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

[Marc Aramini]

Michael André-driussi sees  it as a rolling roads reference but I think it
is another of these damn symbols that show graton’s “training” and the
influence on his life after the engine gets switched out in the train - the
black road - the man in black and his possession, the White path, the woman
in white with the hand, and the red, the woman with the red pen and Russ
Rathaus. Three paths, three border guards etc.

On Monday, January 27, 2020, 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
>
>
>
> *From:* Urth [mailto:urth-bounces at lists.urth.net] *On Behalf Of *David
> Stockhoff
> *Sent:* Monday, January 27, 2020 9:57 AM
> *To:* The Urth Mailing List <urth at lists.urth.net>
> *Subject:* [EXTERNAL] Re: (urth) Heinlein's Universe and The Long Sun
>
>
>
> On January 27, 2020 9:15:27 AM EST, Gerry Quinn <gerry at bindweed.com>
> wrote:
>
>
>
> On 26/01/2020 19:44, Gem Caccetta wrote:
>
> I recently came across a three volume set of short stories and novellas
> called the *Science Fiction Hall of Fame*, edited by Ben Bova in 1975.
> One of the novellas titled *Universe*, by Robert Heinlein, (written in
> 1941) takes place on the “Ship”—a generation ship sent off long ago to
> inhabit another planet, but now drifting because none of the descendants
> remember the nature or purpose of the ship. What they do remember has
> degenerated into religious superstition. There is a “Jordan’s Plan” for the
> ship. There is a powerful two-headed mutant, Joe-Jim, a highly intelligent
> leader of a mutant gang who has learned of the Ship’s true nature. There is
> a young, curious man Hugh, captured by Joe-Jim, who is taken to the main
> control room and shown the stars. Hugh enlists others to take control of
> the ship and complete Jordan’s Plan….sound familiar?
>
>
>
> Certainly a few commonalities there - two headed mutants aren't exactly a
> dime a dozen!  But that said, there are a lot of generation ship sagas with
> some similar features.  Wolfe's Long Sun is unusual for avoiding the trope
> of complete forgetfulness.  The Crew (and the Gods/Mainframe) know what the
> deal is, though it looks like they are paralysed without orders from Pas,
> or they don't know how to persuade the Cargo.  And the Cargo - or the
> educated ones - actually know they are on a generation ship too, though
> they have put it to the back of their minds in favour of matters related to
> day to day life (I think Wolfe suggested BotNS itself has a similar
> theme).  Kind of like how everyone on this whorl ignores global warming
> insofar as it means any change in lifestyle!
>
> - Gerry Quinn
>
>
> 👍
>
> *The [EXTERNAL] tag in the subject line identifies emails that do NOT
> originate from an ETSU person or service. Please exercise caution when
> handling emails from external sources. Any email that is unsolicited and
> requires you to take immediate action, appears to be forged or is PHISHING
> for information can be verified by emailing the ITS Help Desk. *
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.urth.net/pipermail/urth-urth.net/attachments/20200127/0bf5e22f/attachment.htm>