Heinlein and the Cold War: Epistemology and Politics in the Puppet Masters and Double Star (Robert A. Heinlein) (Critical Essay‪)‬

In an essay written the same year as Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein argued for a definition of science fiction as "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" ("Science Fiction: Its Nature, Faults and Virtues" 28). The genre's focus, he continued, should be "preparing our youngsters to be mature citizens of the Galaxy" (61). Heinlein's definition is striking for its characterization of the galaxy and the role of humanity within it. In other words, the mysteries of space exploration, in this configuration, are not very mysterious. Heinlein's definition suggests a particular way of seeing the empirical world, the promises and limitations of knowledge, and the agency man has in his journey outward from Earth. Finally, Heinlein's definition domesticates scientific speculation, the role the genre plays in imagining the future, and the expectations of a generation coming to maturity during the Cold War. Although the role of the political in Heinlein's fiction has received a great deal of attention among scholars and while, to a lesser extent, others have considered the role of epistemology in his work, no one has attempted to explain the political as a function of the epistemological positivism that characterizes Heinlein's fiction. (1) A close analysis of Heinlein's 1951 novel The Puppet Masters and his Hugo award-winning 1956 novel Double Star, as well as the Scribner juveniles published between 1947-1959, reveals that these much discussed political tendencies result from the conspicuous epistemological positivism characteristic to Heinlein's work during the Cold War. These novels present a fictional world entirely accessible and knowable to its protagonists, where contact with aliens is, if not routine, then uncomfortably unhindered (as in the case of parasitic aliens of The Puppet Masters). Ultimately, these narratives, in their expressed anxiety over duplicity, paranoia, and conformity, anticipate a containment culture that was to dominate the global political landscape until the end of the twentieth century. Indeed, Heinlein's positivism is best explained as a response to the Cold War aimed at instructing as much as entertaining.