- Heinlein, Robert A.
Podkayne of Mars.
New York: Ace, [1963] 2010.
ISBN 978-0-441-01834-5.
-
This novel had an interesting genesis. Robert Heinlein,
who always considered writing a business—he had things to say,
but it had to pay—paid attention when his editor at
Scribner's pointed out to him that his work was selling well
in the young male demographic and observed that if he
could write for girls as well he could double the size of his
market. Heinlein took this as both a challenge and opportunity,
and created the character of “Puddin'” (Maureen),
who appeared in three short stories in the magazine
Calling All Girls, the most memorable of which is
“Cliff and the Calories”.
Heinlein was so fond of Puddin' that he later decided to
move her to Mars, change her name to Podkayne, after an
ancient Martian saint, and launch her into interplanetary
intrigue along with her insufferable and cataclysmically
clever younger brother, Clark. This novel was written just
as the original romantic conception of the solar system was
confronted with the depressing reality from the first
interplanetary probes. Mars was not the home of ancients, but
an arid desert with a thin atmosphere where, at best, microbes
might survive. Venus was not a swampy jungle world but a hellish
furnace hot enough to melt lead. But when Heinlein was writing
this book, we could still dream.
Podkayne was the prototype of the strong female characters
which would populate Heinlein's subsequent work. She
aspired to captain an exploration starship, and wasn't
averse to using her emerging feminine wiles to achieving
her goals. When, after a mix-up in Mars family planning
grounded her parents, depriving her and deplorable brother Clark
of the opportunity to take the triplanetary grand tour,
her Uncle Tom, a Mars revolutionary, arranges to take them
on a trip to Earth via Venus on the luxury liner
Tricorn. On board and at Venus, Podkayne discovers
the clash of cultures as planetary civilisations have begun to
diverge, and the conflict between those who celebrate their
uniqueness formed from their environments and those who would
coerce them into uniformity.
When brother Clark vanishes, Podkayne discovers that Uncle Tom's
trip is not a tourist jaunt but rather a high stakes mission,
and that the independence of Mars may depend upon the
her resourcefulness and that of her detestable brother.
There are two endings to this novel. Readers detested the original
and, under protest, Heinlein wrote an alternative which appears
in this edition. This is often classified as a
Heinlein juvenile
because the protagonist is a young adult, but Heinlein did not
consider it among his juvenile works.
Is there anybody who does not admire Poddy and simultaneously detest
and respect Clark? This is a great story, which may have made
young women of my generation aspire to fly in space. Many did.
December 2013 