Ελληνικά
Last Updated on 04:48 PM by Giorgos Tsekas
Title: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Writer: Robert A. Heinlein
Publisher: Hodder
Year: 1966 (first edition)
Robert A. Heinlein, author of “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” is not just a random sci-fi writer. We all know the movie “Starship Troopers” that was based on his film. And while another of his books, “Stranger in a Strange Land” has the same title with one of Iron Maiden’s song, it has nothing else in common with that. It is not by chance that he is the only author that won 4 Hugo awards.
The Moon (or Luna) is a penal colony in this book, a place to exile for life political and criminal prisoners. Their descendants, practically prisoners themselves cause of the low gravity and the biological changes in their bodies, continue to live there and a new society, with its own unwritten laws, develops slowly.
Always under the economic tyranny of “Mother” Earth, a chain of events creates the core of a rebel group. An Artificial Intelligence (first of its kind and created by chance), a technician born on Luna (and thus apolitical by default), an old anarchist professor (political exile) and a young woman interested in politics (women are rare on Luna) form a heterogeneous group that will lead Luna to freedom.
“The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” is not easily read. Something that alienates a lot of readers is the language used by Heinlein. Loonies, coming from all around Earth have now their own syntax, grammar and of course their own vocabulary formed from a mix of English, Russian and other languages. I think that this adds to the immersion but that’s a personal opinion. Heinlein doesn’t stop there though. On the contrary he actually makes a theoretical study of social norms and customs and how these change, based on the necessities and situations society faces. Typical example of this is the way family and marriage norms that are different on Luna, something necessary to cope with the population difference between the 2 sexes. Another good example would be the complete lack of written laws, wrong behavior leads to “accidents”, something that in vacuum is always fatal. So we have people living in a prison, being always polite to each, because the opposite would have dire consequences from the rest of society.
If you wonder how can a literature genre, belonging to the broader concept of fantasy, deal with issues that we still don’t really understand, the answer is simple and has already been given by one of the greatest sci-fi authors ever, Isaac Asimov, when he was asked about the importance of sci-fi. His reply was this:
“It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be…Science fiction writers foresee the inevitable, and although problems and catastrophes may be inevitable, solutions are not.
Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today – but the core of science fiction, its essence…has become crucial to our salvation if we are to be saved at all”
And that is exactly what Heinlein does. Trying to find the solution before our species creates the problem.
