THE FOREVER WAR

'''The Forever War''' is a 1974 science fiction novel by Joe Haldeman. It won the Nebula Award in 1975 and the Hugo Award in 1976. Both an action-laden and contemplative story of an interstellar war between humanity and the enigmatic Tauran species, it deals with themes like the inhumanity of both war and its attendant bureaucracy, as well as with the results of time dilation space travel which may cause a soldier to return to his home only after centuries have gone by.
There are also two sequels of sorts, ''Forever Free'' and ''Forever Peace'' (the latter only shares the theme, not the setting). The three books are considered by some to constitute The Forever War series.

Contents

Plot synopsis

Significance and criticism

Editions

Overview

Cover gallery

Graphic novel

See also

References

Plot synopsis

The novel tells the story of William Mandella, a university student conscripted for an elite UN task force being assembled for a war against the Taurans, an alien species discovered when they suddenly attacked human colonist's ships. They are sent out for what might be described as reconnaissance in force, though the politics of revenge are also a major factor in their formation.
The army recruited for the task is composed of elite recruits; IQs of 150 and above, highly educated and at very high levels of physical health and fitness. The story begins during the training of the first group of recruits. They undergo a grueling training regimen on Earth and later on Charon^[1], which results in a number of casualties - mainly due to accidents in hostile environments but also due the use of live weapons in training. The new soldiers then depart for action, travelling via wormhole-like phenomena called 'collapsars' that allow ships to cover thousands of light-years in a split second. However, travelling to and from the collapsars at near-lightspeed has massive relativistic effects.
Their first encounter with (unarmed) Taurans on a faraway planet turns into a massacre, with the unresisting enemy base wiped out. Mandella melancholically reflects on how typical the encounter was for humanity's previous record in interaction with other cultures. This first expedition lasted only a few months from the soldier's perspective, but due to time dilation, upon return to Earth many years have passed. On the long way home, the soldiers experience future shock firsthand, as the Taurans employ increasingly advanced weaponry against them while they themselves did not yet have the chance to re-arm.
Mandella, together with fellow soldier, lover and companion Marygay, initially returns to civilian life, only to find humanity drastically changed. He and his fellow soldiers have difficulty fitting into a future society that has evolved almost beyond their comprehension. The veterans learn that, to curb overpopulation, which led to world-wide food wars, homosexuality has become officially encouraged by the world government. The changes within society alienate Mandella and the other veterans to the point where many re-enlist simply to escape, even though they realize the military is a soulless construct. The inability of the military to treat its soldiers as more than valuable, highly complex machines is a major theme of the story.
Almost entirely through luck, Mandella survives four subjectively experienced years of military service, which time dilation makes equivalent to several centuries of combat and change. He soon becomes the 'oldest' surviving soldier in the war, attaining high rank through seniority, although not from personal ambition (he is portrayed as an eternally reluctant soldier, who acts mostly from natural talent and a melancholic sense of duty). Despite this he is separated from Marygay, who has remained his last contact with the Earth from his youth, by inexorable and impersonal military machinery. As the commanding officer of a 'strike force', Mandella now commands soldiers who speak a language completely unrecognizable to him, whose ethnicity is now nearly uniform, and are exclusively homosexual.
Engaging in combat thousands of light years away from Earth, Mandella and his soldiers battle to survive what is to be the last conflict of the war, which has already officially ended in the meantime. During the time that has passed on Earth, mankind begins employing human cloning, resulting in a new species calling itself ''Man''. ''Man'' has developed a means of communication unique and inherent to clones, which allows them to communicate with the Taurans, leading to peace. It turns out the war was a colossal mistake - the Taurans are a naturally clone-based species and could not communicate with the pre-clone humans. Misunderstandings, especially by the trigger-happy humanity, led to the conflict.
''Man'' establishes several colonies of old-style, heterosexual humans, just in case the evolutionary change proves to be mistake. Mandella travels to one of these colonies, named 'Middle Finger' (instead called 'Index' (possibly for index finger) in some of the graphic novel adaptions). There he is reunited with Marygay, who had been discharged much earlier and had intentionally used time dilation to age at a much slower rate, hoping and waiting for Mandella's return. The epilogue is a news item from the year 3143 announcing the birth of a "fine baby boy" to Marygay Potter-Mandella.

Significance and criticism

The novel is widely perceived to be a portrayal of the author's military service during the Vietnam War, and has been called an account of his war experiences written through a 'space opera' filter.^[2] Other hints of the autobiographical nature of the work are the protagonist's surname, 'Mandella', which is a near anagram of the author's surname, as well as the name of the lead female character, Marygay Potter, which is nearly identical to Haldeman's wife's maiden name. Importantly, if one accepts this reading of the book, the alienation experienced by the soldiers on returning to Earth - here caused by the time dilation effect - becomes a clear metaphor for the reception given to US troops returning to America from Vietnam. He also subverts typical space opera cliches (such as the heroic soldier influencing battles through individual acts) and "...demonstrates how absurd many of the old cliches look to someone who had seen real combat duty. His writing is blunt, earthy, and anti-heroic."
It was also considered to be a response to Robert A. Heinlein's ''Starship Troopers'', a book with a similar setting, often considered pro-military. However, there is some debate as to what actual degree the novel can be considered a critical response of Heinlein's. For his part, Haldeman has played down this claim in several interviews, even going as far as to praise Heinlein's work on its own merits and consider him one of his favorite authors.^[3] There are also certain profound differences between the two novels. Whereas the characters in ''Starship Troopers'' were all volunteers, the characters in ''The Forever War'' were conscripts (Heinlein had stated his opposition to conscription on several occasions). Both men considered each other friends. It is also worth noting that in August of 2003, Haldeman was elected by unanimous vote to the board of directors for the Heinlein Society.^[4][5]

Editions

Overview

''The Forever War'' was published as a serial in Analog Magazine before its first book publication in 1974. Since then, many editions of ''The Forever War'' have been published. Editions published prior to 1991 were abridged for space by the original editor (omitting the middle section, a novella titled ''You Can Never Go Back''). These early paperback editions have "a white cover showing a man in a spacesuit with a sword, with symbolic clocks all around," according to the author, with alternatively the first hardcover edition featuring a large hourglass with planets falling through it.
The 1991 edition restored many expurgated sections, primarily dealing with the changes that befall human civilization over the course of William Mandella's life. This version's cover "has a futuristic soldier who looks like Robin Williams in a funny hat." as Haldeman notes, "But alas, not all of the changes got in, and the book has some internal contradictions because of things left over from the [earlier version]."
In 1997, Avon published the version that Haldeman called "definitive," with "everything restored" and "a less funny cover illustration." This version was republished twice, first in October 2001 as a hardback with a cover showing spaceships in battle over a planet, and again in September 2003, with the cover art depicting a device worn over the eye of a soldier.
In 1999 it was republished by Millenium, an imprint of the Orion Publishing Group, as part of the SF Masterworks series. It featured as the first novel re-printed in the series, and the cover features a close-up of Marygay Potter with soldiers and spaceships in the background. This is the same version as the 1997 Avon publication and features the same Authors Note.
In 2006 an omnibus edition containing the books Forever War, Forever Free and Forever Peace was published by Gollancz. The front cover depicts an alien planet with a futuristic gun stuck barrel down into the ground with a smashed spacesuit helmet placed on top of the gun. The authors note at the start of the book describes the edition as containing the definitive versions.

Cover gallery

Graphic novel

Belgian comic writer Marvano has, in cooperation with Haldeman, created a graphic novel trilogy of ''The Forever War''. With some very minor changes and omissions to storyline and setting, it faithfully adapts the same themes in visual style. The series was translated into various languages, and had a follow-up trilogy connected to ''Forever Free''.

See also

★ ''Return from the Stars'' by Stanislaw Lem

★ Human Terrain System It's no longer fiction

References

1. Charon here refers not Pluto's moon (undiscovered at the time), but to a hypothetical planet beyond Pluto's orbit.
2. Joe Haldeman (author profile at the 'media in transition' project of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
3. Frequently Asked Questions (from Joe Haldemans private website)
4. Joe Haldeman joins Heinlein Society Board (from the heinleinblog, Friday 15 August 2003)
5. The Heinlein Society Board of Directors (from the Heinlein Society website, Retrieved 2007-04-29)