"All You Zombies-- Rating: Five Planets
by Robert A. Heinlein  
pub. Magazine of Science Fiction & Fantasy, March 1959  
 
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Preview
In a tour de force, a temporal agent recruits a bitter young man to become a time traveller.

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Background Data
Atom BulletEarl Rabkin calls this story "perhaps the most famous exploration of the paradoxes of time travel"
Atom BulletJames Gunn calls this story "hardboiled science fiction."

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Navigation Guide
Atom BulletReread the story and note the clues to the identity of the narrator. Did Heinlein "play fair" with the reader?
Atom BulletDescribe the tone of the story.
Atom BulletExplain the relationship among the narrator, the Unmarried Woman, Jane, Jane's baby, and the father of Jane's baby.
Atom BulletThe story was written in 1959; the narrator lives in 1993; most of the story takes place between 1963 and 1970. Note and comment on the glimpses of the future in this story.
Atom BulletExplain the very last section of the story. What is Heinlein's point here?

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Further Exploration
Atom BulletHeinlein's attitudes toward both women and sexuality have always been problematic. What is his attitude toward women in this story?

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SciFi Guide
© 2002 Agatha Taormina
Last Revised: January 4, 2005