"Heinlein presents us, in terms of his sources and influences with a rope of many strands and the strength of the whole is in the multiplicity of the strands. To lift one strand out and examine it has two immediate effects: it magnifies the relative importance out of proportion to its place in the whole; and it weakens the whole. For all the good and interesting use Heinlein made of his encounter with Cabell, he was not a disciple or even a "Cabell minor." Rather, he used Cabellian materials to make his own figure in the world, and in so doing he has given the Biography of the Life of Manuel a Life of its own, flowing into literary history. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery — but in literature, transformation is the only form of progeny."
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Science fiction authors from the United StatesNovelists from the United StatesEssayists from the United StatesShort story writers from the United StatesScreenwriters from the United States
Original Language: English
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Sources
Bill Patterson, in "The Heir of James Branch Cabell: The Biography of the Life of the Biography of the Life of Manuel (A Comedy of Inheritances)"
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein
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Robert A. Heinlein
writer, screenwriter, literary critic
1907 – 1988 · United States
Robert Anson Heinlein (7 July 1907 – 8 May 1988) was one of the most popular, influential, and controversial authors of science fiction of the 20th Century.
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