Ray Bradbury was an American writer who was famous for his science-fictional work, short stories, and poetic style in his prose works. His short stories carry a blend of social criticism, awareness of hazards of the daily developing technology, and a nostalgia for childhood. Though he is considered a science fiction writer, his own views regarding this label were different.
He was of the view that his only science fiction work was Fahrenheit 451. Much of his work can be placed in the categories of fantasy, horror, and mystery. He said that using the platform of science in his works, he leaped into the air and never came back.
Bradbury is one of the most prolific writers. His works have changed the way people think. His prolific works are the exemplification of the creativity of American imagination. His works have a life-long impact on the readers, and once they are read, they are never forgotten. He is worthy of being called a classic writer because his works are appealing, both to young and old readers.
In his works, he has presented a different view of the world, attempting to change the perception of the readers to see things differently. He has studied American society differently from a dystopian point of view.
He has attempted to change the situation of a society where critical thinking is outlawed. He was one of the writers who wrote to support themselves financially. He wrote his major works in the era when McCarthyism was in vogue, and every suspected work was censored. In these works, the themes of conformity and censorship are explored.
In an interview, he said that it was also a war against television, which drives away the interest from reading. Though he had a distaste for television, he worked on various screenplays. He not only allowed screen adaptations of his works but also wrote treatments and screenplays.
He was of the view that a writer’s responsibility is to give people hope and motivation to live. According to him, a good writer is the one who can change lives. He believed that it was a writer’s function to sort out problems in society and then offer a solution for it.
He received a special citation from the Pulitzer board for being ‘distinguished, prolific, and deeply influential…’ His greatest achievement is the imaginative quality of his works in the genre of science fiction. In this genre, he has expressed his gift for language, insights into the human condition, and commitment to the freedom of the individual.
His short stories explore the technological and scientific realms. To the criticism of these, he has added a fantastic touch, and as a result, we have these masterpieces. In contrast to his works, which were horrific, deceptive, adventurous, his life was completely opposite.
He received several distinctions and awards. Most significant of these is the title of ‘Ideas Consultant’ for the World Fair 1964 United States Pavilion, National Medal of Arts in 2004, etc.
A Short Biography of Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury was born on August 22nd, 1920, in Waukegan, Illinois. His parents were Esther Bradbury and Leonard Spaulding Bradbury. His father was a Swedish immigrant and worked as a power and telephone lineman. Ray’s family was an extended family, and this period proved formative in his lay the foundations of his skills in poetry and other works.
Due to his father’s appointment at different places, his family didn’t stay in Waukegan. They eventually settled in Los Angeles in 1934. At this time, his family wasn’t much well to do.
He was enrolled at Los Angeles High School, and there he remained active in the drama club. He occasionally visited Hollywood to meet the celebrities. His first pay as a writer was at the age of fourteen. He received it for a joke which he sold to Burns and Allen radio show.
He was an avid reader since his childhood, and this had influences on his writing. He was influenced by Jules Verne, Edgar Allan Poe, and H. G. Wells. He wrote his first short story at the age of eleven. It was the time when America was going through the Great Depression.
After his graduation from high school, he met Robert Heinlein, who proved formative in his writing career. It was Heinlein who motivated him to write about humans instead of mechanical. His first published short story was Hollerbochen’s Dilemma, which was published in 1938. He wrote several short stories at an early age, and these were published in different magazines.
His family lived a few blocks away from leading Hollywood theatres, and he paid regular visits there. He wasn’t drafted during World War II because of his weak eyesight. This proved a golden time for his writing, and he began his career as a full-time writer at the age of 24. Dark Carnival, his first collection of short stories, was published in 1947.
He married Marguerite McClure in 1947 and had four daughters. Their names were Susanna, Ramona, Bettina, and Alexandra. He belonged to a Baptist family, but himself believed in both Eastern and Western religions. Ray died on June 5th, 2012, at the age of ninety-one, due to a long illness.
Ray Bradbury’s Writing Style
Ray Bradbury is a lyrical and descriptive writer. In his poetic prose, he makes use of personification, similes, and metaphors. His stories are enriched by adjective-heavy descriptions, which endow these works with symbolic meanings. He uses figurative language in his works for transformation. He uses long sentences that show the excitement of the narrator.
There are surreal, sad, apocalyptic, stoic, despairing, and uplifting traces in his works. He presents characters that seem to come out of the dream world and, at the end of the world, receding back to the mists. He presents his visions of human beings, being trapped in novel situations.
His characters have ordinary hopes and flaws that are responsible for driving the plot. He has used different places as settings in his works, of which Earth and Mars are worth mentioning. He has used various themes in his works, which include time travel, magic spells, monsters, alien invasions, etc.
Though his works are not overtly political, he is criticized for being both leftist and right-wing. His works can be called regressive liberalist. Though he is descriptive oftentimes, he leaves many things not completely explained, and the reader is left confused. He leaves many things vague, and this gives the reader a chance to imagine the left-out.
The Invasion Stories
Invasion is one of the oldest themes in science fiction stories, and Bradbury has incorporated it in his works. The early idea that there may be inhabitants on other planets led to the idea that the contact between Earth and other planets is possible. The question of the visits between planets was answered by various writers differently.
The televised version of Bradbury’s short story The Fog Horn was altered to include an invasion motif to it. He has written mainly two types of invasion stories. These include the invasion of Earth by Martians and the invasion of Mars by Earthmen. An example of the first category is his short story, Zero Hour.
There are a number of structural similarities in invasion stories. The most primitive of them all is the news of the invasion, which is disclosed to the reader at once. These are in contrast to real life, where the invasion has an element of surprise. The method of invasion is improbable.
An example of this improbability is from Fever Dream. Though the invasion can harm great areas, the focus in these stories is on small ones. An interesting fact about these works is the role of children in these works who play a significant role.
Children have a world of their own, and for this reason, they may seem like aliens in the adult world.
The Rebirth of Imagination: Solution to Problems
Science fiction is the revolution of the birth of ideas. These ideas are born in imagination and then proliferated to the public. In Bradbury’s works, there is a variety of new ideas presented, and these attract the attention of readers, especially young readers. Through these works, he has created a world that brings ancient and contemporary in front of each other.
Through the new ideas, he not only paved the way for scientific innovations but also became a source of inspiration for other science fiction writers. His new ideas related to works were fantasies that he gave the form of science fiction. These proved attractive for escapists.
There are ideas of architecture and machines in the new ideas’ works. He has described the literary process as the solution to problems, and through these new ideas, he wants to end human miseries.
According to him, science fiction puts forth the problems, and scientists solve it. He calls science fiction the history of ideas that have influenced and strengthened mankind. He calls these works ‘double vision’ in his essay. Through this double vision, the ideal ‘Republic’ can be achieved.
The Martian Chronicles and Other Mars Stories
His collection of Martian stories form a pattern, and these are joined through bridges. To portray Mars, Bradbury has used both fictional and non-fictional sources. Though the concept of Bradbury’s Mars is his own, there are influences from Edgar Rice Burroughs. He has presented Mars as a mythological place, essentially Greek in the atmosphere.
The tone of these stories vary, and these don’t seem to complement each other as compared to Dandelion Wine. These stories don’t have a unifying effect because there are no characters that are continuous in these short stories. The book is episodically structured and disjointed; this gives the collection a sense of unity.
Through the variety of stories, the concept of it being a chronicle is reinforced. The representation of earthmen and Martians is the opposite, the former as presented more realistically while the latter ephemeral.
This collection is presented as a metaphor of interaction, reinforcing the belief that dreams and reality coexist. Martians are not described in detail as human beings are portrayed.
According to a critic, ‘Bradbury keeps Martians at arm’s length.’ The theme of metamorphosis is prominent throughout the Mars stories. The readers note that Martians have the ability to change into what earthmen want to see.
In this collection, machines are given a modest role to play. In contrast to machines from Earth, Martian machines excel both in beauty and function. In some stories, robots are given roles to represent misery. An example is The Long Years, in which a man tries to replace his dead wife and children with robots.
The Existential Fabulous
Bradbury’s science fiction is characterized by the gentle fantasy, elegiac sentiment, with touches of eerie and uncanny. His novel Fahrenheit 451 is considered a fable, which is an attempt to way out of modern textual interpretations. There is a constant quest for exploration of identity in his works.
The Golden Apples of the Sun can be cited as another example. This is a mythopoetic work that shows the protagonist going to the sun to ensure the fulfillment of the Earth’s energy needs. Through the exploration of imaginative consciousness’ phenomenological structure, he has tried to change the popular notions of Freudian psychology and existentialism.
Through these structures, it is affirmed that literature is an embodiment of consciousness. Through reverie, the fabulous images are perceived; these are metamorphosed and prolonged. Reverie is a coherent response to the imaginary esthetic world, and for this reason, through it, the meaning of existence is explored in Bradbury’s science fiction works.
In The Golden Apples, the structure of consciousness is highly complex and is an exemplification of an intricate kind of consciousness. Through the dynamic inversions and images symbolically, the knowledge conferred on human beings is presented.
This immense knowledge has resulted in immense fear. Power is also a contributing factor to this fear.
Through this fable, the idea of the fable of modern consciousness is communicated. It conveys the message that with the urge for progress and technology, we are raising the Promethean debt to unconsciousness.
The Gothic Tradition
Bradbury, in an interview, rejected the idea of invention and borrowing in literature. He was of the belief that an artist represents the fundamental truths that are present throughout. He has used conventions, mood, and themes of Gothic tradition in his works The October Country, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and The Halloween Tree.
Bradbury has followed the traditional elements of gothic in these works but has made some innovations as well. These are proto-gothic tales of mysteries, which feature adventures into nether worlds.
His collection The October Country is a work in which he has used fancy to draw grotesque images. He has used the old gothic conventions but in a new disguise.
Catacombs and death are clichés in gothic, but Bradbury has changed it using it in a melancholy romantic sense instead of horror. His choice of characters is also refreshing if compared to other writers.
In typical gothic works, there is a beautiful heroine in distress, being pursued by the antagonist.
In Bradbury’s works, there are personalities, innocents in distress, not of a typical age or sex. Bradbury’s protagonists, unlike typical gothic protagonists, don’t flee. Instead, they stay at a place until time comes to act.
His gothic works don’t have typical entrapments; these are oftentimes symbolic. An example is from The Jar, where the protagonist is entrapped in his own self so that he can protect himself from abuses. He often changes a stock situation with humor. Bradbury has used ‘arabesque‘ conventions of time and place in his gothic novels, Something Wicked and The October Country. This technique is used to foster wonder and mystery.
The Frontier Myth
Using the transmuted quasi-historical origin of events using science and technology, Bradbury has speculated on the important historical events. If we look at his Martian stories, there is a recurring motif of invaders coming from another landing, conquering the natives. If this is seen from the perspective of Europeans coming and enslaving the Americas, it can fit the context.
He has a thinly disguised history in the veil of science fiction. His story Ylla in The Martian Chronicles, is an example of this fact. In this story, Indians become Martians, and the Europeans assume the role of Earthmen. In this story, the native Martians feel that something strange is going to happen the next day, and their world would not remain the same.
Though not all of his stories are not based on Indian legends or historical truths, a significant number of stories have this theme. He extends the origin of American literature from its origins to the domain of science fiction in these stories. This way, he bridges the historical and fantastical genres.
Science fiction emerged to retain frontier experience after the paradigm shift in world politics. Bradbury’s writing is influenced by this shift, and he uses Mars as symbolic for the oppressed region.
Bradbury is often criticized for the midwestern landscapes that he has incorporated in his Martian works. These can also be taken as the thought-experiment of middle-class values.
