thoughts - The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag

[a425couple]

Just a little thought I'll express,
perhaps someone else might wish to comment.

I guess right now, I'm under some stress, and was more in
search of something like a Heinlein Juvie.
i.e. light pleasant reading.
(with some levels of bigger meaning fine)

This IS NOT. About 1/2 done, and I think I'm putting
it aside for now.
Reading this
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Unpleasant_Profession_of_Jonathan_Hoag
is also not inspiring.
"Reception[edit]
Alexei and Cory Panshin described the novella as "the last and strangest
of the stories that Robert Heinlein contributed to the Golden Age before
he ceased to write during World War II."[1] Galaxy's Floyd C. Gale
found it "a brand of fantasy-mystery [that] would shock-present-day
[1961] Heinlein lovers."[2]"

[James Kuyper]

I found that story to be a rather unpleasant one to read. I never
managed to remember all the odd twists and turns in the plot for very
long after I read it, but I do remember that there's a powerful secret
conspiracy and very few things are as they seem. One thing it definitely
is NOT is "light pleasant reading".
--
James Kuyper

[a425couple]

"James Kuyper" <james...@verizon.net> wrote in message...

> On 03/10/2014 03:49 PM, a425couple wrote:

>> ----I guess right now, I'm under some stress, and was more in

>> search of something like a Heinlein Juvie.
>> i.e. light pleasant reading. (with some levels of bigger meaning fine)
>>
>> This IS NOT. About 1/2 done, and I think I'm putting
>> it aside for now.

>> Alexei and Cory Panshin described the novella as "the last and strangest

>> of the stories that Robert Heinlein contributed ---

>
> I found that story to be a rather unpleasant one to read. I never
> managed to remember all the odd twists and turns in the plot for very
> long after I read it, but I do remember that there's a powerful secret
> conspiracy and very few things are as they seem. One thing it definitely
> is NOT is "light pleasant reading".

Thank you James.

[Sean Gaeltach]

The film version seems to be stalled somewhat:

http://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=48116

The Director Alex Proyas made DARK CITY, which has always reminded me of HOAG. I read in an interview somewhere that he didn't remember HOAG while writing and developing DARK CITY, but can recognize the similarities (after the fact). One to keep an eye on.

Sean

[loupgarous]

I have Dark City on DVD and, yes, it evokes "The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag" powerfully, not least in that its characters are very like Heinlein's (thought the central characters aren't the Randalls by any means).

Thanks for reminding me.

Vance

[loupgarous]

RAH didn't start out to be either "light reading" or "inspiring," unless you count "inspiring the reader to haul out his firearms and clean them... "

Dr. Hugo Pinero gets offed by the insurance companies in "Lifeline," which considering how powerful the insurance companies are getting, isn's a tale full of warm fuzzies....

In "Solution Unsatisfactory," the Manhattan Project just says "the hell with nuclear detonations, we'll just use fallout on the Germans," and the Leslie Groves figure decides that democracy just won't cut it...

Paranoia gets proven to be true in "They," and...

...of course, the human race gets to stop believing in Santa in "The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag."

Would RAH's fiction have been different if Prozac had been around in 1939?

Just kidding (mainly),

Vance

[MajorOz]

On Monday, May 12, 2014 8:17:58 PM UTC-5, loupgarous wrote:

...some though provoking stuff, that leads me to ask:

"Has Stephen King ever expressed any views towards H's stuff ? "

[loupgarous]

Yes, actually. Grab the chair with both hands...

"Following World War II Robert A. Heinlein emerged as not only America's premier writer of speculative fiction, but as the greatest writer of such fiction in the world. He remains today as a sort of trademark for all that is finest in American imaginative fiction." --- Stephen King

He also, I think, is fond of Norman Spinrad's work (but that's what we'd call "synthesis" in wikipedia.org - reasoning that pleasant mentions of Spinrad in one of King's characters' internal dialogue means that he likes the guy's work in real life.... ).