally, the United States was just emerging from the conformity and sexual repression of the 1950s. Heinlein rejects these cultural norms in favor of a freewheeling, anything-goes ethic (so long as no harm is done). Harshaw, crusty misanthrope that he is, cannot abide any institution—government or church—interfering with the individual right to happiness. As such, Harshaw’s compound is a hedonist’s paradise—free-flowing liquor, men and women frolicking poolside with the freedom to indulge as they choose. While the counterculture and the Summer of Love were still years away, Heinlein portends a libertarian—or libertine—revolution in which society sheds the bonds of guilt and shame, unafraid to seize their happiness and revel in it. Smith’s Church of All Worlds is based on the ethic that humanity’s greatest asset is spiritual and sexual love, and within the walls of his temple, members are free to practice that message to their heart’s content. In the coming years, Joan Didion and others would chronicle some of the discontents arising from the climate of hedonic excess Heinlein celebrates. At the dawn of the 60s, however, it may have felt unambiguously like a message of liberation.
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By Robert A. Heinlein
