Ernest Gibbons Captain Aaron Sheffield "Happy" Daze Proscribed Prisoner No. 83M2742 Mr. Justice Lenox Dr. Lafayette 'Lafe' Hubert Corporal Ted Bronson His Serenity Seraphim the Younger, Supreme High Priest of the One God in All His Aspects and Arbiter Below and Above.
His exact (natural) life span is never revealed. In his introduction at the beginning of Methuselah's Children, he claims he is 213 years old. Approximately 75 years pass during the course of the novel, but because large amounts of this time are spent traveling close to the speed of light, the 75-year measurement is an expression of the time elapsed on Earth, rather than time seen from his perspective. At one point, he estimates his natural life span to be around 250 years, but this number is not expressed with certainty. He acknowledges that such a long life span should not be expected as a result of a mere three generations of selective breeding, but offers no alternative explanation except by having a character declare: "A mutation, of course— which simply says that we don't know".[2]
In Methuselah's Children, Long mentions visiting Hugo Pinero, the scientist appearing in Heinlein's first published story "Life-Line", who had invented a machine that precisely measured lifespan. Pinero refuses to reveal the results of Lazarus's reading and returns his money.
The promotional copy on the back of Time Enough for Love, the second book featuring Lazarus Long, states that Lazarus was "so in love with time that he became his own ancestor", but this never happens in any of the published books. In the book, Lazarus does travel back in time and is seduced by his mother, but this takes place years after his own birth. Heinlein did, however, use just such a plot device in the short story "'—All You Zombies—'", in which a character becomes both of his own parents.
A rugged individualist with a distrust of authority, Lazarus drifts from world to world, settling down periodically and leaving when the situation becomes too regimented for his taste, often just before an angry mob arrives to capture him.
The Notebooks of Lazarus Long, a book containing sayings of the character Lazarus Long largely taken from Time Enough for Love, was published in 1978.
James Gifford postulates that Doctor MacRae in Red Planet may also be another incarnation of Lazarus Long: "McRae's [sic] actions and description, combined with Lazarus Long's brief discussions of his early history in Methuselah's Children and Time Enough for Love, would seem to say so. There is no conclusive evidence one way or another. But the pieces fit together rather well, and Heinlein must have had some reason for including the anomalous and cryptic reference to McRae's [sic] recall of events that apparently predate his birth."[3]
Methuselah's Children
When the character of Lazarus Long is introduced in Methuselah's Children, he is 213 years old, and the breeding experiment that created the Howard Families has proven to be a success, with most "Howards" enjoying a lifespan of approximately 150 years and changing identities periodically to conceal their long lifespans. Ten percent of them have elected to end "The Masquerade" and live publicly, with the approval of the Howard Foundation, but this process has backfired.
The general public of Earth, once exposed to the Howards' lifespan, believes incorrectly that the Howards have discovered an anti-aging process that they are choosing to conceal, and come to resent them. Civil liberties applied to the Howards are suspended and, with the exception of Lazarus, the entire membership of the Howard Families is detained.
With the aid of the elected head of the world government, Slayton Ford, Lazarus hijacks the New Frontiers, a starship designed to travel to distant stars, and liberates the Howards. While the New Frontiers was designed to sustain a colony in travel at speeds significantly below the speed of light, a Howard named Andrew Jackson "Slipstick" Libby increases the ship's top speed to nearly the speed of light. With the ship thus modified, the Howard Families, under the leadership of Lazarus Long, escape the Solar System in search of a planet of their own.
The first planet they encounter is populated by the Jockaira, an intelligent species that has been domesticated for another, unnamed and undescribed, species, whom they worship as gods. When the latter discover that the humans cannot be domesticated, all of the humans are forcibly removed from the planet and placed in their ship, which is then transferred to another star system and planet by means of technology sufficiently advanced that it is not observable by the humans.
This second planet is populated by a diminutive furry species called the "Little People", who are a very advanced collective intelligence. They are very accommodating to the humans. In fact, their world is pleasant enough to be considered a paradise. After many years, Mary Sperling— a close friend of Lazarus and the second-oldest of the Howard Families— joins the collective intelligence in order to escape thanatophobia, whereupon Lazarus and many other Howards return to Earth. Approximately twelve thousand remain behind.
Upon return to Earth, the Howards learn that a rejuvenation treatment has been developed to approximate the secret of longevity supposedly held by them, thus permitting Lazarus, who has grown old, to regain his youth.
Note that Heinlein's basic concept in Methuselah's Children bears some similarities to George Bernard Shaw's Back to Methuselah, which Heinlein had mentioned having read.
Time Enough for Love
At the beginning of this book, Lazarus has grown weary of life and decides to die. He returns to Secundus, where a standing order is in place to notify the Chairman Pro Tempore of the Howard Families if he came on world. He is located and, without his consent, subjected to rejuvenation at the behest of his descendant Ira Weatheral, Chairman Pro Tempore of the Howard Families, who believes that the society and culture of Secundus are in death throes, and wishes to lead the Families to a new planet named Tertius, having had Lazarus advise him in doing so. Lazarus later agrees, promising to commit suicide if Ira does not meet his demands, and in exchange, Ira orders a search to find Lazarus a new amusement. This search, using a "Zwicky box", is performed by an artificial intelligence named Minerva, who handles most of the computerized functions of the planetary government, is in love with Ira, and becomes friends with Lazarus. Meanwhile, the latter's rejuvenator, named Ishtar, and Ira's daughter, named Hamadryad, both give birth to female clones of him, their Y chromosome being replaced by an identical copy of the X chromosome, producing "daughters" named Lapis Lazuli and Lorelei Lee. Lazarus' advice to Ira appears alternately as proverbs and as stories.
Lazarus assists Ira in the migration to Tertius, settles the latter, and attempts a trans-temporal journey to Earth, around 1919–1929, but mistakenly arrives in 1916, there to insinuate himself into his parents' family under the name of "Ted Bronson", whom his grandfather Ira suspects to be an illegitimate nephew or son of his own. Lazarus also discovers, to his surprise and (initial) shame, a sexual desire of his own mother, Maureen. When his family learns that he has no plans to join the army in World War I, they spurn him, prompting him to enlist. His genetic father, Brian Smith, an officer, makes arrangements for him to go overseas, thinking that he is doing "Ted" a favor.
Before deployment, Lazarus again visits his family, whereupon he learns that Maureen is as attracted to him as he is to her. She explains that her husband does not insist on fidelity, although she is careful not to become pregnant by any man but Brian, and being newly pregnant, consummates her attraction to Lazarus. Overseas, Lazarus is seriously wounded in combat, but is rescued by his Tertian household.
Other novels
In The Number of the Beast, the main characters discover a way to travel to fictional worlds, and in the course of their explorations, visit the world of Lazarus Long. Using the technology of these characters' ship (which can travel through space and time), Lazarus snatches his mother out of the time stream at the end of her life and replaces her with a dead clone.
In The Pursuit of the Pankera, which is a parallel novel of The Number of the Beast, Lazarus is mentioned by the name "Doc Lafe Hubert" (a known alternate name for Lazarus), who claims to have "delivered over twelve thousand babies[,] about fifty of them his own", and later in the book: "After this ruckus, Maureen wants your family to visit ours."[4]
Lazarus also appears as a minor character in The Cat Who Walks Through Walls and plays a role in Heinlein's last novel, To Sail Beyond the Sunset, which is the life story of Maureen. In the former novel, Lazarus is revealed at the end of the novel as the father of protagonist Colin "Richard Ames" Campbell, whereas in the latter novel, Maureen as narrator tells a somewhat different version of Lazarus' visit to Earth in 1916–1918, details that information about the future received from Lazarus was crucial to the Howard Foundation's survival of the Great Depression, and reveals that Lazarus (as Woodrow "Bill" Smith) was the backup pilot of the first lunar expedition.
Footnotes
↑ William H. Patterson, Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century, volume 1, Tor Books, 2011, p.273.
↑ Justin Foote the 45th in the (in-fiction) Introduction in Time Enough for Love, p.xvi.
↑ Gifford, James (2000). Robert A. Heinlein: A Readers Companion. Nitrosyncretic Press. p.158. ISBN0-9679874-0-7.
Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific accuracy in his fiction, and was thus a pioneer of the subgenre of hard science fiction. His published works, both fiction and non-fiction, express admiration for competence and emphasize the value of critical thinking. His plots often posed provocative situations which challenged conventional social mores. His work continues to have an influence on the science-fiction genre, and on modern culture more generally.
To Sail Beyond the Sunset is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, published in 1987. It was the last novel published before his death in 1988. The title is taken from the poem "Ulysses", by Alfred Tennyson. The stanza of which it is a part, quoted by a character in the novel, is as follows:
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, published in 1985. Like many of his later novels, it features Lazarus Long and Jubal Harshaw as supporting characters.
Methuselah was a biblical patriarch and a figure in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He had the longest lifespan of all those given in the Bible, having died at the age of 969. According to the Book of Genesis, Methuselah was the son of Enoch, the father of Lamech, and the grandfather of Noah. Elsewhere in the Bible, Methuselah is mentioned in genealogies in 1 Chronicles, Genesis, and the Gospel of Luke.
Methuselah's Children is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein. Originally serialized in Astounding Science Fiction in the July, August, and September 1941 issues, it was expanded into a full-length novel in 1958. The novel is part of Heinlein's Future History series of stories. It introduces the Howard families, a fictional group of people who achieved long lifespans through selective breeding.
"If This Goes On—" is a science fiction novella by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, first serialized in 1940 in Astounding Science-Fiction and revised and expanded to novel length for inclusion in the 1953 collection Revolt in 2100. The story shows what might happen to Christianity in the United States with mass communications, applied psychology, and a hysterical populace. The story is part of Heinlein's Future History series.
"Misfit" is a science fiction short story by American writer Robert A. Heinlein. It was originally titled "Cosmic Construction Corps" before being renamed by the editor John W. Campbell and published in the November 1939 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. "Misfit" was Heinlein's second published story. One of the earliest of Heinlein's Future History stories, it was later included in the collections Revolt in 2100 and The Past Through Tomorrow.
Revolt in 2100 is a 1953 science fiction collection by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, part of his Future History series.
Time Enough for Love is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, first published in 1973. The book made the shortlist for the Nebula, Hugo and Locus awards for best science fiction novel of that year, although it did not win. It did win a retrospective Libertarian Futurist Society award: the Prometheus Hall of Fame award for 1988.
Orphans of the Sky is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, consisting of two parts: "Universe" and its sequel, "Common Sense". The two novellas were first published together in book form in 1963. "Universe" was also published separately in 1951 as a 10¢ Dell paperback. The work presents one of the earliest fictional depictions of a generation ship.
The Future History is a series of stories created by Robert A. Heinlein. It describes a projected future of the human race from the middle of the 20th century through the early 23rd century. The term Future History was coined by John W. Campbell Jr. in the February 1941 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. Campbell published an early draft of Heinlein's chart of the series in the May 1941 issue.
The Howard Families are a fictional group of people created by the author Robert A. Heinlein.
Methuselah, a Biblical figure, was known for living a long time.
The Past Through Tomorrow is a collection of science fiction stories by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, first published in 1967, all part of his Future History.
The Notebooks of Lazarus Long is a 1978 collection of aphorisms by Robert Heinlein's main character, "Lazarus Long", excerpted from his 1973 novel Time Enough for Love. The aphorisms were originally published as two "intermission" sections in the novel.
The science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988) was productive during a writing career that spanned the last 49 years of his life; the Robert A. Heinlein bibliography includes 32 novels, 59 short stories and 16 collections published during his life. Four films, two TV series, several episodes of a radio series, at least two songs and a board game derive more or less directly from his work. He wrote the screenplay for Destination Moon (1950). Heinlein also edited an anthology of other writers' science fiction short stories.
Delos David Harriman, known as D.D. Harriman, is a character in the fiction of science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein. He is an entrepreneurial businessman who masterminded the first landing on the Moon as a private business venture. His story is part of Heinlein's Future History.
The Heinlein juveniles are the science-fiction novels written by Robert A. Heinlein for Scribner's young-adult line. Each features "a young male protagonist entering the adult world of conflict, decisions, and responsibilities." Together, they tell a loosely connected story of space exploration. Scribner's published the first 12 between 1947 and 1958, but rejected the 13th, Starship Troopers. That one was instead published by Putnam. A 14th novel, Podkayne of Mars, is sometimes listed as a "Heinlein juvenile", although Heinlein himself did not consider it to be one.
Maureen Johnson Smith Long most often referred to as Maureen Johnson, is a fictional character in several science fiction novels by American writer Robert A. Heinlein. She is the mother, lover, and eventual wife of Lazarus Long, the longest-living member of Heinlein's fictional Howard families. She is the only character from the "Lazarus Long cycle" to have an entire fictional memoir devoted to her life.
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