Robert Heinlein, Citizen of the Galaxy

William Patterson (Independent Scholar - Europe)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1957

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel
Science Fiction/ Speculative

Resources

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Citizen of the Galaxy

(1957) – Thorby, a very young slave boy, is bought at auction by Baslim the beggar and adopted as a son. When Baslim is killed as a spy by the local police, Thorby discovers that he has prepared for Thorby to escape. He goes first to the Free Traders, then to the Hegemonic Guard space navy. He never feels at home in any of these places. Least of all does he feel at home when the Guard delivers him back to earth, to inherit control of the interstellar corporation which might have caused him to be enslaved in the first place.

For more information on Heinlien's Juveniles (written between 1947 and 1958) see our entry on Robert Heinlein's Rocket Ship Galileo, The Literary Encyclopedia profile by William Patterson, University of California, Santa Cruz.

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136 words

Citation: Patterson, William. "Citizen of the Galaxy". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 November 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=16615, accessed 25 November 2024.]

Robert Heinlein, Citizen of the Galaxy

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