Ray Bradbury
| Genre | Fantasy science fiction horror fiction m ... |
| Notable works | Fahrenheit 451 The Martian Chronicles So ... |
| Notable awards | American Academy of Arts and Letters (19 ... |
| Spouse | Marguerite McClure ( m. 1947; died 2 ... |
What else did Ray Bradbury write?
Ray BradburyEducationLos Angeles High SchoolPeriod1938–2012GenreFantasy science fiction horror fiction mystery fiction magic realismNotable worksFahrenheit 451 The Martian Chronicles Something Wicked This Way Comes The Illustrated Man12 more rows
How many works has Ray Bradbury?
Bradbury has published more than 30 books and has written nearly 600 short stories. His literary awards include the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters (2000), the O.
What types of literature did Ray Bradbury write?
Bradbury is best known for the classic Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles. Most of his works fall within the genres of speculative fiction: fantasy, science-fiction, and horror. Bradbury had only a high-school education, and spent his early years in a variety of jobs, specifically trying to gain life experience.
What other works did Ray Bradbury write which of these titles might you recommend for reading?
10 Best Ray Bradbury Books Everyone Should ReadFahrenheit 451 (1953) Buy on Amazon. ... The October Country (1955) Buy on Amazon. ... The Martian Chronicles (1950) Buy on Amazon. ... The Illustrated Man (1951) ... The Golden Apples of the Sun (1953) ... Dandelion Wine (1957) ... Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962) ... The Halloween Tree (1972)More items...•
What was Ray Bradbury famous for?
Ray Bradbury is an American author known for his highly imaginative short stories and novels that blend a poetic style, nostalgia for childhood, social criticism, and an awareness of the hazards of runaway technology. Among his best known works are Fahrenheit 451, Dandelion Wine, and The Martian Chronicles.
Who wrote Fahrenheit 451?
Ray BradburyFahrenheit 451 / Author
What inspired Fahrenheit 451?
Fahrenheit 451 was partially inspired by Nazi book burning.
What was Ray Bradbury's breakout work?
1950: “The Martian Chronicles” is published, a breakout success that established Bradbury in literature and continues to be one of his most highly regarded works. In intertwined stories about Earth colonizers destroying an idyllic Martian civilization, Bradbury explored issues of post-World War II America.
What did Ray Bradbury create for Disney World?
Spaceship EarthYears later, when The Walt Disney Company pulled together plans to build Epcot, Bradbury was hired to help develop the storyline and script for an attraction that focused on the history of communication. This attraction later became Spaceship Earth.
Why did Ray Bradbury say you don't have to burn books to destroy a culture just get people to stop reading them?
Ray Bradbury says, “You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them”. This quote is saying that if you get people to stop reading books, there is no point in burning them. This quote also says that there is nothing without knowledge behind it.
What is the best Ray Bradbury story?
Bradbury is best known for his novels, such as Something Wicked This Way Comes and Fahrenheit 451 (which was made into a well-received 1966 film).
What legacy did Ray Bradbury leave behind?
His stories and novels showed us the promise and wonder of traveling the stars in books such as “The Martian Chronicles” and “R is For Rocket.” But just as often as Bradbury's fiction looked outward, the future and the cosmos, it also turned its powerful eye inward, peering into the human condition in books such as “ ...
Who is Ray Bradbury?
Ray Bradbury is an American author known for his highly imaginative short stories and novels that blend a poetic style, nostalgia for childhood, so...
Which novel is considered Ray Bradbury's greatest work?
Fahrenheit 451 (1953) is regarded as Ray Bradbury’s greatest work. The novel is about a future society where books are forbidden, and it has been a...
What was Ray Bradbury's last novel?
Ray Bradbury's final novel was Farewell Summer (2006), a sequel to one of his most well-known works, the autobiographical novel Dandelion Wine (1957).
Was Ray Bradbury awarded a Pulitzer Prize?
In 2007 the Pulitzer Prize Board awarded Ray Bradbury a Special Citation for his distinguished career.
How many books did Ray Bradbury write?
Bradbury authored "more than 27 novels and story collections", which included many of his 600 short stories. More than eight million copies of his works, published in over 36 languages, have been sold around the world.
What was the first Ray Bradbury production?
Its first production was The World of Ray Bradbury, consisting of one-act adaptations of " The Pedestrian ", "The Veldt", and "To the Chicago Abyss". It ran for four months at the Coronet Theatre in Los Angeles (October 1964 – February 1965); an off-Broadway production was presented in October 1965.
What is the name of the asteroid that Ray Bradbury discovered?
An asteroid discovered in 1992 was named " 9766 Bradbury " in his honor.
What was Ray Bradbury's focus?
Bradbury concentrated on detective fiction in the 1980s. In the latter half of the 1980s and early 1990s, he also hosted The Ray Bradbury Theater, a televised anthology series based on his short stories.
What was Bradbury's first book?
Bradbury's first published story was " Hollerbochen's Dilemma ", which appeared in the January 1938 number of Forrest J. Ackerman's fanzine Imagination!. In July 1939, Ackerman and his girlfriend Morojo gave 19-year-old Bradbury the money to head to New York for the First World Science Fiction Convention in New York City, and funded Bradbury's fanzine, titled Futuria Fantasia. Bradbury wrote most of its four issues, each limited to under 100 copies. Between 1940 and 1947, he was a contributor to Rob Wagner 's film magazine, Script.
When did Ray Bradbury receive the Prometheus Award?
In 1984, he received the Prometheus Award for Fahrenheit 451. In 1986, Ray Bradbury was a Guest of Honor at the 44th World Science Fiction Convention, which was held in Atlanta, Ga., from August 28 to September 1. Ray Bradbury Park was dedicated in Waukegan, Illinois, in 1990.
Where did Bradbury live?
The family lived about four blocks from the Fox Uptown Theatre on Western Avenue in Los Angeles, the flagship theater for MGM and Fox. There, Bradbury learned how to sneak in and watched previews almost every week. He rollerskated there, as well as all over town, as he put it, "hell-bent on getting autographs from glamorous stars. It was glorious." Among stars the young Bradbury was thrilled to encounter were Norma Shearer, Laurel and Hardy, and Ronald Colman. Sometimes, he spent all day in front of Paramount Pictures or Columbia Pictures and then skated to the Brown Derby to watch the stars who came and went for meals. He recounted seeing Cary Grant, Marlene Dietrich, and Mae West, who, he learned, made a regular appearance every Friday night, bodyguard in tow.
When did Ray Bradbury publish his first short story?
Bradbury published his first short story, “Hollerbochen’s Dilemma” (1938), in the league’s “fanzine,” Imagination! He published his own fanzine, Futuria Fantasia, in 1939. That same year Bradbury traveled to the first World Science Fiction convention, in New York City, where he met many of the genre’s editors.
Where did Ray Bradbury spend his time?
In 1954 Bradbury spent six months in Ireland with director John Huston working on the screenplay for the film Moby Dick (1956), an experience Bradbury later fictionalized in his novel Green Shadows, White Whale (1992).
What was Ray Bradbury's only science fiction book?
Ray Bradbury, 1982. Bradbury was often considered a science fiction author, but he said that his only science fiction book was Fahrenheit 451 . Strictly speaking, much of his work was fantasy, horror, or mysteries. He said, “I use a scientific idea as a platform to leap into the air and never come back.”.
What did Ray Bradbury like to do as a child?
As a child, Bradbury loved horror films such as The Phantom of the Opera (1925); the books of L. Frank Baum and Edgar Rice Burroughs, and the first science fiction magazine, Amazing Stories. Bradbury often told of an encounter with a carnival magician, Mr. Electrico, in 1932 as a notable influence.
What award did Bradbury win for his animated adaptation of The Halloween Tree?
In 2007 the Pulitzer Prize Board awarded Bradbury a Special Citation for his distinguished career. Erik Gregersen.
What was Bradbury's first book?
Most of these stories were collected in his first book of short stories, Dark Carnival (1947). Bradbury’s style, with its rich use of metaphors and similes, stood out from the more utilitarian work that dominated pulp magazine writing.
What is the name of the short story that the Illustrated Man wrote?
The short-story collection The Illustrated Man (1951) included one of his most famous stories, “The Veldt, ” in which a mother and father are concerned about the effect their house’s simulation of lions on the African veldt is having on their children.
What is the best Ray Bradbury book?
It is Bradbury’s vibrant prose, as well as his joyful depictions of Ireland’s beautiful landscape, that earns Green Shadows, White Whale the final spot on our list of the best Ray Bradbury books.
What was the name of the book that Bradbury wrote in 1955?
His first book was a collection of grotesque and moody stories published in 1947 under the title Dark Carnival.
What is Bradbury known for?
Best known for his works Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles, Bradbury had a prolific career as one of America’s most successful novelists, short story writers, playwrights, and screenwriters.
How old was Ray Bradbury when he met Mr Electrico?
He was twelve years old when he met Mr Electrico at a carnival and was shown around a tent of misfits that would later stalk the pages of his most macabre stories. Later that day, Mr Electrico touched Ray with an electrified sword and, in a whisper, exhorted him to “Live forever.”. Bradbury took these words to heart.
What does it mean to open the pages of a Ray Bradbury novel?
To open the pages of a Ray Bradbury novel is to dive into an imagination that journeyed beyond the confines of our rocky planet and deep into the most marvelous and troubling chambers of human existence.
What is Montag's purpose in the Red Scare?
Montag soon begins to doubt his technology-addicted society and tries to salvage the hidden world of printed knowledge that still survives. The Red Scare of the 1940s, which saw America gripped by anti-communist hysteria, prompted Bradbury to write this dark meditation on a post-literature future.
What is Bradbury's fourth fix up?
For his fourth ‘fix-up’ of short stories, Bradbury abandoned frame narratives and simply juxtaposed tales from a variety of genres. The result is an astonishing mingling of his familiar, wistful fantasy, like “The April Witch” — a haunting tale about a teenage dream-traveler who longs to fall in love — with visionary science fiction, such as the title story — a terrifying yet beautiful description of a spaceship’s flight into the Sun’s atmosphere.
When did Ray Bradbury become a writer?
Bradbury decided to become a writer at about age 12 or 13. He later said that he made the decision in hopes of emulating his heroes, and to "live forever" through his fiction. Bradbury's family moved to Los Angeles, California in 1934.
What is Ray Bradbury's best known book?
His best known novel is Fahrenheit 451, a dystopian study of future American society in which critical thought is outlawed. He is also remembered for several other popular ...
What was the first book that Bradbury wrote?
In 1950, Bradbury published his first major work, The Martian Chronicles , which detailed the conflict between humans colonizing the red planet and the native Martians they encountered there. While taken by many to be a work of science fiction, Bradbury himself considered it to be fantasy.
What did Ray Bradbury do for television?
Despite his apparent distaste for television, Bradbury advocated for film adaptations of his work. He wrote numerous screenplays and treatments, including a 1956 take on Moby Dick. In 1986, Bradbury developed his own HBO television series, allowing him to produce adaptations of his short stories.
How long did Ray Bradbury write?
Bradbury wrote well into his 80s, dictating for three hours at a time to one of his daughters, who would transcribe his words to the page. Though curtailing much of his traveling and public appearances, he granted several interviews in his latter years and helped raise funds for his local library.
When did Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 come out?
Bradbury's best-known work, Fahrenheit 451, published in 1953, became an instant classic in the era of McCarthyism for its exploration of themes of censorship and conformity. In 2007 Bradbury himself disputed that ...
Where was Ray Bradbury born?
Author Ray Douglas Bradbury was born on August 22, 1920, in Waukegan, Illinois, to Leonard Spaulding Bradbury, a lineman for power and telephone utilities, and Ester Moberg Bradbury, a Swedish immigrant. Bradbury enjoyed a relatively idyllic childhood in Waukegan, which he later incorporated into several semi-autobiographical novels and short stories. As a child, he was a huge fan of magicians, and a voracious reader of adventure and fantasy fiction — especially L. Frank Baum, Jules Verne and Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Overview
Death
Bradbury died in Los Angeles, California, on June 5, 2012, at the age of 91, after a lengthy illness. Bradbury's personal library was willed to the Waukegan Public Library, where he had many of his formative reading experiences.
The New York Times called Bradbury "the writer most responsible for bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream." The Los Angeles Times credited Bradbury with the ability "to …
Early life
Bradbury was born on August 22, 1920, in Waukegan, Illinois, to Esther (née Moberg) Bradbury (1888–1966), a Swedish immigrant, and Leonard Spaulding Bradbury (1890–1957), a power and telephone lineman of English ancestry. He was given the middle name "Douglas" after the actor Douglas Fairbanks.
Bradbury was surrounded by an extended family during his early childhood and formative years in
Influences
Throughout his youth, Bradbury was an avid reader and writer and knew at a young age that he was "going into one of the arts." Bradbury began writing his own stories at age 12 (1931) —sometimes writing on butcher paper.
In his youth, he spent much time in the Carnegie Library in Waukegan, reading such authors as H. G. Wells, Jules Verne, and Edgar Allan Poe. At 12, Bradbury began writing traditional horror stories a…
Career
Bradbury's first published story was "Hollerbochen's Dilemma", which appeared in the January 1938 number of Forrest J. Ackerman's fanzine Imagination!. In July 1939, Ackerman and his girlfriend Morojo gave 19-year-old Bradbury the money to head to New York for the First World Science Fiction Convention in New York City, and funded Bradbury's fanzine, titled Futuria Fantasia. Bradbury wrote most of its four issues, each limited to under 100 copies. Between 1940 and 194…
Writing
Bradbury attributed his lifelong habit of writing every day to two incidents. The first of these, occurring when he was three years old, was his mother's taking him to see Lon Chaney in the 1923 silent film The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The second incident occurred in 1932, when a carnival entertainer, one Mr. Electrico, touched the young man on the nose with an electrified sword, made his hair stand on end, and shouted, "Live forever!" Bradbury remarked, "I felt that something stran…
Cultural contributions
Bradbury wrote many short essays on the culture and the arts, attracting the attention of critics in this field, using his fiction to explore and criticize his culture and society. Bradbury observed, for example, that Fahrenheit 451 touches on the alienation of people by media:
In writing the short novel Fahrenheit 451 I thought I was describing a world that might evolve in four or five decades. But only a few weeks ago, in Beverly Hills one night, a husband and wife pa…
Personal life
Bradbury's wife was Marguerite McClure (January 16, 1922 – November 24, 2003) from 1947 until her death; they had four daughters: Susan, Ramona, Bettina and Alexandra. Bradbury never obtained a driver's license, but relied on public transportation or his bicycle. He lived at home until he was 27 and married. His wife of 56 years, Maggie, as she was affectionately called, was the only woman Bradbury ever dated.