Books in Brief: Job: A Comedy of Justice

Job: A Comedy of Justice, by Robert A. Heinlein (Ballantine, 376 pp., $16.95)

It can be argued that science fiction speaks more to our times than any other genre. Once disdained by the literary establishment (rather as the English upper crust looked down on those in “trade”), science fiction has become literature—often with a capital L. And the writer most responsible for bringing it up there is Robert Heinlein, who has been writing good-to-magnificent science fiction for some 45 years. His latest novel, Job: A Comedy of Justice, proves that Heinlein can still find gold in mines long considered overworked. Like the original Job, Heinlein’s hero is sorely beset by problems, but this is no rewrite of the Biblical account. Nor is it a lamentation on man’s fate or suffering or hopelessness. Rather, it is a novel of ideas, with the Job theme filtered through Heinlein’s own view of the universe and told so well that the philosophy is part and parcel of the story. Heinlein’s visions of Heaven and Hell (which are very different from those of Milton, Dante, Shaw, Jerry Falwell, or anyone else for that matter) alone are worth the price of the book. His views may shock or offend some readers, but Heinlein has always served up high-proof stuff, undiluted. Over the years, Heinlein has written many kinds of stories on many levels, but the thread linking them all has been the celebration of human competence:

JK

About the Author

Jack D. Kirwan

Featured Tags

Job: A Comedy of Justice, by Robert A. Heinlein (Ballantine, 376 pp., $16.95)

It can be argued that science fiction speaks more to our times than any other genre. Once disdained by the literary establishment (rather as the English upper crust looked down on those in “trade”), science fiction has become literature—often with a capital L. And the writer most responsible for bringing it up there is Robert Heinlein, who has been writing good-to-magnificent science fiction for some 45 years. His latest novel, Job: A Comedy of Justice, proves that Heinlein can still find gold in mines long considered overworked. Like the original Job, Heinlein’s hero is sorely beset by problems, but this is no rewrite of the Biblical account. Nor is it a lamentation on man’s fate or suffering or hopelessness. Rather, it is a novel of ideas, with the Job theme filtered through Heinlein’s own view of the universe and told so well that the philosophy is part and parcel of the story. Heinlein’s visions of Heaven and Hell (which are very different from those of Milton, Dante, Shaw, Jerry Falwell, or anyone else for that matter) alone are worth the price of the book. His views may shock or offend some readers, but Heinlein has always served up high-proof stuff, undiluted. Over the years, Heinlein has written many kinds of stories on many levels, but the thread linking them all has been the celebration of human competence: