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"Columbus Was a Dope" is a science fiction short story by American writer Robert A. Heinlein. It was first published in the May 1947 issue of Startling Stories. It later appeared in two of Heinlein's collections, The Menace from Earth (1959),[1] and Off the Main Sequence: The Other Science Fiction Stories of Robert A. Heinlein (2005).
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| Author | Robert A. Heinlein |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Published | May 1947 (initial publication) |
| The story takes place in a bar on the Moon, where patrons debate the merits of space exploration in comparison to Columbus's discovery of the New World. | |
Plot summary edit
Two bar patrons and a bartender debate building a generation ship to Proxima Centauri. One favors space exploration as benefiting society like Christopher Columbus's discovery of the New World; the other insists that "Columbus was a dope" and should have stayed home. At the end of the story, it is revealed that the bar is on the Moon.
Release edit
"Columbus Was a Dope" was first published in the May 1947 issue of Startling Stories. It was subsequently released in the anthology collection Travelers of Space in 1951, through Gnome Press.[2]
Reception edit
William H. Patterson Jr. claimed that "Columbus Was a Dope," along with other stories collected in The Menace from Earth, occurs within Heinlein's World as Myth framework, stating that they "are happening somewhere else in the Multiverse, somewhere quite close by the Future History."[3]
References edit
- ^ Stemper, Michael F. (2004). "Robert A. Heinlein's Fiction". Retrieved 2018-10-09.
- ^ Greenberg, Martin; Cartier, Edd (1951). Travelers of space. New York: Gnome Press. OCLC 1371200.
- ^ Patterson Jr., William H. (March 2, 2010). "Futures, Histories". The Green Hills of Earth and The Menace from Earth. Baen. ISBN 978-1439133415. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
External links edit
- "Columbus Was a Dope" title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- "Columbus Was a Dope" at the Internet Archive
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