On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
|
 Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 7:44 am Post subject: Ray Bradbury is dead |
 |
|
| Quote: |
(Reuters) - Ray Bradbury, a giant of American literature who helped popularize science fiction with works such as "The Martian Chronicles," died on Tuesday at age 91, his publisher said on Wednesday.
Bradbury published more than 500 works including "Fahrenheit 451," a classic novel about book censorship in a future society, and other favorites such as "The Illustrated Man" and "Something Wicked This Way Comes."
|
Okay, I have to say, he was great. One of my favorite writers, and pretty much the only sci-fi/fantasy writer I had any time for. I suppose I liked him because he was light on the science aspects, and really just used the trappings of sci-fi, minus the forays into technical explanation, to advance social criticism.
Thematically, his stories seemed to express a small-town bias against modernity; technology was usually sinister, as I recall. Even the less sinister aspects, like space flight, were used as a handy device to get the characters onto other planets, to encounter worlds meant to reflect or encapsulate the problems of our own.
Fahrenheit 451 was an odd sort of dystopia, with no substantial ideological target beyond anyone who believes in censorship. The whole book was essentially an argument ad absurdum against censorship: Well, if we're gonna burn books that offend people, we're pretty much gonna have to burn all books. Also, Bradbury's usual jaundiced view of suburbia.
So, RIP. Glad he had a long life.
link |
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
