The Forever War

The Forever War

File:Forever war.jpg
Author	Joe Haldeman
Language	English
Genre	Science fiction
Publisher	Eos (HarperCollins)
Publication date	1975
Publication place	USA
Media type	Print
Pages	272
ISBN	ISBN 0-380-70821-3

The Forever War is a 1975 Nebula and 1976 Hugo Award winning science fiction novel by Joe Haldeman. There is also a sequel, Forever Free. Haldeman's book Forever Peace deals with similar themes. The three books are considered by some to constitute The Forever War series.

Plot summary

Template:Spoiler 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 Terran colony ships. They are sent out for what might be described as reconnaissance in force, though vengeance is also a major factor in the politics behind their formation.

Because of the unknown nature of the threat, many cadets are recruited for unique knowledge and talents, including telepathy and luck. Mandella believes that he is chosen for his understanding of math and physics. All the cadets, however, (who seem to be evenly split between men and women) have genius-level intellects and are close to perfect physically, though for most part they do not look or act like 'extraordinary' people. This concentration of the elite of the elite, apparently supposed to represent the best of mankind, numbers only several dozen when the training enters the serious phases (where the story starts).

After a grueling training regimen on Earth and later on Charon*, which results in a high number of casualties due to the use of live weapons including nuclear warheads, the recruits finally ship out to remote bases orbiting "collapsars", wormhole-like phenomena that allow faster than light travel with massive relativistic effects.

Due to time dilation, the war lasts for more than a thousand years from Earth's perspective. The soldiers experience future shock firsthand, as the Taurans employ increasingly advanced weaponry against them while they themselves do not have time to return to Earth and re-arm.

William Mandella returns to civilian life occasionally, only to find humanity drastically changed whenever he returns from his tours of duty, during which decades or centuries have elapsed. He returns to Earth after his first mission. He and his fellow soldiers have difficulty fitting into a future society that has evolved almost beyond their comprehension. At one point, the veterans learn that to curb overpopulation, which led to world-wide food wars, homosexuality has been officially encouraged by the world government. The changes within society alienate Mandella and the other veterans to the point where many re-enlist in order to escape, even though they realize the military is a soulless construct. The inability of the military machine to treat its soldiers as more than highly complex machines is a major theme of the story.

Through brains, experience, and much luck, Mandella survives the centuries of combat and change, and becomes the 'oldest' soldier in the war, eventually attaining high rank by seniority, if not ambition (he is portrayed as an eternally reluctant soldier, who acts mostly from natural talent and a melancholic sense of duty). As an officer, Mandella commands soldiers who speak a language unrecognizable to him, whose ethnicity is now nearly uniform, and are exclusively homosexual.

The war ends after mankind begins a system of cloning, creating a new species calling itself Man. Man develops a means of communication unique to clones, which allows them to begin peace talks with the Taurans. It turns out the war was a colossal mistake - the Taurans are a naturally clone-based species like Man and could not communicate with the pre-clone humans. Misunderstandings, especially by the trigger-happy human military, led to the conflict.

Man has established a colony of old-style, heterosexual humans, just in case the evolutionary change proves to be a mistake. Mandella is shipped there and is reunited with his love, a fellow soldier who had been discharged much earlier and had intentionally used the collapsar jumps' time dilation to let her age at a much slower rate.

*The Charon of the book is not Pluto's moon (undiscovered at the time), but another hypothetical planet beyond Pluto's orbit.

Reception

The novel is widely perceived to be a portrayal of the author's military experiences during the Vietnam War, although it is set in a science-fiction context. Moreover, it is a look at the changes happening in the world during the war through the eyes of a soldier fighting in it, and the unique (and perhaps more realistic) view he has of them compared to the rest of humanity. 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.

Belgian comic writer Marvano has, in cooperation with Haldeman, created a comic book trilogy of The Forever War in Dutch, titled De Eeuwige Oorlog. The French translation is La Guerre éternelle, edited by Dupuis. The trilogy has a sequel titled Een Nieuw Begin ("A New Beginning"). It was first published in the U.S. in 1991.

Editions

The Forever War has been published in three editions. The 1975 edition was abridged for space by the editor, and is in the opinion of some readers the stronger novel of the first two. This edition, says Haldeman in the author's note to the 1997 "definitive version", "has a white cover showing a guy in a spacesuit with a sword, with symbolic clocks all around." The 1975 edition also appears with a cover illustration of a large hourglass with planets falling through it.

The 1991 edition restores many expurgated sections, primarily dealing with the changes that befall human civilization during the centuries of William Mandella's lifetime. This version "has a futuristic soldier who looks like Robin Williams in a funny hat" (says Haldeman in the 1997 author's note). As stated in the author's note of the 1997 version, "But alas, not all of the changes got in, and the book has some internal contradictions because of things left over from the earlier (1975) one."

In 1997, Avonova published the version he called definitive with "everything restored" and "a less funny cover illustration" (ISBN 0-380-70821-3).[1] In October 2001, a hardback version of the 1997 version was released with yet another cover showing spaceships in battle over a planet.[2] In September 2003, another new edition was released showing the device on the cover of the 1997 edition as a device worn over the eye of a soldier.[3]

See also

The Forever War series