Talk:The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress

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Added paragraph on race and racism in Moon orthogonal 11:16, 10 Nov 2003 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Deletion

I wish that whoever deleted my observation of last month that Heinlein himself considered this his best novel would leave my reversion in place. Does he doubt that Heinlein said it? Does he doubt that I knew Heinlein? What does he want for verification -- a tape recording of the lunch discussion itself? I don't have that, but I do have a photograph of Mr. and Mrs. Heinlein sitting beside me on the couch in my library a few hours later, just before they took my wife and me for dinner on their cruise ship, the Amsterdam....
I wonder how many other people who have contributed to the basic Heinlein article, and to this particular article, actually knew Heinlein? Very few, I imagine. I would think that information that actually came from Heinlein's mouth would be deemed of enough interest to include for others to read.
User:66.1.40.242
WP:NOR. — Phil Welch 01:56, 20 July 2005 (UTC)
It's not original research, it's simply evidence that Peirce happened to get straight from Heinlein's mouth rather than through written channels.--Bcrowell 18:54, 20 July 2005 (UTC)
i'd say that although that's interesting, it does count as original research. the same way that an editor on wikipedia shouldn't cite their own webpage or interview for an article. Feelingscarfy 13:16, August 12, 2005 (UTC)
In essence he is citing his own interview for an article. In addition, it can't be verified at all. Wikipedia:Verifiability alone precludes using that material. — Phil Welch 04:31, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Miscegenation

Is it stricly true that Mannie was arrested for miscegation, I seem to remember that the arrest was for bigamy but that the judge was driven (actually manipulated) to issue the warrant because of his feelings on race. User:Ianj

That's my recollection. Hayford Peirce 16:05, 13 Sep 2004 (UTC)
It happens at the end of Chapter 18. Exact quote: "For bigamy. For polygamy. For open immorality and publicly inciting others to same." —Lowellian (talk) 11:22, Apr 25, 2005 (UTC)
Yeah, see the beginning of the next chapter. The judge did it because of race. I've added a note about that to this article, and to a footnote in the Heinlein article.--Bcrowell 19:37, 25 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Heinlein's best book

Let's do a thought experiment. Let's say that Fred Pohl, or Bob Silverberg, or Ben Bova, or Jack Vance, all of whom I know, and who knew Heinlein themselves, or any number of other science-fiction types, had written a memoir, or even a book review in Analog or Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy, and had said in passing: "When I was having lunch with Bob Heinlein the other day, he said that he throught that Harsh Mistress was his best book." That would be written, and from a big-time writer, and hence verifiable, right? But would it mean that it was true? That Heinlein had actually said that? How, short of actually being at that lunch yourself, could you possibly know? You're simply taking Pohl's, or Silverberg's word for it. Okay. Now let's say that I write my memoirs someday. Why not? Lots of people who have led less interesting lives than I have written them. And got them published. And I'm a published writer to begin with. And I was a friend of Robert Heinlein. Certainly in my memoirs I would have a page or two about him. And I might well mention the name of the book that he thought was his best one. Then my memoir gets published. So that makes my teeny tiny little edit to a Wikipedia article 100% impregnable? Because it had been published in my memoirs instead of just being contributed out of the blue? Robert Heinlein has been dead for 17 years now. How many of his contemporaries are still alive? How many of them are contributing to Wikipedia? How many of them are trying edit the Heinlein articles and make them as valid (and interesting) as possible? And people like you are trying to keep this stuff out of the articles! If you revert this again, I will ask for a formal discuss of this issue, with a vote on it as to whether my modest Heinlein contribution should be included or not. Hayford Peirce 04:47, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

If you were to write and publish such a memoir and *someone else* were to add it to the article—yes, that would be legitimate. I'm sorry if it seems inefficient but Wikipedia has policies about this, including Wikipedia:No original research and Wikipedia:Verifiability. "People like me" are trying to maintain Wikipedia policy because that's what the community has agreed upon. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, and encyclopedias are secondary and tertiary source material. If friends and contemporaries of Robert Heinlein want to share what they remember of him, Wikipedia is not the place to do it. It is the place for others to take information from those memoirs and primary sources and compile it into an encyclopedia. — Phil Welch 05:23, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
I agree that it's not directly verifiable whether Heinlein considered this his best work. But so long as the reference is in place, that's not what the article says - it says that Hayford Pierce claims that Heinlein told him this his best work. This statement is perfectly verifiable, so long as it's established that User:Hayford Peirce is in fact Hayford Peirce, which I don't think anyone is challenging. —Cryptic (talk) 22:39, 4 September 2005 (UTC)
Verifiability aside, it's still original research/primary source material. — Phil Welch 22:40, 4 September 2005 (UTC)
As I understand it, there's no rule that it be someone else who adds the material to the article, only that it have been published elsewhere. Hayford Pierce would be free to add material from his own publications. --Trovatore 05:42, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

Well let's see it published elsewhere then. — Phil Welch 07:12, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

Just the same, assuming Heinlein thought "Harsh Mistress" was his best work, I think he was wrong. There's lots of others I'd nominate ahead of it -- say, Double Star or The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag. --Trovatore 05:52, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

I'd disagree strongly. "Moon" is easily his best adult work. Podkayne of Mars his best juvenile fiction.

[edit] Wyoh's Hatred to the Authority

Having read the novel in English just a week ago (in Czech, I know it nearly by heart - my favourite book No. 1), I am quite sure that the sentence "Wyoming, aka Wyoh, hates the Authority because she was sterilized when her mother, pregnant with her, was kept out on the Lunar surface during a solar storm after being shipped to Luna as a convict." is not true. Wyoming Knott was actually born Earthside (in Wyoming, where her parents were relocated in connection with the reconstruction of the Greater New York) and travelled to Luna with her parents as a child. She was exposed to radiation during a solar storm when kept on the Lunar surface before disembarking. This caused that Wyoming's first baby was genetically damaged ("a monster") and had to be eliminated. Wyoming than decided to have a sterilization and divorced her first husbands.

Vanamond a.k.a. anom. user:194.213.41.74 / user_talk:194.213.41.74 7 March 2006 12:43 (UTC)

Above 'attributed by' note: FrankB 13:26, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Stilyagi

I would also like to suggest that it might be good to explain the word "stilyagi" at least a bit, possibly with a reference to an external link - for example <http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1568/is_10_33/ai_83097666/pg_3>. As a Czech who grew up in the Czechoslovakia during the late Communist era, this word certainly isn't a part of my vocabulary (and with its rather strange transcription from Russian into English, I had actually thought it's a Turkish word and it confused me, the first several times I read the book - but that was long before the Internet came to Central Europe). While it is true that its general meaning is clear from the book - non-conformist young males from lower social stratas - I think that to know some basic facts about real Russian stilyagi opens some connotations and "hidden" context. Also explains RAH's description of stilyagis' clothing.

Vanamond a.k.a. anom. user:194.213.41.74 / user_talk:194.213.41.74 7 March 2006 18:52 (UTC)

Above 'attributed by' note: FrankB 13:26, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Language & Narration

I think this can be addressed by combining the discussion on the Lunar dialect with the disscussion of Mannie as the Narrator in the plot outline. A possible paragraph is as follows

The novel is narrated in the first person by the main character Manuel Garcia O'Kelly "Mannie" Davis. Throughout the book the narrator primarily uses an invented Lunar dialect made up of English words influenced by Russian grammer--often dropping the definite article before a noun and/or dropping a pronouns (in particular possesory pronouns) (e.g. "Always cut cards"); additionally the narrator will occasionally use repeated verbs to create a noun (e.g. such as using "talk-talk" for meeting). The Lunar dialect also contains a number of Russian words (such as tovarisch) and invented slang-words. Not all the characters use the Lunar dialect and where other characters speak standard English (such as Bernado de la Paz) the narrator will record it as such. The overall effect of the use of this invented dialect is to draw the reader deeper into the story. Tdewey 04:28, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Merge from Bernardo de la Paz

Merge. The character doesn't appear an any other books and is not otherwise notable. —Keenan Pepper 23:00, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

Merge. Agree.--Wehwalt 15:41, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

The merge tag has been up for over a month with all votes in favor of merging, so I am going to WP:BOLD and do the merge now. KleenupKrew 22:39, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Banned in schools comment

For the line "The book was banned by many schools due to the details given on how to stage an insurrection." in the Cultural influence section, would a citation be needed for this (such as a news article or school statement)? WikiWizard 11:33, 28 May 2006 (UTC)

  • I would tend to agree. I have never heard that. Although the formula seems a bit tricky. "First, get your self-aware computer . . . "--Wehwalt 17:23, 28 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Female-dominated Luna

Excellent article, but I was surprised to see that there was no mention of the female-dominated nature of Lunar society at the time of the rebellion, caused by the low female-to-male population ratio.

It seems to me that portrayals of such societies are rare enough to warrant a mention. --PMaranci 15:53, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Europe, Earth and the War

The European super-state in the book is several times named as Mitteleuropa, implying a German-dominated union. India is also mentioned, apparently as a power, and with the note that it practises "Planned Famines".

I find it odd that nowhere in the article does it mention that the Luna Republic winds up bombarding Earth with artificial meteorites! Was that somehow not seem an important plot development, or was it seen as a spoiler?

The book is one of the few that depicts operating in a gravity field lower than you're accustomed to as a substantial disadvantage. Most science-fiction of the period routinely describes coming from a higher gravity field as an unmitigated advantage. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 210.55.81.27 (talk • contribs) 22:05, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Effects of Gravity

No mention is made in this article of how (contrary to reality) people from Earth become irreversibly dependent on lunar gravity in a matter of months. This particular trait uniquely motivates the characters, since they cannot just go back to live on Earth if conditions on the Moon become harsh enough. Everyone on the Moon is trapped there for life. 4.244.36.61 02:33, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Assessment for NovelsWikiProject

I put this article in the project before embarking on a rewrite, preserving existing contributions as much as possible, relocated to their proper place in the NovelsWikiProject header scheme. I think we've stabilized the article now, thanks going to User:Wehwalt for adding detail (without going over the top!). It's a long article but I think the novel rates it. It certainly changed my life. Re-assessing as "B-class", although I think it's "GA" already (that's Good Article) Djdaedalus 22:49, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

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