| While Robert A. Heinlein's novels have received a great deal of critical attention, his shorter fiction has not. This paper examines Heinlein's early short fiction in light of the professed and imbedded ideology. Heinlein is well known for his overt political diatribes; his shorter fiction contains fewer of these but is no less political as a result. In addition, Heinlein, though constructing narrators who appear to be “enlightened”—non-sexist, in favor of general equality and peaceful interaction—ends up working against these same ideals in many cases.; I identify the warring elements of his fiction as “The Ambassador,” “The Agent,” and “The Secret Agent.” The Ambassador is the overt message, often presented through a mentor figure, who tells us how we should be, or through the leader of the bad guys, who tells us how we shouldn't be. The Agent, on the other hand, generally works through the hero character, prodding readers to identify and grow with this character. The goal of the Agent is to adapt the reader's ideology (using Althusser's definition) to that of the hero. In the best of Heinlein's works, the Agent's actions are almost invisible; the reader simply finds the hero (usually male) and his growth natural. The Agent comes to hold the same general belief system as the Ambassador. The Secret Agent, however, undermines fundamental elements of this overt belief system. While the Agent and Ambassador seem to contrast with the dominant culture that Heinlein is writing through, the Secret Agent acts to reinforce it, causing tension within Heinlein's text. This is particularly evident in the stereotypical treatment of women and in the hero's inability to live in the utopias created. This tension, however, is often resolved through, in part, the construction of the reader. |
