This collection of essays displays the talent and insight that make the Panshins the obvious and worthy successors to Damon Knight and James Blish in the field of science fiction and fantasy criticism. The Panshins document the evolution of a new and fruitful paradigm and offer a challenge to all conventional opinion about science fiction. They demonstrate that the conception of science fiction as fiction about science was fatally compromised from the outset. They trace the continuity of science fiction with man's most ancient and meaningful stories, the great fantasy of the past, and find this continuity in symbols of transcendent mystery.

Nearly half of this book is devoted to studying the works of Robert Heinlein, extending and reconsidering the analysis begun in Heinlein in Dimension, and concluding with a long discussion of The Number of the Beast.

The Panshin team applies theories of human psychological development to show the deeper meanings of the stories of Heinlein and other authors. They say: "In the mirror of a science fiction story may be seen a reflection of the author. In the mirror of science fiction stories may be seen a reflection of an era. And in our reading of science fiction—he stories we choose and what we make of them—ay be seen a reflection of ourselves. We read science fiction to know ourselves better."

Contents

Preface: SF in Dimension

Part 1: The Nature of SF

The Magic of Their Singing

The Elizabethan Theatre in 1590

The Short History of Science Fiction

Searching for the Heartland

The World Beyond the Hill

Part 2: SF in the Seventies

Fragmentation

Science Fiction: New Trends and Old

The Special Nature of Fantasy

Reflections and Commentaries

Heinlein Reread

Reading Heinlein Subjectively

Time Enough for Love

"Found in Space," by R. Monroe Weems

Part 4: The Renewal of SF

Retrospection

Fiction and Human Development

The Unicorn and the Mirror

Farwell to Yesterday's Tomorrow

Intuition and Mystery

A New Worldview

Part 5: A Season of Change

The Past and the Future of SF

The End of the Ghetto?

Dealing with Higher Realities

The Death of Science Fiction: A Dream

References