Hey i'm doing a report on my favorite author of all time (Ray Bradbury) and I was wondering what his political views were and how they crossed over in his books during the cold war
woops, I got my question wrong... the real question was what the similarities and differences between Ray Bradbury's Science Fiction stories' progressive political values that the books embrace, which were written during the height of the cold war and todays present polictical values that. Kinda long hehe... Well thanks to anyone who replies to my questions =)
Bradbury has always been very up on current events and open and outspoken with his political views. He is not the LEAST worried about offending those in power. Quite the opposite, he worries about not offending them enough to make them behave. Sorry I can't name which of his many interviews address the specific issues of McCarthyism and censorship. I do remember he didn't like Lyndon Johnson and said he brought us closer to the brink of nuclear war than anyone. If you go to page 3 of this interview you can learn his views on Clinton and Bush:
This one also deals with censorship and current events:
Ray Bradbury By Joshua Klein. Description: The Onion AV Club interviews the veteran writer about censorship and why the world is going to hell. www.theavclub.com/avclub3523/avfeature3523.html
When the Webmaster of this site posts a section for Links, I plan to start two threads about interviews. One for online interviews, giving the links and hopefully a summary indicating subjects covered. Another for print interviews not online. That would give publication and date, and sometimes subjects.
Posts: 2694 | Location: Dayton, Washington, USA | Registered: 03 December 2001
Thanx dandelion, I read all of your comments on the other subjects and you I think you really get across to the people in the message boards. okay enough sucking up now hehe, the information and links you gave me were very good, but I was also wondering how his political views and the cold war crisis crossed over into his 1950 writings... If you get the time to reply to these questions, I'll appreciate it =)
Offhand I think most or all of that is in "Fahrenheit 451," but if I find or think of any others I'll post them here. He did write quite a bit about book burning in sources which include "The Martian Chronicles." "Fahrenheit 451" was translated into Russian and eagerly distributed by the Communist regime. When they found it was against ALL thought censorship and not merely an indictment of McCarthyism, they tried to recall it but by then the novel had gone underground. The article in which I read this said Bradbury was never paid for the Russian translations. Under the thread "Movies and the Bradbury Feel" is all I know about a Russian version of "Dandelion Wine."
Posts: 2694 | Location: Dayton, Washington, USA | Registered: 03 December 2001
Regarding the Cold War, he wrote many works on nuclear war and destruction, some of which can be found in "The Martian Chronicles." For nuclear holocaust fear stories, try "The Vacation" and "The Highway" just for starters. He wrote many such stories but eventually changed his mind and no longer believes the world will be destroyed by nuclear war.
Posts: 2694 | Location: Dayton, Washington, USA | Registered: 03 December 2001
Thanx man, really appreciated that (and having no bradburyhater is a blessing in its own =) I believe I have the Farenheit book, so i'll look into that also. Once again thx and you should be Bradbury's assitant because ur the bradbury masta!!
