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arts / rec.arts.sf.written / Re: Robert A. Heinlein, _6xH_

SubjectAuthor
* Robert A. Heinlein, _6xH_Michael F. Stemper
`- Re: Robert A. Heinlein, _6xH_Don

1
Robert A. Heinlein, _6xH_

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From: michael....@gmail.com (Michael F. Stemper)
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Subject: Robert A. Heinlein, _6xH_
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2022 11:18:18 -0500
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 by: Michael F. Stemper - Wed, 26 Oct 2022 16:18 UTC

This short collection has some rather unusual (for Heinlein) stories,
none of which are part of his Future History.

"The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag"

The longest story in the book might owe a tip of the hat to Dashiell
Hammett, since the protagonists are a husband and wife detective team,
and always seem to be boozing it up, at least by current standards.

The case we see them work on involves trying to determine the profession
of one Jonathan Hoag. They eventually get the cooperation of their client,
Hoag himself, and uncover the secret.

It has a bit of solipsism toward the end of Chapter VI, but nothing
compared to what we will be seeing.

It bears a few minor resemblances to "Year of the Jackpot", which was
mentioned here a couple of days back. Both have a character named
"Potiphar", and both end with hero and heroine fleeing to establish
new lives in remote locations.

Good one to read for Halloween.

"The Man Who Traveled in Elephants"

After his wife's death, a man continues their practice of long road
trips by himself. It's more habit than anything else, because he is
at loose ends and doesn't know what else to do.

It'd be technically incorrect to say "he lived happily ever after",
but that does capture the feeling well.

"--All You Zombies--"

This one has been discussed to death, so I don't have a lot to
add. I will remark that in twelve pages, it gets in more incest
and solipsism than many of his late-period novels.

"They"

A man is being treated for what a layman like myself would call
paranoia and megalomania. Spoiler: his "delusions" are seen to
be true.

As one might guess, this leads to a great deal of solipsism.

"Our Fair City"

Another feel-good story to go along with "Elephants". Crusading
reporter for small-town newspaper (remember them?) manages to
get some local corruption cleaned up with help from an entity
named "Kitten".

"--And He Built a Crooked House"

An architect builds a house in the shape of a three-dimensional
projection of a hypercube. Then, what Californians consider just
a minor temblor happens, and things get weird.

As I understand it, the one address mentioned was that of Robert
and his then-wife Leslyn.

<https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?263792>

--
Michael F. Stemper
The FAQ for rec.arts.sf.written is at
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Please read it before posting.

Re: Robert A. Heinlein, _6xH_

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From: g...@crcomp.net (Don)
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Subject: Re: Robert A. Heinlein, _6xH_
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 by: Don - Wed, 26 Oct 2022 16:59 UTC

Michael F. Stemper wrote:
> This short collection has some rather unusual (for Heinlein) stories,
> none of which are part of his Future History.
>
>
> "The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag"
>
> The longest story in the book might owe a tip of the hat to Dashiell
> Hammett, since the protagonists are a husband and wife detective team,
> and always seem to be boozing it up, at least by current standards.
>
> The case we see them work on involves trying to determine the profession
> of one Jonathan Hoag. They eventually get the cooperation of their client,
> Hoag himself, and uncover the secret.
>
> It has a bit of solipsism toward the end of Chapter VI, but nothing
> compared to what we will be seeing.
>
> It bears a few minor resemblances to "Year of the Jackpot", which was
> mentioned here a couple of days back. Both have a character named
> "Potiphar", and both end with hero and heroine fleeing to establish
> new lives in remote locations.
>
> Good one to read for Halloween.

My own review from 2016:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Heinlein, Robert "The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag"

Keywords: Chicago, ichor, mirror,

This story takes place in Chicago during the middle of the twentieth
century. Heinlein does a good job with his describing his setting. He
takes me back to the era of gum vending machines with mirrors, double
decker buses, and elevator operators. We'll get back to the mirrors in a
moment.

The story begins with a Dr Potbury ejecting one Jonathan Hoag out of his
clinic. Hoag wants to know about the brown grime under his fingernails.
Instead of receiving an answer the doctor throws him out. The name of
the brown grime is the best part of the story because it is a new word
to me.

Hoag suffers from amnesia. That's why he went to Potbury in the first
place. After Potbury gives him the bum's rush Hoag next turns to a
husband and wife private detective agency. Detectives Mr and Mrs Randall
ultimately discover Hoag's secret.

There's little character development in the story. Unless characters who
permanently alter their daily routines count as development.

spoiler space

This story reminds me of "Adjustment Team" (PKD). Both stories share a
nothingness during periods of change.

The mirrors in "Unpleasant Profession", of course, lead to an a
different world. That's the symbolism of mirrors. They are portals to a
different world. That's the mirror's function in
_Alice Through the Looking Glass_ (Carroll). In the movie "Matrix" Neo
enters the real world first by touching and melding with a mirror. It is
for this reason that Transylvanian mirrors are covered when a house is
in morning. [1]

Note.

1. http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2969340/jewish/Why-Are-the-Mirrors-Covered-in-a-House-of-Mourning.htm
------------------------------------------------------------------------

> "--And He Built a Crooked House"
>
> An architect builds a house in the shape of a three-dimensional
> projection of a hypercube. Then, what Californians consider just
> a minor temblor happens, and things get weird.
>
> As I understand it, the one address mentioned was that of Robert
> and his then-wife Leslyn.
>
>
> <https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?263792>

My own review from 2017:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Heinlein, Robert A "And He Built a Crooked House"

Keywords: hypercube, oldlosangeles, tesseract, time

This story starts with the premise that the rest of the world views
Americans as crazy. It then successively winnows down the scope of crazy
to: California, Los Angeles, Hollywood, the Laurel Canyon, and finally
Lookout Mountain. At the level of Hollywood the natives don't care what
the rest of the world thinks.

The story then offers a very brief survey of Southern California's
unique architectures. [1] It mentions The Pup and the Chili Bowl
restaurants by name. It alludes to the Feed Rack restaurant.

Then the story moves on to a house built as a three dimensional
projection of a tesseract (hypercube). The house looks like Dali's
Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus) [2] turned upside down. One cube on the
bottom, five cubes on the next level, one cube on the next level, and
one cube at the top.

When an overnight quake shakes the house it collapses into a stable four
dimensional structure. The fourth dimension is time, which introduces
the notion of space-time. The house folds space-time back upon itself.

Three people tour the house. As you say, they see the backside of
themselves. There's no time travel, only the notion of the intrinsic
space-time of a tesseract.

The second edition of _Time Machines_ was published in 1999. A few years
later the movie _Cube 2: Hypercube_ [3] was released.

The movie's mostly a cult classic for made for temporalphiles, such as
me. It also shows people who see themselves from behind. In addition, it
shows who see themselves in the future and the past.

The mathematics, or physics, or whatever you call it, that pertains to a
tesseract is beyond my level of comprehension. In the story RAH mentions
the Picard-Vessiot theory, stereochemistry, and homomorphology.

Note.
1. http://www.vintag.es/2016/03/22-vintage-pictures-of-old-los-angeles.html
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crucifixion_(Corpus_Hypercubus)
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cube_2:_Hypercube
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Danke,

--
Don.......My cat's )\._.,--....,'``. https://crcomp.net/reviews.php
telltale tall tail /, _.. \ _\ (`._ ,. Walk humbly with thy God.
tells tall tales.. `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.' Make 1984 fiction again.

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