High-line chickens are welcome guests in any farmstead. Representatives of this breed are distinguished by a calm character, strong immunity, high vitality and good productivity. They can be used both for industrial breeding and for keeping at home.

Hy-Line is an American-origin egg cross bred by breeders from the research and production company Hy-Line International.

As a result of selection, several high-line crosses were obtained: high-line brown hens (Hy-Line Brown), silver brown (Silver Brown) and dormouse (Sonia) are red in color and lay brown eggs, crosses W-36, W-77 and W-98 are distinguished by white plumage and white eggs.

Representatives of the High Line breed are widespread in Western Europe and South America, they are slightly less common in Asia and the Middle East.

Characteristics and description, photos

High-line laying hens are beautiful, slender, unpretentious and highly productive birds.

High Line white hen

Chicken breed High Line Brown

In the photo, Hi Line Brown chickens

The description of the exterior of this egg breed is presented in the following table:

Index	Indicator value
Feather color	White or brown
Crest	Large, pink
Earrings	oval, pink
Head	miniature
Neck	Thick, medium length
Beak	Strong, yellowish
torso	oblong
Back	Wide
Tail	Middle length
Wings	Well developed, close to the body

The safety of high-line cross-country birds reaches 96-98%. Since the loss of birds and the cost of replenishing the flock are minimal, the breeding business of this breed has a high profitability.

High-line white and high-line brown crosses have different quantitative indicators.

The two High Line crosses have different productive indicators.

The characteristics of these crosses are presented in the following table:

Indicators	Indicator values
	high-line brown	high-line white
Beginning of reproductive age, days	153	144
Average weight of young laying hens, kg	1,55	1,55
Maximum weight of adult laying hens, kg	2,25	1,74
Feed intake, g/day	110-115	102
Productivity, eggs per year	241-339	247-350
Preservation of the bird, %	96-98	93-96

From the table it follows that high-line brown hens enter reproductive age later, consume more feed and have more weight. Cross high-line white is characterized by increased productivity and moderate appetite.

Newborn Highline chicks will feel as comfortable as possible in a warm, well-lit box or cage.

High Line chickens are grown exclusively in warm rooms.

The optimal conditions for keeping chicks from 0 to 42 days of age are listed in the following table:

Age of chicks, days	Air temperature, ◦С	Illumination, lux	Light day, h
0-3	33-36	30-50	22
4-7	30-32	30-50	22
8-14	28-30	25	19
15-21	26-28	25	17,5
22-28	23-26	25	16
29-35	21-23	10-15	14,5
36-42	21	10-15	13

For feeding babies, experts recommend using industrial feed, which contains all the necessary vitamins and minerals for normal growth and development of chicks. In the first days of life, cubs should be given cereals, boiled eggs and greens. The traditional feeding scheme is 6-8 meals per day.

Young Hy Line breeds are transferred to a common chicken coop at 15-16 weeks.

For feeding chickens, solutions of vitamins and electrolytes should be used. To prevent the reproduction of bacterial microflora, you need to abandon sugar-containing products.

At the age of 15-16 weeks, the young are transferred to a common poultry house.

Cross high-line hens consume just over 100 g of feed per day. Food should be given three times a day. Portion sizes are seasonal, as hens lay eggs at the same rate throughout the year.

The following foods should be included in the diet of laying hens:

One High Line hen eats about 100 grams of feed per day.

• cereal crops;
• legumes;
• greens, hay, herbal or coniferous flour;
• mash from vegetables, ground grain, root crops, broth or skimmed milk;
• mineral supplements;
• vegetables, root crops.

Chicks aged 1-3 weeks consume from 1 to 3 liters of water per day for every 100 birds. The same number of adults over the age of 23 weeks drink 15-23 liters of water daily. Water must be clean and of good quality.

At home, high-line chickens are kept in chicken coops floor type. The floor in the chicken coop is coated with clay, or mounted from wood, and a layer of wood shavings 5-6 cm high is poured on top of it so that the chickens have somewhere to dig.

The perch is made in the form of a wide wooden stairs height from 60 cm to 90 cm from the floor. Nests are made from wicker baskets or wooden boxes lined with hay or soft straw. For 4-5 layers, one nest should be provided. It is better to place the nests vertically, in 3-4 tiers, and equip them with take-off shelves.

Attention. At the door of the chicken coop, you need to leave a hole about 20-30 cm high, with the help of which the chickens will be able to independently exit the chicken coop to the walking area.

High Line cross hens can be kept outdoors in chicken coops.

Each hen should have at least 10-12 cm of feeding space. For young animals under the age of 14 days, this figure is 2-5 cm, for pullets up to 20 weeks - 8-10 cm.

Where can you buy this breed?

Hy-Line eggs and layers can be purchased from official distributors of Hy-Line International, information about which is presented in the following table:

Distributor name	Distributor Locations	Distributor website
Holding "Vladzernoprodukt"	Russia, Lakinsk, Kovrov	http://vladzernoproduct.ru
PJSC "Poultry farm Borovskaya named after. A.A. Sozonova»	Russia, Tyumen region, Tyumen district, village of Borovsky	borfab.ru
LLC PPZ "TriT"	Kyrgyzstan, Kant	http://www.trit.kg
Group of companies "Ovostar Union"	Ukraine, Kiev	www.ovostar.ua
Tashkent Parranda, OOO	Uzbekistan, Tashkent region, Kibray village	http://tashkentparranda.all.biz

A full description of the official distributors of Hy-Line International is presented on its official website.

Watch the video as farmers talk about their experience with High Line chickens.

High-line chickens: owner reviews

Alexander. I have been breeding high-line chickens for four years. Laying hens delight with strong immunity, unpretentiousness to maintenance and enviable productivity. I recommend this cross to everyone.

Lyudmila. We grow high-line chickens in the country. The livestock is small, only 10 birds. We were looking for a breed that is undemanding to the conditions of detention. Cross high-line meets this criterion completely.

Boris. Kur high-line was chosen for its calm character. The bird can be safely added to other breeds, it will not cause fights. He does not eat much, but carries eggs like from a machine gun.

New York, beginning of the last century, West Side: port warehouses along the Hudson and industrial districts. Parallel to the river was the so-called Avenue of Death, notorious for accidents due to intersecting traffic flows of cars and trains carrying goods. It was decided to separate the streams, and in the 1920s and 30s, a railway overpass appeared in the city, crossing Manhattan from north to south. It transported goods to warehouses from factories. The tracks sometimes passed directly through the buildings - this made it possible to quickly load the wagon.

But times changed, New York developed as a financial center, industries moved to cheaper areas on the other side of the river. The railway in the West Side turned out to be unclaimed, among office buildings it looked like an absurd atavism and simply rusted, no one needed it. In the 1980s, its southern part was demolished, the idea of ​​removing the road completely was actively discussed, especially since drug addicts, prostitutes and other asocial elements settled under the overpass. The city authorities decided to make a park out of an unnecessary flyover. Hearings were held, then a competition, which was won by the New York bureau "Diller Scofidio + Renfro", it was they who made the High Line park project. The park is located on the site of the old tracks and completely repeats their route. By the way, the same studio won the competition for Zaryadye Park in Moscow.

The High Line is a piece of "wild" nature among glass skyscrapers. Main principle- eclecticism and carefully thought-out negligence, one zone passes into another, a smooth running track - like a wooden amphitheater for those who want to relax. The materials used are very different: stone, wood, metal. Rusty rails braid thickets of grass. Plants are given almost complete freedom of action: according to the architects, in this way it will be possible to preserve the flora that arose naturally during the time when the railway was closed and was waiting for its fate to be decided. In the High Line, people run, have picnics and dates, celebrate birthdays, take landscape photos, watch the night sky, watch art installations and street performances.

It should be noted that the park was created in several stages: the opening of the first took place in 2009, the second - in 2011, the third - in September 2014. Height - 10 meters, length today - about 2.3 km.

01. Old rails and plants that grew here while the line was abandoned have been preserved.

02. I took these photos in 2012.

03. In some places, the park is just a narrow path.

04. Then it expands, thickets of grass appear.

05. Lawns and benches.

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07. Fountains.

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09. Now the park is one of the favorite vacation spots of New Yorkers. If you're in Manhattan, be sure to check it out.

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15. And this is how the park looks like in autumn. I took these photos during my last trip to New York. I apologize for the quality, I shot it on my phone, as the camera died safely.

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18. This is the third part, which was opened a couple of months ago.

19. There are practically no plants here.

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21. A very steep track from the old railway line. Asphalt was laid between the sleepers, resulting in a perfectly flat surface. You can even run, even ride a scooter. Looks amazing.

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29. The trees in the old part of the park have grown.

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46. ​​Here is a park in the very center of the city on the site of an unnecessary flyover.

Hello, our regular readers and site visitors! High Line breed of chickens in our material. There are many chickens that have their own unique advantages for which they are loved by poultry farmers. But, there are those that combine almost everything positive traits. One of these layers is a representative of the High Line cross.

High Line breed of chickens short term of its existence has become widespread in different countries and still attracts the attention of farmers. Today we will talk about this quote, photos and videos are attached.

History of origin.

Kvochka owes its birth to American scientists from a scientific center called High Line. It was in honor of this center that the new laying hen was named.

Before starting work on breeding a cross, scientists formed a clear goal for themselves - to get a cross with high level vitality, good health and excellent performance.

For about 5 years, breeders worked and finally presented the result to the world, after which klusha became incredibly popular. High Line breed of chickens began to quickly gain popularity not only in America, but also beyond its borders.

High Line chicken breed has attracted the attention of owners of commercial poultry farms, as its content is very profitable. On the territory of Russia, this cross is also common - both in private farms and in some industrial poultry farms.

External characteristics

Everyone knows that appearance for cross-country is not the main thing. It is important that the clovers give good egg volumes and are unpretentious at the same time. As a rule, such workers do not have any zest in their appearance. The beauty we are considering is also no exception. We will consider its inherent characteristics of appearance below.

1. High Line breed of chickens is not large, with a compact, lean physique. The body shape is triangular. Clushes do not have thick sides, although the breast sticks out a little. The back with a slight deflection, and the tail is raised up - the roosters are more developed.
2. There are 2 directions of this hybrid - white and brown. From the names you can understand that we are talking about white and brown layers. The color of the plumage is uniform - without inclusions and specks, and the color of the pen shaft corresponds to the main shade.
3. The neck is short, and on it is a small head. There is practically no plumage on the face of the hens, and the skin is painted in a pale pink shade. The earlobes are also small - darker than the complexion. Distinctive characteristics are considered to be a powerful, leaf-shaped comb with teeth and earrings - red. The eyes are large, expressive - painted in orange.
4. Paws have the same shade as the beak - yellow. The lower legs and thighs are not strongly developed.
5. And in addition, consider the description of weight indicators. Adult laying hens are not very large - about 1.5-1.8 kg, and males can weigh 200-300 grams more.

Character

Breeding depends on what temper nature has endowed with feathered beauties. This determines the features of the content, as well as the degree of participation of the poultry farmer in the life of the feathered family. But, Hi-Line chickens will not create problems because of their temper - they have an excellent one.

Feathered beauties are calm, do not create conflict situations. They are difficult to wake up, because they have a high level of stress resistance. Cockerels are good too - gallant gentlemen who look after their ladies and protect them from potential dangers.

In general, the High Line breed of chickens does not behave very actively, easily adapts to any conditions, is not afraid of trifles, and perfectly tolerates any hardships of life.

Puberty and egg production

It's no secret today what poultry farmers expect from high-yielding crosses early ripening and great performance. Therefore, the work of breeders around the world is aimed at achieving such qualities in newly-made hybrids.

The Americans also worked on breeding a precocious beauty, but did not succeed too much in this matter. The result was a chicken with an average rate of puberty - workers begin laying at the age of 5.5-6 months.

As a rule, there are no developmental delays, but if this happens, then usually the reason for this is malnutrition, because overfeeding or not enough nutrients in the diet are equally detrimental to the course of natural processes in the body.

Chicken High Line

The breed of chickens High Line at the stage of breeding work has acquired amazing vitality. A high percentage of survival can be observed both among the adult population and in the chicks. Toddlers very quickly adapt to life in this world, rarely get sick and survive - up to 96%.

Moreover, the chicks of this hybrid do not need to be kept in any special conditions - it is enough just to follow all the standard measures for care, prevention and feeding.

Feeding the smallest is carried out according to the traditional scheme - 6-8 meals per day and a limited number of permitted products. The first days of life, the cubs' menu consists of the usual ingredients - boiled eggs, as well as cereals and greens.

If broilers are fed hormonal supplements for rapid growth, then egg-laying cubs do not need this. The period of intensive growth lasts about 18 weeks, and then the mass gain slows down. By the 4th month of life, the chicks weigh about 1.3 kg.

Feeding the adult herd

The advantage of this hybrid lies in the small amount of feed needed to maintain health and productive qualities.

High Line is a breed of small-footed chickens - they consume no more than 100 grams of grain per day. For this quality, they are loved by those who raise birds for profit, because at minimal cost you can get the maximum profit.

Taking into account that the clods do not reduce the laying rate all year round, the amount of food in different seasons does not differ. The difference between the summer diet and the winter diet is only that some fresh foods, such as greens, are replaced with dry concentrates and liquid vitamin mixtures.

Consider a list of products that must be present in the feeders of workers.

1. Cereals - crushed and whole. Wheat, barley, corn, oats, rye. In cold seasons, it is recommended to use sprouted grain for feeding brood hens.
2. Legumes - peas, soybeans. They are a source of protein and minerals.
3. Fresh herbs are an excellent source of vitamins in the summer. In winter, this valuable product is replaced with granular grasses, hay and coniferous or grass meal.
4. Wet and dry mixes are also helpful and can be given daily. Prepared from vegetables, root crops, ground cereals, skim milk or broth.
5. Mineral supplements - meat and bone and fish meal, chalk, shells, and finished products sold in veterinary pharmacies.
6. And of course, vegetables and root crops. Carrots, pumpkin, fodder beets, potatoes. You can add these products to the diet in an amount of about 30% of the total volume.

The industrial herd is kept in harsh conditions - the birds never see sunlight and cannot roam freely. An enclosed space with multi-level cell batteries is a habitual arrangement for the life of a winged herd in poultry farms.

Practically does not require attention and human participation - the maintenance process is almost automated. Birds receive food strictly by the hour.

But, at home, if there is an opportunity and desire, you can brighten up the life of hens and create more comfortable conditions for them. Layers will be grateful for a small walking yard with a high fence. The poultry house is equipped with multi-level high perches, on which the winged family climbs without difficulty.

Consider also the temperature indicators that are recommended for winged workers. Colds are tolerated quite normally, but severe frosts can harm the cows - in particular, they are fraught with frostbite on the ridges. IN winter period it is recommended to maintain the air temperature within 10 degrees.

Shedding and laying break

Hens molt once a year, and even during this period they rush, although a little more passively than the rest of the time. Shedding may not start, and in this case, they resort to stimulation.

In the case of artificial stimulation, molting proceeds much faster and is almost painless and without consequences.

Planned herd replacement

It is necessary to grow the young generation to replace laying hens early, given that the productive period ends at the age of one and a half years. Then there is a sharp decrease in activity in the oviposition.

Frequent illnesses

The main difficulty in breeding hybrids is the lack of resistance to diseases. In this variety, this problem was solved even at the breeding stage - chickens developed strong immunity and survival rates are about 96-97%.

But, standard preventive measures are still necessary. In the case of acquiring livestock at a poultry farm, laying hens should be quarantined and given antibiotics for prevention.

Often the High Line breed of chickens from a poultry farm are carriers of various infections, and they can infect other residents of the chicken coop.

What are the reviews?

Advantages

1. Record-breaking performance.
2. Unpretentiousness.
3. Endurance.
4. Ability to adapt.
5. Strongest health.

Flaws

Among the shortcomings, only one can be distinguished - a very short performance period. The remaining qualities are attributed to the benefits of chicken.

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High Line Park (New York, USA): detailed description, address and photo. Opportunities for sports and recreation, infrastructure, cafes and restaurants in the park. Reviews of tourists.

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The only park in New York that is literally off the ground, the High Line stretches almost 2.5 km in western Manhattan and is located on the track area of ​​the elevated railroad, at a height of about 10 m. The High Line looks, as a real celebration of nature in the futuristic landscape of soulless Manhattan: among the highways and skyscrapers of the business district, an emerald strip of lush vegetation pleases the eye, on the bosom of which a winding promenade is laid, comfortable benches, sun loungers and picnic tables are placed. The park is definitely worth a visit not only to take a walk in nature in the heart of New York, but also to learn more about the history of the city railroad, dine in pretty cafes overlooking the Chelsea piers and "catch" a tan on comfortable sunbeds arranged along the entire length of the park promenade.

A bit of history

The "High Line" of New York's urban transportation system opened in 1934, linking Manhattan's two largest industrial districts, 34th Street, with the St. John's Park terminal in New York Harbor. However, with the gradual development of road transport, the railway became less and less used. The last train, carrying what the chronicles mention three carloads of frozen turkey, passed through the High Line in 1980. Building owners in Manhattan called for the demolition of the line, but local activist and railroad fanatic Peter Oblets blocked the procedure in court. In 1999, the Society of Friends of the High Line was formed, which ordered in the 2000s. reconstruction of the site and its transformation into a public recreational area. Best bureaus landscape design take part in the landscaping of the future park. In 2006, the High Line opened to visitors, and over the next 8 years, 4 more sections of the railway tracks are being gradually improved here. Today, the park's promenade is 2.33 km long and is visited by more than 5 million people a year.

Lush greenery of flower beds and thickets of trees at a height of 10 m above Manhattan - that's what High Line Park is.

What to see

High Line Park is a wonderful oasis in the heart of western Manhattan, an ideal place for a relaxing holiday in the truest sense of the word "above" the bustle of the world. Former railway tracks are blocked by comfortable wooden sidewalks, on both sides of which there are lush greenery of well-groomed flower beds and overgrowth, amazing for such a “torn off” place. deciduous trees. Entrance with pets and bicycles to the park is prohibited, so it is always calm here - of course, as far as the bustle of Manhattan boiling under your feet allows.

On the two-kilometer promenade of the park, there are a lot of benches, tables with chairs and sun loungers. Small branches are arranged in picturesque places - viewing platforms from where you can admire the panorama of Manhattan. There are also 2 restaurants and several shops for visitors.

Biography

Robert Anson Heinlein is an American writer, one of the largest science fiction writers, who largely determined the face of modern science fiction. He has been referred to as the "Dean of Science Fiction Writers".

Heinlein became the first professional science fiction writer in the United States and one of the first to publish in major popular publications such as The Saturday Evening Post in the late 1940s. His first stories appeared in Astounding Science Fiction in 1939, and he was one of a group of writers made famous by Astounding editor John Campbell. The writer's career lasted almost half a century; in his work, Heinlein touched on many topics, including social and philosophical ones: individual freedom, the individual's responsibility to society, the role and format of the family, the nature of organized religion, and many others.

In the Anglo-American literary tradition Robert Heinlein along with Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov, they are classified as the "Big Three" science fiction writers. He became the owner of the prestigious Hugo and Nebula awards, the only writer, who received the "Hugo" for five novels. An asteroid and a crater on Mars are named after him.

Birth and childhood

Robert Anson Heinlein was born July 7, 1907 in the small town of Butler (Missouri) and became the third child in the family of Rex Ivor Heinlein and Bem Lyle Heinlein. In addition to two older brothers, Lawrence and Rex Jr., Robert later had three younger sisters and a brother. During this time, the parents lived with their maternal grandfather, Dr. Alva E. Lyle. Three years after his birth, the family moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where his father took a job with the Midland Agricultural Machinery Company. Here Heinlein spent his childhood.

The greatest influence on him during this period was Alva Lyle, whom Robert visited in Butler every summer until his death in 1914. Grandfather instilled in him a love of reading and the exact sciences, brought up a number of positive character traits. In memory of that, Heinlein later repeatedly used the pseudonym Lyle Monroe, in honor of his grandfather he also named the protagonist of the story "If this continues ...". Kansas City was located in the so-called "Bible Belt", respectively, Heinlein received a strict, puritanical upbringing and the laid down inner moral foundation remained with him until the end of his life.

In 1920, Heinlein entered Kansas City Central High School. By this time, he was very fond of astronomy, having read all available books on the topic from the Kansas City Public Library (English) Russian .. He was also impressed by the study of Darwin's evolutionary theory, it influenced Heinlein's further work. The school passion for non-standard mathematical problems was also sometimes reflected in the writer's works, such as, for example, the tesseract in the story "... And he built himself a crooked little house."

Navy service

After leaving school, Heinlein decided to follow the example of his older brother Rex to enter the US Naval Academy in Annapolis. This was not easy to do, since in order to be admitted to the entrance exams, one had to enlist the support of one of the congressmen or senators. An additional obstacle to its admission was that usually only one family member from one generation was accepted. So Heinlein began to actively collect letters of recommendation and send them to Senator James A. Reed for his petition. While Heinlein was waiting for the results, he took a course at the University of Missouri. During this time, Senator Reid received a hundred letters from applicants to the Annapolis Academy - fifty one from each person and fifty from Heinlein. Thus, the right to enter the academy was obtained, and in June 1925 Heinlein became a cadet of the academy after successfully passing the entrance exams.

While studying at the academy, Heinlein lived in Bancroft Hall - the cadet's dormitory. He successfully studied compulsory disciplines, and also became the champion of the academy in fencing, wrestling and shooting. He underwent practice three times - on the battleships Utah, Oklahoma and Arkansas (English) Russian. In 1929, Heinlein successfully graduated 20th out of 243 cadets and received the rank of ensign. In general, he was the fifth in the release rating, but due to disciplinary violations, he dropped to twentieth place.

After the academy, Heinlein was assigned to the new USS Lexington aircraft carrier as an officer in charge of radio communications with aircraft. In mid-1932, he was promoted to second lieutenant and transferred to the USS Roper destroyer. as an artillery officer. At the end of 1933 he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, he spent several months in treatment, first at the Fitzsimmons Hospital in Denver, then in a sanatorium near Los Angeles. During his stay in the sanatorium, he developed a water mattress (English) Russian, which he would later mention in some of his works, but did not patent it. Due to illness, Heinlein was soon declared completely unfit for further service and was forced to retire with the rank of lieutenant in August 1934, he was awarded a small pension. The military career of his older brothers was more successful: Rex Heinlein, after Annapolis, made a career in the US Army, where he served until the end of the 50s, Lawrence Heinlein also served in the Army, Air Force and the Missouri National Guard, rising to the rank of Major General.

Heinlein first married on June 21, 1929 to Eleanor Leah Curry of Kansas City, whom he had known since high school. Relations with his wife did not immediately work out, Heinlein, as a naval sailor, was mostly away from Kansas City, Eleanor did not want to move either to California or to other places where he served. As a result, in October 1930, she sued for divorce, and the marriage, which Heinlein did not even tell his family about, broke up. On March 28, 1932, he more consciously married Leslyn Macdonald, a political activist, a rather unusual and talented woman.

California

After resigning, Heinlein spent several weeks in graduate school at the University of California at Los Angeles (mathematics and physics); but left her, either because of ill health, or because of his passion for politics. He settled in Laurel Canyon (English) Russian, a suburb of Los Angeles, changed many professions, including the position of a real estate agent and an employee of the silver mines. Later, he joined the E. Sinclair movement under the slogan “End Poverty in California! (English) Russian.” (EPIC), popular in the early 1930s in California, becoming by 1935 secretary of the movement's district assembly and member of the EPIC constitution drafting committee. When Sinclair ran for Democratic governor, Heinlein actively participated in this disastrous campaign. In 1938, he himself ran for the California Legislature, but again unsuccessfully [~ 3].

Heinlein had a wide range of political views, some of which can be attributed to the socialist. It should be noted that American socialism at that time was not under the influence of Marxism, but had its own traditions, close to the utopian socialism of Saint-Simon. In addition to the influence of his second wife, Leslin, Heinlein read many books by Wells as a child, absorbing with them his progressive socialism, which was easily combined with the positions of the American left forces, including the movement of E. Sinclair. In 1954, having already thoroughly changed his political views, Heinlein wrote about this:

“... many Americans ... loudly declared that McCarthy created a "power of terror." Are you scared? I'm not, and I've had a lot of political action in my past that's too leftist for Senator McCarthy's position.

Writing career

Political failure and a burdensome mortgage forced him to look for additional sources of income [~ 4]. Heinlein managed to sell to editor John Campbell his short story "Lifeline", which was written in four days in April 1939, and it was published in the August issue of Astounding Science Fiction. With the exception of work during the Second World War and brief participation in political campaigns, Heinlein subsequently earned a living exclusively by writing. Already in 1941, he was invited as a guest of honor to the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon-41), held in Denver (Heinlein was also an honored guest of this convention in 1961 and 1976).

During the war, Heinlein worked with Isaac Asimov and L. Sprague de Camp at the Naval Research Laboratory in Philadelphia. They developed methods for dealing with icing of aircraft at high altitudes, equipment for blind landing and compensating pressure suits. Here Heinlein met Virginia Doris Gerstenfeld, whom he fell in love with, but did not want to break off the marriage with his wife.

In 1947, Heinlein nevertheless divorced Leslin, who by that time had worsened problems with alcohol; the following year, for the third and already last time, he married Virginia Gerstenfeld, with whom he lived the remaining 40 years of his life. Virginia was never a co-author of her husband's works, but she influenced the process of writing them: she was the first to read new works, suggested various ideas, was his secretary and manager.

Shortly after their marriage, Heinlein and Virginia moved to Colorado Springs, where they designed and built their house with a bomb shelter[~ 5].

In 1953-1954, the Heinleins undertook their first trip around the world, the impression of which indirectly influenced his travel novels (like Podkane the Martian). Only in 1992 was Heinlein's book "Tramp Royale" published, which describes this journey. And in 1959-1960 they visited the USSR, for which Virginia diligently studied Russian for two years. At first, Heinlein quite liked it in the Soviet Union, but the American U-2 reconnaissance spy plane with pilot Powers, shot down just at that time, spoiled his impressions.

In the mid-60s, due to chronic altitude sickness in Virginia, the Heinleins moved back to California, settling temporarily in the city of Santa Cruz until the new house in the nearby statistically isolated area Bonnie Doon (English) Russian [~ 6]. One of the reasons for leaving Colorado Springs was also the desire to be away from the primary targets for a nuclear attack, which was the headquarters of the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

Isaac Asimov believed that marrying Ginny [~ 7] also meant a change in Heinlein's political priorities. Together they founded The Patrick Henry League (1958) and were heavily involved in the 1964 re-election campaign of Barry Goldwater, and Tramp Royale contains two large apologia for McCarthy. The disillusionment and departure from Wells' socialism towards conservative views was not instantaneous, it began during the war. While Heinlein stuck to his traditionally patriotic and liberal-progressive views, politics itself changed, and he, along with millions of other American liberals, was forced to move away from American liberalism.

Heinlein's most important social act is still his novels for young people. He wrote them from scientific point vision, while perfectly knowing the world of adults, almost single-handedly creating the genre of youthful science fiction. His novels were relevant until Starship Troopers was rejected by Scribner in 1959. Then Heinlein was able to abandon the role of "leading author of children's books", from which he was already tired, and went on his own way. Starting in 1961, he published books that radically expanded the boundaries of the sci-fi genre, starting with his most famous novel, Stranger in a Strange Land (1961, eng. Stranger in a Strange Land, also translated as Stranger in a Strange Land) and further - “The Moon is a harsh mistress” (1966, Eng. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, in another translation - “The moon lays hard”), which is considered the pinnacle of his work. Recognition of his merits is the invitation of television to commentate live on the moon landing of American astronauts in 1969, along with Arthur C. Clarke and Walter Cronkite.

Final years and death

Hard work brought Heinlein to the brink of death in 1970. The decade of the 70s began for him with peritonitis, extremely life-threatening, the cure took more than two years. As soon as he felt well enough to work, Heinlein wrote the novel Time Enough for Love, or the Life of Lazarus Long in 1973, which contained many of the plots he developed in his later work. In the mid-1970s, he received a commission for two articles in the Encyclopædia Britannica Yearbook and traveled the country with Ginny to organize blood donations, as well as being the guest of honor at the Third NF World Congress in Kansas City (1976).

Vacation in Tahiti in 1978 ended in a severe attack coronary disease hearts. He underwent one of the first coronary bypass operations. In July 1979, he was invited to address the Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Representatives. His speech testified to the belief that the income from the development of space technologies will provide significant assistance to the sick and the elderly.

Operations allowed Heinlein to start working again in 1980, when he prepared for publication the collection "Expanded Universe". Heinlein does not forget about the major literary form, in the 1980s he managed to write five more novels. In 1983 he visited Antarctica, the last continent he had not yet visited.

But the writer's health deteriorated significantly by 1987, which forced him and Ginny to move from Bonnie Doon to the nearby town of Carmel in order to be able to receive the necessary medical care. There he died in his sleep from the effects of emphysema on the morning of May 8, 1988, during the initial stages of work on a novel from the series "The World as a Myth". His body was cremated and his ashes scattered over the Pacific Ocean.

Creation

Periodization of creativity

The tradition of dividing the work of Robert Heinlein into several periods probably comes from Alexei Panshin's "Heinlein in Dimension" (1968). Panshin divided Heinlein's writing career into three periods: influence (1939-1945), success (1947-1958) and alienation (1959-1967) [~ 8]. Critic Gary Westphal, who does not agree with Panshin's periodization, divides all the writer's work into two parts: science fiction (1939-1957) and satirical (1958-1988), substantiating such a division by the launch of the first artificial satellite Earth, which summed up the propaganda activities of science fiction writers. Russian critic and writer Andrey Balabukha identifies three periods: the initial (1939-1942), mature (1947-mid-60s, in two streams) and the last (1970-1988). Another Russian researcher of Heinlein's heritage, Andrei Ermolaev, without refuting Balabukha's periodization, points to a significant upheaval in the writer's soul in the 60s, which led to a noticeable contrast between later novels and earlier works. However, James Gifford is rather skeptical about such attempts to divide the author's works into periods, noting that each reader and researcher will have his own vision of such periodization, and at the same time there will always be works that do not fit into the developed scheme. Thus, there is no single generally accepted periodization of Heinlein's work.

Early work: 1939-1959

The first novel Heinlein wrote was called Us Living (1939), although it was not published until 2003. It was more like a series of lectures on social theories and proved to be a literary failure. However, John Clute, in his review of the novel, argued that if Heinlein and his colleagues could publish such an "adult" SF in the pages of the magazines of the time, then science fiction would now "at least not play such a fantastically bad role as some of its living ones." varieties."

Having failed with the novel, in 1939 Heinlein began selling his first stories in the editorial offices of magazines, which later formed the History of the Future cycle. His career at this stage was closely associated with the famous editor John Campbell. Looking back at this time, Frederick Pohl calls Heinlein "the greatest science fiction writer of the Campbell era". Isaac Asimov said that, starting with his first published story, Heinlein was recognized as the best science fiction writer and retained this title until the end of his life. In the journal Astounding Science Fiction, in May 1941, for the History of the Future, an outline of the political, cultural, and technological changes of the 20th century and beyond was published. However, in the future, Heinlein wrote many stories and novels that deviated from his earlier scheme, but formed independent cycles. The reality of the 20th century refuted his History of the Future. Heinlein managed to overcome inconsistencies in the 80s by introducing the concept of "The World as a Myth".

Heinlein's first novel was published as a separate publication only in 1947, it was the Rocket Ship Galileo. Initially, the editors rejected this novel, because the flight to the moon was then considered completely irrelevant. Only at the end of the war did Heinlein find a publisher - Charles Scribner's Sons, who began to publish every Christmas a novel for young people written by Heinlein. The eight books in the series, beginning with Space Cadet, were illustrated in black and white by Clifford Gehry in the style of scratched paper. During this period, the novel "Farmer in the Sky" (Eng. Farmer in the Sky - in Boys' Life magazine, in four issues for August - November 1950, called Satellite Scout ("Star Scout"), which fifty years later was nominated for the retrospective Hugo Award for Achievement in Science Fiction, and also nominated for the Hugo Award for Juvenile Novels, which has become quite popular, I've Got a Space Suit - I'm Ready to Travel.

Heinlein's early novels are interesting for both children and adults. His main characters of this period are usually very extraordinary intellectual teenagers who make their way to the top in adult society. In form, these novels are simple - a story about adventures, conflicts with teachers and parents, etc. Heinlein was well aware of censorship restrictions, and therefore his novels are often conservative in form, which did not prevent him from pursuing ideas that were impossible in "teenager" fiction. other authors of the same years. Heinlein believed that young readers are much more sophisticated than is commonly believed, so in his books he tried to encourage them to think. In The Red Planet (1949), which deals with a revolution involving boarding school students on Mars, the editor requested changes. He was embarrassed that teenagers deftly handle weapons, and besides, the mechanism of reproduction of the Martians looked too exotic (who had three sexes, coinciding with the stages of development). Heinlein had no luck with publishers at all: in The Martian Podkane, the ending had to be rewritten, and Puppeteers and Stranger in a Strange Land were first published in a greatly abridged form. In the late 1950s, the conflict of Heinlein's views and lifestyle with his role as a writer for teenagers became obvious.

James Blish in 1957 attributed the success of Heinlein's early novels to high-quality technique and writing structure, to his innate, almost instinctive understanding of the techniques in fiction that other writers learned through bitter experience.

The juvenile novel series was ended with the appearance of Starship Troopers (1959), which was supposed to be the next novel for Scrinber's, but because of its controversial nature was not accepted by the publisher. This novel was a response to US calls for a unilateral cessation of nuclear testing.

Mature creativity: 1961-1969

During this period, Heinlein wrote his most famous novels. His work explores all themes during this period, from libertarianism and individualism to free love, in a somewhat shocking contrast to the themes of his early novels. It all started with Stranger in a Strange Land (1961), which is a logical continuation of an unpublished literary debut with the same themes of free love and radical individualism[~ 9].

Stranger in a Strange Land took over 10 years to write and was originally titled The Heretic, completed after taking a break from Starship Troopers. Perhaps Heinlein would have published the novel earlier, in one of the earlier versions, but in the 50s, due to the sexual content of the book, it was almost impossible to publish it. Even in the early 60s, the author had difficulties with the publication of the novel, the Putnam publishing house did not want to publish it because of the topic of sex and religion, and in general the editors were more hopeful that Heinlein would continue to write successful novels for young people. Only by reducing the book from 220,000 words to 160,000 did he achieve the publication of the novel, proving at the same time his ability to write and sell works of fiction of any genre category.

According to critics and the public, Heinlein's best novel is The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966). It describes the war for the independence of the lunar colonies, outlining the anarchist doctrine of the danger of any government - including the Republican - to individual freedom.

During this period, Heinlein also turns to fantasy. He wrote several short stories in this genre as early as the 1940s, but his only "pure" fantasy was Valor's Road (1963).

Later work: 1970-1987

Heinlein's next novel - "I Fear No Evil" (1970, in another translation "Passing the Valley of the Shadow of Death") - is colored with noticeable satirical motifs and even elements of dystopia. Logically, this novel adjoins another - "Time Enough for Love" (1973).

Health problems haunted the writer for the next few years. It wasn't until 1979 that he finished his next novel, The Number of the Beast, after which he wrote four more novels, including Sail Beyond the Sunset (1987). All these books are clearly related to each other by the characteristics of the characters, as well as the time and place of action. This pentalogy became an exposition of Heinlein's philosophy. They contain a lot of philosophical mono- and dialogues, satires, a lot of reasoning about the government, sexual life and religion. Many critics spoke negatively about these novels. None of them were awarded the Hugo Award.

The plots of later novels are not of the same type. "The Number of the Beast" and "The Cat Who Walks Through Walls" begin as light-hearted adventure stories, merging into a stream of authorial philosophy at the end. Critics are still arguing whether literary "carelessness" is a sign of the master's fatigue, his inattention to the form of the story, lack of editorial control, or whether it is a conscious desire to break with genre stereotypes and expand the boundaries of science fiction, move to a new creative level. The style of "The Number of the Beast" can be classified as a kind of "magical realism". Critics believe that Heinlein's later novels are a kind of offshoot of the "History of the Future" and are united under the general title "The World as a Myth" (from the slogan of pantheistic solipsism - an exotic doctrine proposed by one of the heroines of "The Number of the Beast").

The novels "Friday" and "Job, or the Mockery of Justice" stand somewhat apart here. The former is a more traditional adventure work with subtle references to Heinlein's early work, while the latter is a clear anti-religious satire.

Posthumous publications

Virginia Heinlein (who passed away in 2003) published Grumbles from the Grave in 1989, a collection of Heinlein's correspondence with his publishers. The collection Requiem: Collected Works and Tributes to the Grand Master (1992) saw the light of some early stories that Heinlein was dissatisfied with and did not publish during his lifetime. Heinlein's nonfiction books were published: "Tramp Royale", a description of their round-the-world trip in the early 50s, as well as the book Take Back Your Government (Eng. Take Back Your Government, 1946). In 2003, his first novel For Us, the Living, which was previously considered lost, was published for the first time. In 2012, a 46-volume edition of Heinlein's complete works, known as the Virginia Edition, was completed.

Spider Robinson, a colleague, friend and admirer of Heinlein, based on his unpublished sketches from 1955, wrote the novel Variable Star. The novel was published in 2006 with Heinlein's name on the cover above Robinson's.

The main issues raised in the work

Policy

Heinlein's political views fluctuated greatly during his lifetime, which affected the content of his works of art. In early works, including his unpublished novel, To Us, the Living, elements of Roosevelt's politics are simply transferred to the 21st century space, for example, the Space Construction Corps from the story "Loser" is clearly a futuristic version of the Civilian Environmental Conservation Corps.

Novels from the youthful series are written from the position of conservative values. In Space Cadet, it is under military leadership that the world government ensures world peace. Patriotism and strong support for the military are key elements Heinlein's conservatism, who since 1954 ceased to consider himself a democrat. Starship Troopers, which talks about the positive role of violence in the history of mankind, is called by some critics an apology for fascism and militarism. Contrary to such criticism, the author himself only argued that there is not a single chance to get rid of wars in the foreseeable future, since such are the realities of a diverse human civilization, and was also against universal military duty.

It should not be denied that Heinlein had more than liberal views. Written at the same time as Starship Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land became a hippie cult book, and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress served as an inspiration to libertarians. Both groups responded to his themes of personal freedom of thought and action. Among American writers who have had a literary influence on libertarianism, Heinlein is ranked second only to Ayn ​​Rand.

Christianity and Power. Specific were Heinlein's views on Christianity, so relevant in the United States. In particular, he was against any fusion of power and religion, which led to the writing of Job, where he literally pilloryed any organized religion. Much has been written about this in Stranger in a Foreign Land. Future History contains an eclipse period in which fundamentalists establish a Protestant dictatorship in the US.

The positive evaluation of the military, especially in teen novels, is closely linked to Heinlein's preaching of individualism. His ideal military (especially in the novels Between the Planets, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, The Red Planet and, of course, Starship Troopers) are always individual volunteers, sometimes rebels. Therefore, the government for Heinlein is a continuation of the army, which must protect a free society (such an idea is contained even in the novel "Time Enough for Love").

The early Heinlein leaned towards socialism, but remained a staunch anti-communist for the rest of his life. Heinlein returned from a trip to the USSR in 1960 as an anti-Soviet, which was reflected in a series of essays such as "Pravda means Truth" and "Intourist from the inside."

Malthusianism and wars. Heinlein was a convinced Malthusian, for he believed that the pressure of the population on environment dictates social behavior. This was especially evident in the novels The Red Planet and The Heavenly Farmer (1950). An episode in The Lives of Lazarus Long (1973) is interesting here, describing the clashes between farmers and a bank, where Heinlein very prominently portrayed the tragic process of turning a pioneer society into a civilized one. Heinlein clearly favors the evolutionary path of society, although many of his novels are chronicles of revolutions (on Mars, Venus and the Moon). A prime example his ideology is “The moon is a harsh mistress”, where the colonists who overthrew the authoritarian regime become victims of the common path of human development, which is more and more infringing on the individual (this, however, has already been written in the novel “The Cat Passing Through Walls”).

anti-racism

Heinlein grew up in a society with racial segregation, and as a writer became famous during the struggle of African Americans for their civil rights. Covert attacks against racism first appear in Jerry the Man (1947) and the 1948 novel Space Cadet. His early works were ahead of their time in their explicit rejection of racism and the presence of "non-white" characters, since prior to the 1960s science fiction characters were more likely to have green skin than black. He sometimes played with the skin color of his characters, first making readers identify with the main character, and then casually mentioning his non-white origin, as was the case in "Tunnel in the Sky" and "Starship Troopers". Heinlein openly touched on this topic (precisely on American material) in the novel The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

The most provocative in this sense was the 1964 novel Farnham Freehold, in which white characters with a black servant were abandoned two thousand years into the future, where there is a caste slave society in which slaves are all white, and the ruling caste is black and Muslims.

Before the war, in 1940, Heinlein wrote the story "The Sixth Column", where the American resistance is fighting the aggressors of the yellow race, who had already captured the entire Eurasian continent (including Russia and India) by that time. He later disassociated himself from the racist aspects of the story, admitting that he created it on the basis of Campbell's oral retelling of the plot of his unwritten story, and also for the sake of a guaranteed fee. In general, many critics tried to convict Heinlein of propaganda of the "yellow threat", which can also be seen in some episodes of "The Tunnel in the Sky" and "Sky Farmer". However, in the same "Sixth Column" an American of Asian origin zealously serves the United States, and a white professor dreams of a future dictatorship of scientists.

Individualism

Many of Heinlein's novels are stories of revolution against political oppression. However, Heinlein is far from Manichaeistic, therefore he portrays the oppressors and the oppressed sometimes even ambiguously. In Farnham Freehold, the protagonist's son initially tries to separate, but then undergoes neutering for his own place in life.

Heinlein further shifts his focus to the oppression of the individual by society rather than government.

For Heinlein, the concepts of individualism and high intelligence and competence are inseparable. This is very clearly and directly preached in novels for young people, and in The Lives of Lazarus Long, a collection of aphorisms ends with the crown: "Specialization is for insects."

sexual emancipation

For Heinlein, personal freedom also meant sexual freedom, so the theme of free love appears in his work in 1939 and does not disappear until his death. The development of the theme of sex in the early work of the writer is often criticized for cuteness, clumsiness and the lack of direct descriptions. For a variety of reasons, early on Heinlein touched on sexuality in very few of his writings, but since Stranger in a Strange Land (which was one of the first sf books to openly discuss sex), this topic has become a significant part of his work. Toward the end of his career, Heinlein began to view erections and orgasms with humor and aplomb.

The short story "You Are All Zombies" (1959) and the novel "I Fear No Evil" (1970) both deal with the theme of gender reassignment.

In some novels, especially at a later stage in his work, Heinlein turns to the study of child sexuality and incest. For example, in Farnham Freehold, the daughter of the protagonist Karen, according to a number of hints from the author, has an Elektra complex: she directly says that choosing between her father and her adult brother, as husbands, she will prefer her father. The theme of incest also appears in The Children of Methuselah, The Road of Valor, Enough Time for Love.

Interestingly, almost all of Heinlein's female characters have a clearly rational mind and character. They are invariably competent, smart, intelligent, brave, and always in control of life circumstances (as far as possible), not inferior in these qualities to male characters. The model for strong female characters in Heinlein's early work may have been his second wife, Leslyn MacDonald, who was later replaced by Virginia Heinlein. Although they often have antipodes - sanctimonious, limited women, with whom main character bound by marriage - as in Farnham's Freehold, Job, or the Mockery of Justice.

However, Heinlein should not be considered an apologist for feminism. So, in "Double Star" (1954), secretary Penny (quite smart and reasonable) - allows emotions to interfere with her position and marries her boss - a successful politician.

Philosophical views

An important source for us here is the novel "Sail Beyond the Sunset", where the main character Maureen Johnson asks the question: "The purpose of metaphysics is to ask such questions: Why are we here? Where do we go after death? And - Why are these questions unresolvable? Questions are the basis of Heinlein's metaphysics. Lazarus Long (her son) rightly states in the 1973 novel that in order to answer the question “what is the universe?”, it is necessary to go beyond it.

The most concentrated philosophical problems are expressed by Heinlein in works of short form. Solipsism - "They", causality - "In their own footsteps", the limitations of human perception - "Aquarium with goldfish", the illusory nature of the world - "The unpleasant profession of Jonathan Hoag".

In the 1930s and 1940s, Heinlein was deeply interested in Alfred Korzybski's theory of general semantics and attended his seminars. Then Heinlein became interested in the teachings of the mystic Peter Demyanovich Uspensky.

The world is like a myth

The idea of ​​the World as a myth (eng. World as Myth) belongs to Heinlein and was developed by him in the book "The Number of the Beast". According to her, myths and fictional worlds exist as an uncountable set of Universes, in parallel with ours. More precisely, the number of fictional universes is 10,314,424,798,490,535,546,171,949,056 or ((6)^6)^6. In this multiverse, Heinlein's story of the future is just one of the vast number of universes that make up the world as a myth.

Novels that make up the cycle:
Enough time for love
Number of the Beast
cat walking through walls
Sail away into the sunset

Heinlein's rules

Robert Heinlein did not leave behind any of the famous trinity of laws that Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke had. However, in the 1947 essay "On the Writing of Speculative Fiction", he spoke of five rules for writing success:

You must write
You must finish writing
You must refrain from rewriting unless the editor requires it.
You must bring your work to market
You must keep it on the market until it is bought.

The writer did not hide these rules from potential competitors, as he believed that very few authors would be able to fully follow them.

Heinlein's legacy

Along with Isaac Asimov and Arthur Clarke, Robert Heinlein is ranked as one of the three Great Masters of Science Fiction, he was recognized as the first of this trio. He was one of the brightest representatives of the Golden Age of Science Fiction and his early career was closely associated with Astounding Science Fiction editor John Campbell.

Fame came to Heinlein very early. As early as 1953, in a survey of the leading sf authors of the time, he was listed as the most influential contemporary author. In 1974, he was the first science fiction writer to receive the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award. for lifetime services to science fiction. Critic James Gifford wrote, "While many other authors have surpassed Heinlein in impact, few can claim to have had such an extensive and productive influence on the genre as he has. Dozens of science fiction writers of the pre-war Golden Age still trust Heinlein with undisguised enthusiasm to develop their own careers, form their own style and plots.

Heinlein also contributed to space exploration. The 1950 film Destination the Moon, based on his screenplay, promotes the idea of ​​a space race with the Soviet Union ten years before the phenomenon became recognizable, and the film was promoted through an unprecedented print advertising campaign. Many astronauts and others involved in the US space program have been inspired by the work of Robert Heinlein, such as his novella The Man Who Sold the Moon.

In just 48 years of his writing career, Heinlein created 33 novels [~ 10], 59 short stories and 16 collections of works. Based on his writings, 4 films, 2 television series, several radio shows, and more have been shot.

In the USSR, Heinlein was first translated back in 1944, but by 1990 the number of Heinlein's publications in Russian did not exceed 20. Mostly these were stories, only in 1977 in the magazine "Around the World" (No. 1-5) a novel was published "Stepsons of the Universe". Since the 1990s, the popularity of the writer in Russia has grown sharply (45 editions in 1992, by 2003 - more than 500), several representative collected works have been published. The first of these was The Worlds of Robert Heinlein in 25 volumes.

In 2003, the organization responsible for the preservation of Heinlein's legacy established his personal prize, which is awarded for writing works that inspire people to explore space. There is also a literary award (English) Russian. named after the hero of the story "Green Hills of the Earth" - an astronaut who lost his sight, but not space and became a space bard - awarded for the best fantastic work written in poetic form.