I'm about to teach a unit on Fahrenheit 451. In the past I have first read "The Pedestrian" and "The Veldt" and then showed students how those same ideas showed up in the novel Fahrenheit 451. Are there other short stories that I am missing that I could use in the same way? Thanks in advance!

Elizabeth: It may be helpful to use the book, "A Pleasure to Burn: Fahrenheit 451 Stories", which explores the evolution of what became the book Fahrenheit 451. Your students may really benefit from (and enjoy) reading this collection. The collection's available in paperback through Amazon and other online sources and bricks-and-mortar bookstores.

Here's a brief excerpt from dear Wikipedia on this collection:

The origins and evolution of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 are explored in A Pleasure to Burn, a collection of 16 selected shorter works that prefigure Bradbury's landmark novel. Classic, thematically interrelated stories alongside many crucial lesser-known ones, including, at the collection's heart, the novellas Long After Midnight and The Fireman.

1.1 "The Reincarnate"
1.2 "Pillar of Fire"
1.3 "The Library"
1.4 "Bright Phoenix"
1.5 "The Mad Wizards of Mars"
1.6 "Carnival of Madness"
1.7 "Bonfire"
1.8 "The Cricket on the wall"
1.9 "The Pedestrian"
1.10 "The Garbage Collector"
1.11 "The Smile"
1.12 "Long After Midnight"
1.13 "The Fireman"
1.14 "The Dragon Who Ate His Tail"
1.15 "Sometime Before Dawn"
1.16 "To the Future"

Best,

Ken

Excellent reply, Ken. I definitely second your suggestion and I hope Mrs. C follows it.

Thanks, guys! A review at Amazon horribly pans this collection as an inferior version of Match to Flame. Besides the obvious differences of availability and price, can someone please make a comparison of the contents of both volumes with your assessment of which, if either, is superior? Thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by Mrs. C:
Are there other short stories that I am missing that I could use in the same way? Thanks in advance!

Definitely Pillar of Fire! Bill mentioned last night in his performance how it was a "dry run" for Fahrenheit 451.

Match to Flame is obviously superior, but not as superior as the price difference indicates.

The most important difference is that Match to Flame includes scholarly articles and introductions, as well as fiction fragments and facsimilies, not included in A Pleasure to Burn.

However! A Pleasure to Burn has the following strengths: 1. It is VASTLY cheaper, 2. It does include the most important items of fiction, particularly "The Fireman", which is probably the most important work of fiction that Ray himself never decided to include in a collection, and 3. A Pleasure to Burn includes "The Dragon Who Ate His Tail", which is not in Match to Flame (purchasers of MTF received the story in a seperate chapbook, but in A Pleasure to Burn it is in the book itself).

You can easily compare the contents of the two books here:

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?340429

and here:

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?304822

One more observation: While the scholarly material is missing from A Pleasure to Burn, some of the textual notes to the stories are freely available on the website of the Center for Bradbury Studies.

Granted, they are presented without the full context that you'll have in Match to Flame, but they'll be useful to someone who wants to study the texts in depth and is prepared to dig a bit.

Thank you for all the information. I am most interested in the stories. Are you saying A Pleasure to Burn has a story that Match to Flame does not, but that Match to Flame does not include any stories or other original Bradbury material not in A Pleasure to Burn? This is of most interest to me, thanks.

Each book contains fiction that is not in the other.

A PLEASURE TO BURN contains "The Dragon Who Ate His Tail", which is not in MATCH TO FLAME. However, purchasers of MTF received the story in a separate chapbook.

However, MTF includes several pieces of fiction which are not included in APTB. This is clearly shown in the two links I posted above.

However, since I have never seen MATCH TO FLAME, I can't say how essential these pieces are. I have my own questions about them, e. g. are they finished, or are they only fragments? Are any of them materially new stories, or are they just sidelined drafts of stories that were published in another form? And so on.

One of our resident Bradbury experts who has read MATCH TO FLAME should be able to shed more light on this.

quote:

Originally posted by douglasSP:
One of our resident Bradbury experts who has read MATCH TO FLAME should be able to shed more light on this.

If they don't, we must contact the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies and DEMAND an answer!

Match to Flame includes the following (which are not found in A Pleasure To Burn):

• The Mechanical Hound (facsimile fragment) • short fiction by Ray Bradbury
• Tiger Tiger, Burning Bright (facsimile) • short story by Ray Bradbury
• When Ignorant Armies Clash • novella by Ray Bradbury



The Deluxe Lettered Edition (of 52 copies) also includes the following stories:

• The Castle (facsimile) • short fiction by Ray Bradbury
• Search for a Stranger • short story by Ray Bradbury

Thanks, I finally did break down and purchase Pleasure to Burn but have not read it yet.