I'm confused about the story Illustrated Man - a friend and I recently recalled different endings to a story bearing this same heading - one where the person runs away after seeing himself being strangled by the illustrated man, and another where the illustrated man is himself being hunted down and murdered.

what's going on here? I also note that the concept occurs in Something Wicked Comes My Way, but since that's a novel, it's not the same story. I also note that one version occurs in a collection of stories bearing that title, and the Illustrated Man primarily occurs as a framing device or pretext to tell other stories.

The other version, though, occurs in a hefty compilation of many different stories, and is apparently more self contained and developed - ie, features as a stand alone.

any comments appreciated.

thanks.

Hi monkeygland, and welcome to the board.

If you'd care to visit my Bradbury Short Story Finder, you will see that there are two pieces with that title. There is also "The Illustrated Woman"!

thanks Phil

why did Bradbury write two different stories with the same title? What is the difference between them and which is the more famous or definitive version?

(anyone feel free to comment. thanks)

I don't know why he did it - except to say that he often writes something and then re-works it for a different purpose. In this case, one version is a standalone story that he sent out to magazines until one of them bought it, and the other version is the introduction and linking material for a short story collection.

No doubt the linking version was provoked by publishers' general hostility towards short-story collections: either he or his publisher probably thought the book would sell better if it looked and felt like a novel, just as The Martian Chronicles (which was really a load of short stories strung together) was made to be novel by using linking material.

As to which version is better known: I suspect that more people have seen the book called The Illustrated Man than have seen the standalone short story. Plus a lot of people have seen the 1969 film starring Rod Steiger, which is taen from the book. Therefore, I would say the "introduction and linking version" is more famous.

Where have I seen an Illustrated Man episode of the s.s.?
(RB Theater?!)

Sounds quite likely - what Phil has well defined on the two versions of IM. The ss reads much differently than collection's intro (which was actually captured rather well in the Steiger flick. Though much of the rest left much to be desired. This would also be a great re-make to see captured by current techno skills.)

quote:

Originally posted by fjp451:
Where have I seen an Illustrated Man episode of the s.s.?
(RB Theater?!)...

I'm not aware of any adaptations/dramatisations of the short story (and there certainly wasn't a version of it in RBT). If you can channel any clear memories of such a thing, fjp, please let me know!

!...at the end of the video, it is evening and the crew of sideshow characters are gathered to do in the IM who has initiated his escape. It seems they were outside of his trailer when he realized his about to occur fate...?

The character of the IM was impatient, even arrogant, I recall.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: fjp451,

Any memories of who was in the cast? Was this perhaps one of those low-budget educational films (like All Summer In A Day)?

While I'm here, here's a link to a "making of" film for the Rod Steiger film version of Illustrated Man:

http://vids.myspace.com/index....ual&videoid=17308914

thanks for an interesting and helpful read guys.

And there was almost an animated version done by Format Films. During research for Wilderness of the Mind I found a few Illustrated Man concept paintings by Joe Mugnaini in the Klynn Family archives. The concepts were done during the making of Icarus Montgolfier Wright.

If you go to the Wilderness teaser site, you can see the thumbnail for one of them in the top row, third from the right.

--
jJ

That would have been an interesting film to see!

In some parallel universe, people will be watching it right now, in between watching DVDs of Ray's TV series REPORT FROM SPACE and 1962 film of THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES... and Gene Kelly's DARK CARNIVAL...