Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War is one of the seminal war novels in science fiction — hell, it’s one of the seminal war novels, period. Of any time, of any era, of any war.
In it, a band of young men and women are drafted into a future army to fight off an alien race. But that’s not really what the novel is about.
In Haldeman’s war, time dilation in space travel means that while a few months or years pass for the soldiers away fighting, decades and centuries pass on Earth. The soldiers return to a world throughout the course of the novel — on leave, or to recuperate from horrific injuries — that’s barely recognizable as their own. Which begs the question: Why are they fighting? Just what is it they’re trying to save?
The Forever War is a reflection of Haldeman’s own experiences in Vietnam, but while it’s instructed by his time in southeast Asia, it’s not a simple allegory. It’s much, much more.
If you’ve never read it, you should. It’s one of the greats.
Ridley Scott has been working on a film adaptation for a few years now. It sounds like it’s finally grinding down to the point where production can commence.
Haldeman himself recently blogged about the progress of the script, and the fact that he’d never been asked to write a draft.
From Haldeman’s LiveJournal blog:
[Somebody wrote into sff.net offering to write a screenplay for THE FOREVER WAR. . . ]
860, Tue 03 Aug 2010 01:29:43p
Andrew, anybody can write a script for any book, especially THE FOREVER WAR, but it might not be a productive use of one’s time. Scott has a script; last I heard, it was the fourth rewrite. I’ve talked to the writer — he has good credits, like “Unforgiven.”
I’m not among the people who assume that the novel will be desecrated by the movie. It will be interesting to see somebody else’s take on it.
Incidentally, I wasn’t asked to submit a screenplay, though I’ve been a member of the Writers Guild for almost thirty years and have solid production credits. No surprise. They don’t want the book’s author saying “Hold it! I wrote the book, and that’s not the way it goes.”
I haven’t been impressed with Ridley’s last feature or two (Robin Hood looked like complete ass), but I’m excited for this one. David Peoples has solid screenwriting credits, including Bladerunner. I hope my enthusiasm is justified.
