I was wondering if any of you caught the new story of Ray's entitled "One More Body in the Pool." It is in the June-Sept. issue of The Strand magazine. It's about a young man (actually his age is never mentioned, but he sounded like a young, brash Ray Bradbury to me) who goes to visit F.Scott Fitzgerald to try to offer him writing advice. He says he loves Fitzgerald and his work, but feels the general public just does not appreciate his style. So the young man tries to convince Fitzgerald to switch to writing more murder mysteries, which were hugely popular at that time. At first Fitzgerald is just annoyed, but his interest is caught when the man says he has also visited with Hemingway and Faulkner to convine them of the same thing. It was a fun story, but I honestly feel like I might be missing some of the allusions, because I am not as well read with those authors as I know I should be. Anyone out there who has read it, please tell me your thoughts. I would love to discuss it some more.

lmskipper,

A quick search of the 'net shows some of the stories in The Strand might be available online for free but this particular story isn't. That means I'd have to - gulp - purchase the magazine to read the story. That's not likely to happen soon but if you have specific questions about Faulkner or Hemingway - I'm a Hemingway fanatic myself - I'd be glad to give it a go.

Best,

Pete

Just a note: Several years ago Ray came to Minneapolis to speak to a group (I only found out about it two weeks later) but when I visited with him on the phone about his trip he said he loved it because the dandelions were out in force and he was shown the spots where F. Scott Fitsgerald hung out in St. Paul.

So I know that Ray was really interested in Fitzgerald's writing and, probably, his persona.

pterran--Time for a true confession here. I did not buy the magazine. I sat in the Borders cafe and read the story and then put it back in the magazine rack. I know, this sounds incredibly cheap, but it was the day before pay day and I had only a few dollars left in my purse. Oh, the joys of being a teacher!! Anyway, now that I got paid, I will head back and buy it because I really do want to read it over a few more times. If I come up with any specific questions, I will get back to you. Thanks for your offer of help!!

lmskipper,

Thank you for metioning Borders. I would imagine that Barnes and Noble might have it as well.

I wonder how many new stories he is sending out to various publications? I bet he doesn't receive too many rejection slips these days. Another new collection in the making perhaps!

lmskipper,

Found myself at the bookstore (Barnes and Noble!) yesterday and leafed through the issue of The Strand you referenced. (Nope, didn’t pay for it. Yep, I’m a bad boy.)

Bradbury’s story is not to my taste but it’s another one of his travel-back-in-time-to-visit-with-a-favorite-author stories. I think he did this best with The Kilimanjaro Device, where Bradbury mimics the Hemingway style quite well for this Hemingway fan, but his other efforts just seemed like a continuation of the exercise, this story included. (Sorry, I’m blank on the names of the other stories but Bradbury has fictionally visited Melville, Poe, and Wolfe.) Fitzgerald’s his choice for this one and he gives him some odd advice to reclaim his literary reputation: start writing mysteries. His specific suggestion? Write a story about a body in the pool. I found this suggestion confusing since this is obviously how Gatsby meets his end (Whoops, spoiler alert.) and in this story Bradbury mentions Tender is the Night, which was written after Gatsby. So what is Bradbury hinting at? That Fitzgerald should write Gatsby? Write a similar story to Gatsby? What? Not important, really, because I didn’t find this story compelling. Bradbury references a visit to Hemingway and at first I thought this was a nod to The Kilimanjaro Device but it later becomes clear he’s hinting at The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber. I wouldn’t consider that a mystery myself but, well, there you go. I’m less clear on the reference to Faulkner but I know that at least one of Faulkner’s screenplays made it to film: Hemingway’s To Have and Have Not! (A film which had quite little to do with Hemingway’s novel, except for the title and the names of the characters and a few of the sequences.) Faulkner actually wrote some pretty good mystery stories to drum up some cash and they were collected in Knight’s Gambit.

Anyway, that’s my take on it. I hope this helps.

Best,

Pete

Faulkner also co-wrote the screenplay for The Big Sleep (1946)... one of the other co-writers was Ray's friend (and sometime collaborator) Leigh Brackett!

Way to go, Phil! Of course, I knew that, only I didn't know I knew that. Too busy making the Faulkner/Hemingway connection. But the Faulkner/Brackett/Bradbury connection should have been more obvious to me. Thanks for pointing it out.

Best,

Pete

pterran--Thanks for filling me in a bit more. I also wondered if the story was a bit of a statement about going the cheap and sleazy route to cash in, rather than sticking to your true style. I see this happening in television a lot today--anything gaudy and flashy to appeal to the masses. (Of course I'm referring to reality television!)

Okay, must admit, I have not read "One More Body in the Pool," but to look at your post, pterran, when R.B. writes that he suggests to Fitzgerald to write a Gatsby-esque story, but alludes to a story ("Tender Is the Night") written AFTER Fitzgeral wrote about Gatsby, I would think that R.B. may be setting up a sort of phildickian time-loop (not a very Bradbury sort of thing to do, but still), suggesting that HE is really responsible for/provided some inspiration for Fitzgeral writing his masterwork. (as a sort of literary fantasy, one where he shouds his meaning, giving it away only by alluding to "Tender.")

Just my guess.

My take is that a F. Scott Fitzgerald, given his personal history, just does not fit the shoes of a Bradbury. So every time I hear Bradbury's admiration of Fitzgerald, I sort of tune it out.

Lately I joined-up with the 'First Edition Book Club', where the publisher reprints 'exact' facsimiles of first editions of popular authors. And in this case, I have acquired two Fitzgerald novels. Now that more emphasis has been put on the interest that Bradbury had with the writings of F. Scott, I have begun to edge my way, carefully, into the 'morass' of what I believe is the thickets of Fitzgerald's writings. But maybe I have been wrong? Maybe it's not thickets but something 'other'... something that intrigued Bradbury. THAT is interesting in itself.

I recon I need to look for exactly what it is that fascinated Bradbury so!

Yes, and Thomas Wolfe not only attended a state university but went on to HARVARD and then proceeded to compound his sins by TEACHING English, thereby committing at least THREE heinous crimes in the Bradbury lexicon, and Bradbury LOVES Wolfe!