tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4126862445245993591.post4796450221886214631..comments2024-02-22T12:02:20.922-07:00Comments on The Next 50: By the Pricking of my Thumbs...Wandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12731311054637831837noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4126862445245993591.post-51219226150313751842011-12-23T08:39:30.965-07:002011-12-23T08:39:30.965-07:00Guy,
I have also read The Illustrated Man (partia...Guy,<br /><br />I have also read The Illustrated Man (partially because, I must confess, of a reference to it on the TV show Criminal Minds) and I have The Martian Chronicles in reserve for January. I have a hunch I'm not done thinking about Bradbury's work. I can't believe how rewarding it has been to read books that I've never considered before--I keep finding treasures!<br /><br />WandaWandahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12731311054637831837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4126862445245993591.post-34409473400428906352011-12-22T18:39:15.297-07:002011-12-22T18:39:15.297-07:00Hi Wanda
You have chosen a couple of my favori...Hi Wanda<br /><br /> <br /><br />You have chosen a couple of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors. I have to rate Fahrenheit 451 as one of my top five books and I really enjoyed Something Wicked, what child that has happily spend large blocks of time in a library would not. I am not surprised that you did not get as much exposure to Bradbury when reading Science Fiction. As the Wikipedia article about him points out, Bradbury himself considers Fahrenheit 451 his only science fiction book ( and the subject of an absolutely terrible movie adaptation, my opinion ) and the rest of his works fantasy. In the same article SF critic Damon Knight absolutely trashed Bradbury as a Science Fiction writer. But I think if you notice that Bradbury’s first book Dark Carnival was published by Arkham House (whose books are especially dear to me) a press that published mainly Weird Tales writers you realize that he did not like Heinlein or Asimov come out of a strict Science Fiction tradition. Weird Tales writers tended to write in many of the pulp magazine genres of the time including horror, heroic fantasy, detective stories and science fiction. Bradbury often set his stories in worlds that were only slightly different from our own where a harmless pedestrian was an object of fear, a television could stultify the masses (does sound like today doesn’t it) and a down at the heels lightning rod salesman could become a mysterious seer and memorize two small boys with all the eloquence of a TV evangelist. And then you add a carnival, what’s not to like. Also for me Bradbury writing exemplifies all that the best writing can offer, a wonderfully atmospheric prose capable of transporting a reader to another place so vividly that you are, for good or ill as he can be quite dark, in October Country.<br /><br /> GuyGuyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12546069846136464138noreply@blogger.com