Ray Bradbury has a lot of hidden meanings that I've found in his books, do you think he means to put these in his books or are they things that he writes and just happen to have hidden meaning to someone else. For example, I felt that the beginning of F451 was very drawn out and boring, but as the book went on things became more unpredictable. I thought maybe Ray was trying to compare Montag's life with the book. At the beginning, Montag was very set in his ways and had a boring life (even though he didn't think so at the time). Then as he stated wondering about books and what was inside his life (like the book) became more unpredictable.
So what do you all think?

Wow. If I could answer that, I'd be the genius of the world. I can definitely state that Bradbury is a perfectionist who does a lot of rewriting, so it's obvious some conscious process is going on--he doesn't just slap something down expecting his subconscious to turn it out perfect on the first try. He objects to the term "thinking" in relation to art, and doesn't call what he does during his work thinking, but it's obviously some kind of active participation process.

kelbel16

There are those who finds themselves on the fine line between madness and genius. That includes those who wish to overly dissect works of fiction.

kelbel 16.

Good question and one well worth pursuing. Bradbury has said that both are true. Some symbols are intentionally placed in his work and some are just things that appear as he tells his stories.

I think a sincere and serious analysis of literature is one of the highest activities of which man is capable.

Mr. Dark:

I honestly think that, at least the detail in early works of some fiction, are not necessarily the product of some writer's conscious intention. In the energy and speed of their writing, tho unconscious descriptions of the deep motivations and thinking of the writer come onto the page, he may not, and I am sure there are instances when he definitely does not...find awareness in what he is penning.

To deeply unweave the intricacies of the meaning behind a particular writer's works, may be unsure. The writer may not agree, for one.

I think writers are often more conscious of their trade/art than they let on.

I think literature works on multiple levels -- hence the fun. As readers we have to examine a lot of things:

What was the writer saying?

How did we react to the story/character/language, etc.?

What does the story mean? (both in the context of the thematic intent of the writer and the creative work on the part of the reader who builds his or her own idea of how to interpret the theme/characters/settings, etc.

Literature (unlike television) is a creative act at both ends when done well. Television is a much more passive media. Reading engages the mind and it's creative elements.

As Thoreau once said, a good book must be read as deliberately as it was written.

Mr Dark is right. Writing good novels is a conscious process. The old adage that novels are 1% creativity and 99% editing is, I think, very true (or something to that effect).
Cheers, Translator

Well, I don't fully agree...

...especially in stream- of- consciousness writing. It's like a 'Roschach Test'. The writer may not know in fact what the heck he's saying, and the reader may come up with a half dozen different takes on what he was trying to say.

But when we are talking about a writer who carefully weighs each phraseology of his expressions, chooses words oh so carefully, determines the exact course of his ideas being presented by his artistic choice of prose, well...then we can have a go at getting to the meaning he was trying to convey.

"Outside of a dog, a book is Man's Best Friend.
(Inside of a dog it's too dark to read!)"
-Groucho Marx

yes i completly agree i always notice the same thing. I think that is his main goal in all of his books. He trys to teach us things with out actually sayin it word for word. I think 80% of the things i learned from the book were hidden in the text and they changed my way of thinking. Thats the main reason i keep reading his books. I keep wanting to find new hidden messages and what he thinks about it.

Mr Dark:

Per what kuzietroOOO is explaining, I say this:

Some of the stuff of that you are seeing, Ray don't know he's saying...I guarantee it!!!

Many grains of truth here. I think initially there may be quite a bit of material welling up from the unconscious; then, as the writer proceeds to edit that first draft, the conscious manipulation of the material begins. Of course this may trigger fresh insights which can and sometimes should be incorporated in the end product--but basically that's how most writers work.