Bradbury

[Amber]

Bradbury is of course one of the premier fantasy writers (well in my own opinion) and I wondered why there was so little on him on the site.. No bio, no reviews ah well.

This shall serve the purpose.

Just a discussion on which books were the best, and which short stories you enjoyed the most ^^

 

[Foxbat]

His best (in my humble opinion) is Dandelion Wine. Not exactly Science Fiction but between the pages of this book, he has managed to trap the magic, mystery and adventure of growing up. If you've never read it, I strongly urge you give it a try

 

[ravenus]

Well I most heartily enjoyed the collections October Country and Golden Apples of the Sun. I liked The Illustrated Man collection a good deal too, although not as much as the above 2, and I absolutly detested Driving Blind which I thought was a very scraped together collection of half-baked stories allowed to be printed solely to bilk gullible fans for their money.

I love the 2 novels of his I read, Something Wicked This Way Comes and Death Is A Lonely Business. SWTWC is of course a famous book and one of his best-written pieces...I came to know of it thanks to Stephen King's insightful review in his indispensible horror chronology/review Danse Macabre. DIALB is a latter-day work and a beautiful parody of the dimestore detective novel with some terrific emotional hooks.

I thought his From The Dust Returned was a crappy attempt to link the 'Uncle Einar & Family' stories into an episodic novel.

I'd love to talk more about Bradbury...will do so later.

 

[Amber]

Yes, I enjoyed his short story collections, and I *loved* Death is a Lonely Business. Best title in the world....


Anyone read 'A Graveyard for Lunatics?'


Also lets come up with some reasons as to why Bradbury is slowly disappearing, and not being acknowledged...

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I love Something Wicked This Way Comes -- the witch, the carnival, the lightning rods.

Perhaps he is getting less notice these days because he always writes about things that interest him rather than riding whatever wave is currently in favor with the literary or the sf establishment.

 

[Leto]

How can you pick something up as a favorite in Bradbury work ? His work is so diverse and so equally good in my opinion I couldn't choose one. Except maybe the Martian Chronicles I've read as a kid.

 

[ravenus]

Because he's past his prime and not putting out any genuinely fresh stuff? Anyway he's famous enough, his books are popular among genre fans. I don't really know what more acclaim is required.

I do not subscribe to the 'everything is equally good' opinion. Sure the works are diverse but all can be evaluated on their own merits and in comparison with each other. For me Driving Blind and From the Dust Returned certainly come up well short of the expected mark.

 

[Leto]

Let's say this way : everything I've read was equally good for my taste. I haven't read the two you've cited or maybe in a translated version.

 

[Amber]

You could be right. It's just often when I talk to kids my age who claim to love science fiction and fantasy, if I mention Bradbury they come up with blank looks....

 

[Leto]

You could be right. It's just often when I talk to kids my age who claim to love science fiction and fantasy, if I mention Bradbury they come up with blank looks....

That's modern acculturation for you.
See this every Thursday after the radio show I participate in. Name like Asimov, Lieber, Vance, Bradbury are virtually unknown by young auditors (less than 45). I sometimes feel like a dinosaur to read and talk about books written before my birthdate.

 

[Amber]

Well they were written long before mine, so I guess that makes me a young dinosaur. Great books don't die, but they are forgotten. I think schools should supply more in their libraries.

Throw out Goosebumps and Sweet Valley High and replace with some real fiction

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Also, Bradbury's work has never been exciting or action-packed inthe traditional sense - much of the action is internal and the thrill is as much in the way he writes. He's never adhered rigidly to the norms of the genres he writes in, and that could be a bit odd for people used to extruded sff product.


My favourites are the stories contained in The October Country and The Illustrated Man.

 

[Leto]

Dang, thanks JP, I have to stalk the one who borrow me the Illustrated man and never gave it back.

Amber, I agree about school libraries. I remind mine had terrible choices in. And SFF at all, as here, it's not coined as real litterature.

 

[ravenus]

Also, Bradbury's work has never been exciting or action-packed inthe traditional sense

Meaning it's not about a bunch of fairies who have to destroy/recover thingamajig artifact before humanity as we know it is destroyed forever

 

[Amber]

Meaning it's not about a bunch of fairies who have to destroy/recover thingamajig artifact before humanity as we know it is destroyed forever

Damn right. If only we'd been set Bradbury instead of Steinbeck for GCSE

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Don't knock Steinbeck too fast, though. There are passages in East of Eden that still make me sit back and ponder.

 

[ravenus]

Some of Steinbeck's stuff is quite cool, but of what I've read he has a tendency to regurgitate this particular neighborhood with its amusing but stock characters including alcoholic vets, gold-hearted whores, Chinese merchants and amusing no-gooders.

But I haven't read Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men, so my op is limited.

 

[Amber]

I studied Of Mice and Men in exhausting detail and wrote a 3000 word essay on Loneliness in it. It's simply not that good. Though I will try East of Eden if you recommend it knivesout

I wish I could've met Bradbury....

 

[Amber]

HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
10 East 53rd Street
New York, New York 10022
USA

Appears to be his Publisher in the US. I may send him a letter. I doubt he'd read it, but I'll do it anyway...

 

[Leto]

You can also try from there : http://www.raybradbury.com/