Time Enough for Love
Time Enough For Love
(first edition cover - 1973) |
|
| Author | Robert A. Heinlein |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | G.P. Putnam's Sons |
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Publication date
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June 1973 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 605 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 639653 |
| 813/.5/4 | |
| LC Class | PZ3.H364 Ti3 PS3515.E288 |
| Preceded by | I Will Fear No Evil |
| Followed by | The Number of the Beast |
Time Enough for Love is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, first published in 1973. The work was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1973 and both the Hugo and Locus Awards in 1974.
The book covers several periods from the life of Lazarus Long (birth name: Woodrow Wilson Smith), the oldest living human, now more than two thousand years old.
The first half of the book takes the form of several novellas connected by Lazarus's retrospective narrative. In the framing story, Lazarus has decided that life is no longer worth living, but (in what is described as a reverse Arabian Nights scenario) agrees not to end his life for as long as his companion, chief executive of the Howard families, and descendant Ira Weatherall, will listen to his stories.
This story concerns a 20th-century United States Navy cadet named David Lamb who rises in the ranks while avoiding any semblance of real work by applying himself enthusiastically to the principle of "constructive laziness". Shortly after telling the story Lazarus mistakenly calls David "Donald", which is intended to make the reader think the story is fallacious, while actually pertaining to Lazarus directly.
Lazarus tells of his visit as an interplanetary cargo trader to a planet, where he bought a pair of slaves, brother and sister, and immediately manumitted them. Because they had no knowledge of independent living, nor any education, Lazarus teaches them "how to be human" during the voyage.
The two were the result of an experiment in genetic recombination in which two parent cells were separated into complementary haploid gametes, and recombined into two embryos. The resulting zygotes were implanted in a woman and gestated by her, with the result that although both have the same mother and genetic parents, they are no more closely related genetically than any two people taken at random. They have been prevented from sexual relations by a chastity belt; but having confirmed that there is no risk of genetic disease in their offspring (described as the only valid reason against incest), Lazarus solemnizes their marriage and later establishes them as the owners and operators of a thriving business. At the end of the story, he reveals a belief that they were his own descendants, from an earlier period when he had been a slave on the same planet.
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Wikipedia