Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Fahrenheit 73

Ray Bradbury passed away in his home last night, he was 91.

Ray was always more of a "soft" SF or Fantasy writer.  His only real science fiction novel was Fahrenheit 451.  The first Ray Bradbury book I read was The Martian Chronicles which was actually an assignment in Jr. High.   The Martian Chronicles is one of those books that appeals to literary folks but never really appealed to me.  I always got the impression that it was a group of short stories masquerading as a novel.

I only met Ray him once, when I was in high school.  He gave a guest lecture at the local community college which I attended, and signed books afterward.  I recall that he was very gracious. I still have the copy of Fahrenheit 451 he signed.  

I think perhaps this quote sums up his philosophy best. "I didn't write Fahrenheit 451 to predict the future, I wrote it to prevent the future."

He will be missed.

2 comments:

TJIC said...

> The Martian Chronicles is one of those books that appeals to literary folks but never really appealed to me. I always got the impression that it was a group of short stories masquerading as a novel.

You're half right.

It WAS a group of short stories.

It was NOT masquerading as a novel.

;-)

Mark Horning said...

Ah, but English lit teachers "teach" it as being a novel.