Just picked up a 1997 edition of “The Martian Chronicles”, so I’d have a reading copy in the house that my family can access and for the 1997 introduction by Ray, and find that it’s not the same version I read in 1958. I’m happy about the additional entries but unhappy about the removal of one and the changing of the dates. There is a revision statement but it doesn’t say by whom. OK if Ray made the changes but I have no way of knowing. I’ve heard the horror stories about the fiddling done to “Fahrenheit 451” and have the 50th Anniversary edition but can find no statement in it that says that it has been restored. I would like to be able to tell my family that “this is a true version” of this book or that book. Does anyone know what editions of “The Martian Chronicles”, “Fahrenheit 451”, “Dandelion Wine” and “Something Wicked This Way Comes” are true Ray Bradbury versions? Thanks.

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I don't have the full details to hand, but I do know that Bradbury continued to seek changes to Martian Chronicles after its initial publication - this is why the British edition (The Silver Locusts) is different to the American one (the British one was published later than the American one). I believe that when the opportunity arose to re-set MC, Ray chose to make some changes, including re-dating the whole fictional chronology so that the book would not date so quickly.

The full details of this (and of the other books you mention) are given in the excellent publishing history Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction by Jon Eller and William Touponce.

When I get the chance, I'll look up the specifics and add to this thread.

Many thanks. I realy need the help.

Ray revises like crazy. Depending on which printings, there can be three or four different versions of the SAME story! I don't know if he was responsible for the changed dates, though, or if not who was.

Which story was removed? I know "The Other Foot" (in "The Illustrated Man," not "The Martian Chronicles,") and "Way in the Middle of the Air" have drawn protests, but only since the Civil Rights movement, in light of the changes it made. As stories written before the Civil Rights movement, I think of them as alternate histories.

"Way in the Middle of the Air” is the story that was removed. Child labor is no longer the issue it once was when Dickens wrote “Oliver Twist” but improvements over the years do not make it less relevant. My view is that changes to a “published” work should only be made by the author. Any changes made by anyone else, for any reason whatsoever, should not be allowed. Ever! If my edition of “The Martian Chronicles” is the authors authorized edition than I would prefer that the publisher say so. Sorry if I sound cranky about this but, well, I am. – Best

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I really appreciate your attitude on these issues of ommission and changes from the original texts. If Robert Louis Stevenson lived to 100, I wonder how much he would have changed, or let be changed, of his works. RLS was born in 1850, and would have been in his 90's while Ray scripted the short stories that eventually made up 'The Martian Chronicles'. And would have reached 99 when the edition finally came out. Now that would have been a lot of civilization and attitudes having changed in RLS's life, and a mad hatter editor may have had a field day perhaps.

Or, name any other author, who lives onto a hundred. I suppose to re-issue 'The Martian Chronicles', with the original datings, seems awkward, especially when a sense of future is still important, even tho, in some sense, a part of the future has caught up, in this case, the months and years for chapter headings.

Thus, hurry and read the chapter:

'September, 2005: THE MARTIAN"

... in the old 'Martian Chronicles' editions. It'll be history for sure in a few days.

Then we will have to deal with the fading month of November, and no less than 3 chapters dated with November

November, 2005: THE LUGGAGE STORE
November, 2005: THE OFF SEASON
November, 2005: THE SILENT TOWNS

And, gosh ohmighty! Here comes one in December.

December, 2005: THE SILENT TOWNS

But then, after that, we're safe all the way until...

April, 2026: THE LONG YEARS.
(at least in those first editions)

I’m not as concerned about the date changes as I am the omissions, but just for the fun of it, consider George Orwell’s “1984” and…

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I was re-editing (ha!) my post, while you replied. Re-read my addition to the RLS comment!

NOTE: Stevenson died at 44 years of age, (1894)..too early to do much altering of his works I would think...

Don’t get me started on Stevenson. He’s magic, says I.

They might not be authorized changes. There is the infamous case of changes being made in "Fahrenheit 451" and let stand for years until Bradbury found out about them and responded with wrathful indignation.

SO how did Poe get it (his writing) so succinct when he was but a young man of 40 (1809-49) on the day he left. Interesting to consider the masters, their driving forces, differing styles, and the legacies that define them.

(Note: As a part of a fall spirit week in our HS, today coincidentally is Pirate Day: "Why the halls be filled with eye patches, striped shirts, unshaven faces, and a parrot or two to boot! I say, scuttle all land lubbers and pass the bloody bottle of rum this way, mate! Ole RLS would be pleased, he would, says I. Yo ho ho and long live the spirit of Young Jim Hawkins in all of us!)

fjp,
F.Y.I, Your school's a week off! Last Monday, Sept. 19 is National Talk Like A Pirate Day! Check it out on the web. Of course, the archetype for this pirate palaver is Robert Newton's portrayal of Long John Silver in the Disney version of Stevenson's Treasure Island.

B II, ARRH!
We ne'er claimed to be up to dates on them thar calendrs', ya knows. As for Robert Newton, we was shipmates long ago, and I stills enjoys to wartch him hoppin' through the sands of that cursed Treasure Island, with my two yunkins along sides. And who could ever forgets, "Pieces of Eight, Pieces of Eight" or "I'm Ben Gunn, says I"? O, but for a piece of British cheese....

Thanks, mate.

Arrrrrr.

It always struck me as odd that the traditional pirate accent is the same as the Somerset accent (Somerset is a county in the southwest of England), the same accent we Brits adopt when we're pretending to be country yokels. It turns out that Robert Newton - the definitive Long John Silver - came from Somerset, so he was just using the basest accent he knew. If he had come from Manchester, we might all be adopting northern accents when we speak pirate!