"Robert A. Heinlein - Stranger in a Strange Land" - читать интересную книгу автора (Heinlein Robert A)

NOTICE: All men, gods; and planets in this story are imaginary, Any
coincidence of names is regretted.
Part One HIS MACULATE ORIGIN
Part Two HIS PREPOSTEROUS HERITAGE
Part Three HIS ECCENTRIC EDUCATION
Part Four HIS SCANDALOUS CAREER
Part Five HIS HAPPY DESTINY


Preface
IF YOU THINK that this book appears to be thicker and contain more words
than you found in the first published edition of Stranger in a Strange Land,
your observation is correct. This edition is the original one-the way Robert
Heinlein first conceived it, and put it down on paper.
The earlier edition contained a few words over 160,000, while this one runs
around 220,000 words. RobertтАЩs manuscript copy usually contained about
250 to 300 words per page, depending on the amount of dialogue on the
pages. So, taking an average of about 275 words, with the manuscript
running 800 pages, we get a total of 220,000 words, perhaps a bit more.
This book was so different from what was being sold to the general public, or
to the science fiction reading public in 1961 when it was published, that the
editors required some cutting and removal of a few scenes that might then
have been offensive to public taste.

The November 1948 issue of Astounding Science Fiction contained a letter to
the editor suggesting titles for the issue of a year hence. Among the titles
was to be a story by Robert A. Heinlein-тАЮGulf.тАЬ
In a long conversation between that editor, John W. Campbell, Jr., and
Robert, it was decided that there would be sufficient lead time to allow all the
stories that the fan had titled to be written, and the magazine to come out in
time for the November 1949 date. Robert promised to deliver a short story to
go with the title. Most of the other authors also went along with the gag. This
issue came to be known as the тАЮTime TravelтАЬ issue.
RobertтАЩs problem, then, was to find a story to fit the title assigned to him.
So we held a тАЮbrainstormingтАЬ session. Among other unsuitable notions, I
suggested a story about a human infant, raised by an alien race. The idea
was just too big for a short story, Robert said, but he made a note about it.
That night he went into his study, and wrote some lengthy notes, and set
them aside.
For the title тАЮGulfтАЬ he wrote quite a different story.
The notes sat in a file for several years, at which time Robert began to write
what was to be Stranger in a Strange Land. Somehow, the story didnтАЩt quite
jell, and he set it aside. He returned to the manuscript a few times, but it was
not finished until 1960: this was the version you now hold in your hands.
In the context of 1960, Stranger in a Strange Land was a book that his
publishers feared-it was too far off the beaten path. So, in order to minimize
possible losses, Robert was asked to cut the manuscript down to 150,000
words-a loss of about 70,000 words. Other changes were also requested,
before the editor was willing to take a chance on publication.
To take out about a quarter of a long, complicated book was close to an