Time Enough for Love by Robert A. Heinlein
"Time Enough for Love" is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein that explores themes of love, identity, and the complexities of human relationships. The story follows Lazarus Long, a character born in 1912, who is kidnapped and rejuvenated in the year 4272. As the oldest living individual in the galaxy, Lazarus becomes the subject of interest for the Howard Families Trustees, who wish to document his extensive life experiences. Unwilling to embrace his new circumstances, he strikes a deal with the foundation’s chief executive to share his life stories in exchange for the promise of discovering new interests.
The narrative is largely framed as Lazarus' memoirs, interspersed with footnotes and commentary from an archivist. These accounts delve into various aspects of love, including both sexual (eros) and spiritual (agape) forms, while recounting pivotal moments from his life. Key stories highlight themes of family, personal success, and moral dilemmas, including complex relationships with his adopted daughter, Dora, and the exploration of incestuous undertones. The latter part of the book introduces new experiences for Lazarus, including interactions with cloned versions of himself and time travel to his past, highlighting the ongoing quest for meaning and connection in an ever-evolving world. This novel invites readers to reflect on the nature of love and the human condition across time and space.
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Time Enough for Love
First published: 1973
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction—future history
Time of work: 1916-4291
Locale: Various planets throughout the galaxy including Earth, New Beginnings, Secundus, and Tertius
The Plot
Lazarus Long (alias Woodrow Wilson Smith, Ernest Gibbons, Corporal Ted Bronson, and many others), born in 1912, is kidnapped and rejuvenated on the planet Secundus by the Howard Families Trustees in the year 4272. The trustees want to add his recollections, as the oldest person in the known galaxy, to the historical archives. Lazarus at first is unhappy with this turn of events because he does not want to be rejuvenated again. He makes a deal with Ira Weatheral, chief executive of the Howard Foundation on Secundus, that if Weatheral and his administrative computer, Minerva, try to find something truly new for Lazarus to do, Lazarus will continue to tell Ira the stories of his life until such time as Ira tires of listening. At that time, if nothing new has been found for Lazarus, he will be free to terminate his life.
The first two-thirds of the book are presented as the transcripts of these memoirs, including footnotes and historical corrections made by Justin Foote the 45th, chief archivist of the Howard Families Foundation. These memoirs include several stories of Lazarus’ lives. They dwell on attempts to define both “eros” and “agape,” sexual love and spiritual love, and impart bits of Lazarus’ wisdom and philosophy on how to live one’s life.
The first full-length story is “The Tale of the Man Who Was Too Lazy to Fail.” It recounts the military career of a friend of Lazarus with exceptional intellectual ability who managed to succeed in life by looking for easier ways to do things. Another story is “The Tale of the Twins Who Weren’t.” This tale allows Lazarus to begin the discussion of incest taboos in preparation for his eros and agape interactions with his friends, sisters, and mother in the final sections of the book. It also provides a background for discussion of the virtue of working “smart” in addition to working hard.
The last major story in this section of the book is “The Tale of the Adopted Daughter.” This is the story of Lazarus’ first love that truly combines both eros and agape. Dora is a “short lifer” (unlike those in the Howard Foundation breeding program for long life) who first comes into Lazarus’ life as a baby who has lost her parents in a fire on the pioneer planet New Beginnings. When Dora grows up, she suspects that Lazarus, using the pseudonym Ernest Gibbons, is a member of the Howard Families and that he will soon be leaving her. Carrying through the incest theme brought up earlier, the adopted daughter seduces her adoptive father. They decide to marry, and because of the difference in their life expectancies, they decide to move to an uncolonized area of New Beginnings. This story follows their lives through the pioneering of new land, the birth and raising of children, being joined by other settlers to form a new town, and Dora’s death from old age.
The last third of the book takes place in Lazarus’ present, from 4272 until 4291, and describes the several “truly new things” found by the computer Minerva to reinterest him in living. During Lazarus’ rejuvenation, his chief rejuvenator, following advice from Minerva, clones Lazarus as female twins, placing one twin in her own womb and one in the womb of Ira Weatheral’s daughter, Hamadryad. Raising these clone daughter/sisters is definitely a new experience for Lazarus, as is interacting with a human Minerva created through cloning. She has placed selected memories of her computer self into her human form. The final new experience created for Lazarus by the computer Minerva is time travel. Most of this section of the book is devoted to the visit Lazarus makes to his past, in the year 1916.
Lazarus, under the alias of Ted Bronson, meets his birth family and is befriended by them. Eventually a mutual seduction takes place between Bronson and Lazarus’ mother, Maureen. Most of the last part of the book is devoted to actions and interactions in Lazarus’ life related to this situation.
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