Robert Heinlein’s ‘Stranger in a Strange Land’: A Postmodern Study

Abstract

Robert A. Heinlein, “a handy short definition of almost all science fiction might read: realistic speculation about possible future, events based solidly on adequate knowledge of the real world, past and present, and on a thorough understanding of the nature and significance of the scientific method”. Rod Serling’s definition is “fantasy is the impossible made probable. Science fiction is the improbable made possible. Stranger in a Strange Land is a 1961 science fiction novel by American author Robert A. Heinlein. It tells the story of Valentine Michael Smith, a human who comes to Earth in early adulthood after being born on the planet Mars and raised by Martians. The novel explores his interaction with and eventual transformation of terrestrial culture .In 2012, the U S Library of Congress named it one of 88 “Books that Shaped America”. The title “Stranger in a Strange Land” is an allusion to the phrase in Exodus 2:22. The novel is set in the backdrop of newer technologies, space exploration, psychology liberal ideologies and physical freedom. It presents a critique often an ironic view of the Heinlein’s contemporary society. It explored the nature and limits of the religious institutions especially of the Fosterites.