quote:

Originally posted by Mr. Dark:
Hi Nard:

Last line in your 10:00 post. "It's not important." Although you could be referring to details of the creative process, and not the value of the analytic side of literature. Perhaps I jumped to a hasty conclusion on that one.

I understand Bradbury says he thinks it's (textual analysis) unimportant (or at least that he doesn't bother with it); but if he really feels that way, why does he talk about metaphors in his work so much? He's a little like Hemingway on this. Hemingway used to posit himself as a man's man--a kind of anti-intellectual. But in his house in Cuba alone he had over 8,000 books. He was very intelligent and very, very widely read. I think Bradbury is extremely creative, and he definitely likes to play that up. But if he really, really, never thought about the meaning of his works, why would he talk so much about metaphors? Metaphors, outside pure emotion, don't mean much until you figure out what the metaphor is getting at.

Nard: Have a fantastic Christmas!! And if you see Ray, please tell him Merry Christmas for me.

Atroposmar (what does that mean?): I think you did well on your work. If I were you, I'd get on Amazon and look into three books (in addition to reading straight Bradbury, of course):

"The Bradbury Chronicles", by Sam Weller (biography). Sam worked for about four years with Ray on this book. It is good reading and has a lot of good information in it.

"Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction". by William Toupponce. In my mind, the best critical work on Bradbury's work to date.

Also, check out "Conversations with Ray Bradbury". It is a collection of interviews over about a 40 year period. They are really interesting. You'll get a feel for his personality and he talks a lot about his writing influences and background.

Hope everyone has a great Christmas and NY.

Ya i think I'm going to do that so I can obtain a better perspective on the whole thing. I never heard of the Life of Fiction (when researching), but upon looking it up it seems to emphasize the times that are the focus of my report so thanks.. As for my username (if that was what you were asking about)... its a fictious name that I made up for one of my characters in a story. In Greek mythology, Atropos was one of the three Moirae, the Fates, the female deities who supervised fate rather than determine it. Atropos was the fate who cut the thread or web of life. As for Mar, it is spanish for ocean (a constant theme i write about), which together creates Atropos Mar. If I'm right the two create a sort juxtaposition (?). Anyways, thanks for the help.

atroposmar, creative cognomen, there!
Myself, having been raised on Max Fleischer cartoons, using the same ingredients (ocean + female deity), I may have come up with "Sea Hag"!
Arf, arf, arf.

Happy Christmas from Braling II.
(Braling I is, uh, indisposed...)

quote:

Originally posted by Braling II:
atroposmar, creative cognomen, there!
Myself, having been raised on Max Fleischer cartoons, using the same ingredients (ocean + female deity), I may have come up with "Sea Hag"!
Arf, arf, arf.

Happy Christmas from Braling II.
(Braling I is, uh, indisposed...)

Thanks... So upon looking up the Life of Fiction to buy i found that $30 just seems too much for a biography... so what is better Jerry Weist's or Sam Wellers biography in relation to stories from the Illustrated Man?

Weist's book is a beautiful "coffee table" volume full of much wonderful artwork and photos.

Weller's is more of a traditional biography. I have them both and together, they are a terrific juxtaposition!

http://www.abebooks.com
Has copies of William Touponce, Life of Fiction, for $17.50 and $18.95.

quote:

Originally posted by Nard Kordell:
http://www.abebooks.com
Has copies of William Touponce, Life of Fiction, for $17.50 and $18.95.

hmmmm.... i'm going to assume that, that is american dollars, which puts it $30 range for us Canadians. Well, do you think it would be best to get that one or would the others suffice?

I just looked up the current exchange rate for Candian and American dollars, and it's approx. $1.17 Candian to $1.00 US dollar.

Deat Atroposmar, I can back up Nard's comments about Ray's statements in regard to your questions.

I first met Ray 40 years ago this coming February (I thought that it was March, but just looked at the book he autographed for me so many years ago and it was February) and through the years have had the opportunity to visit with him in person, through corresponence, and on the phone.

On several occasions I, too, have called Ray and asked him right out about "why" he wrote a particular story and his one reply several months ago was "I don't know!" It had been many years ago that he had written it.

I think that what Mr. Dark has alluded to, and backed by Nard, is that Ray has had so many ideas coming forth from his imagination that the words just jump out of his fingers and onto the paper. Many times you hear of "writer's block." I don't think that Ray has ever had writer's block. The stories just flow from him. True, some have not set exactly right with him, but the words were on the sheets of paper and he filed them away for later review and thought. Donn Albright can attest to this as well as Sam Weller (what has ever happened to that guy?????) But for Ray to sit at his typewriter stumped as for the next word to write. Uh huh, ain't going to happen.

When his muses start percolating and stirring him to move to his typewriter (now to dictate to his daughter) Ray has probably never sat and analyzed why he is writing a particular sentence or paragraph. The flow of words and thoughts, emotions, and memories come forth mixed with metaphors that have tagged along with Ray throughout his life.

I think that he gets a big kick out of the fact that so many people try to place secondary meanings and underlying themes to his various stories, novels, plays, and poems. He probably views this as "over analyzation" and not necessary to enjoy what he has written.

Please let us know how you do on your assignment.

Hey Doug Spaulding and Atroposmar, you're on the board right now. What about a comment? One night it was like Instant Messaging when I was going back and forth with a young lady whose handle I forget.

Hey thanks biplane1... and i understand that Bradbury seems to work on a more emotional level than analytical, but the teacher seems to want a more definite anwser... Do all you users actually have direct contact with Ray Bradbury; the idea that Nard had just randomly contacted him to ask him my question astounds me. hmmm... most of you seem to be professor so do any you think my teacher would respond if i choose to write the essay as both inspired by the times and himself (I do believe that at least sub-conciously he was inspired by the times, for he would never written F451 without Mccarthy).. Oh and I finally did the search engine like Nard had insisted and upon 2 hours of reading through threads I now understand completely about the irratation I may have caused... sorry.


Soo.... if your still on biplane, what is there to talk about?

wow.... I was reading up on Aldous Huxley in wikipedia and read that he was a friend and mentor of Ray Bradbury... is this true?

It is true that Bradbury knew Huxley. There's a cute story about them having tea, and Bradbury saying later that he didn't like tea, but when you're with Aldous Huxley, you *pretend* to like tea!

quote:

Originally posted by dandelion:
It is true that Bradbury knew Huxley. There's a cute story about them having tea, and Bradbury saying later that he didn't like tea, but when you're with Aldous Huxley, you *pretend* to like tea!

That's awesome! Did he ever get the chance to meet George Orwell or Anthony Burgess (A Clockwork Orange is my favourite novel)?

quote:

Originally posted by biplane1:
I think that what Mr. Dark has alluded to, and backed by Nard, is that Ray has had so many ideas coming forth from his imagination that the words just jump out of his fingers and onto the paper. Many times you hear of "writer's block." I don't think that Ray has ever had writer's block.

You have hit it exactly, biplane1. Ray has never had writer's block and has gone so far as to say it doesn't exist. (Points go to whoever can come up with his exact quotes on the matter.) Early on in his career he did have some problems with trying to beat ideas into existence, and learned to let the ideas come to him in their own time and way. He may have suffered the occasional "dry spell," but again that was fairly early on.

quote:

Originally posted by biplane1:
The stories just flow from him. True, some have not set exactly right with him, but the words were on the sheets of paper and he filed them away for later review and thought. Donn Albright can attest to this as well as Sam Weller (what has ever happened to that guy?????) But for Ray to sit at his typewriter stumped as for the next word to write. Uh huh, ain't going to happen.

True, and again, Ray has this ability to make absolute pronouncements about "how things are," ranging from subjects he understands as fully as one individual can to others he hardly does at all, not leaving room for any other possibilities. Making these absolute black and white statements, he may at times have implied that the creative writing process should work for everyone the way it does for him, OR they are not cut out to write--PERIOD. It may even be true that if a person kept at it RELENTLESSLY for YEARS, that ANYTHING with practice becomes easier, but any young writer thinking they will "become" Ray by simply turning out x amount of words per day is in for a sad, SORE disappointment! It hasn't happened to one single one of the core group who started with him.

It's great that people are inspired by Ray and I don't mean to put down or discourage anyone so inspired. It's just, there ought to be a support group for some of us who still aspire to write but want to reconcile a way not to hate ourselves for not being able to BE Ray. Trust me, we would join the ranks of such illustrious talents as Rod Serling, which in my humble opinion is not bad company to be in! (Please, no suggestions to read "Any Friend of Nicholas Nickelby's is a Friend of Mine"!)

dandelion:

I believe it when you talk about a support group for those who hate ourselves for not being able to BE Ray. It's the voluminous work that provokes. How come so much so good?
Well, THAT IS talent. I have been able to scribe a few paragraphs here and there that evoked a Bradburyesque style, but when I first sent Ray in the very beginning one of my word sketches in a short story published in college, pointing out to him his influence, his first penned words to me were "...be your own person."

But if so much was riding on being like Ray's style, how difficult was it then to be my own person? Well, you learn along the way...or you wind up in a room with people sitting in chairs set in a circle and a fellow up front in a white coat with clip board and pencil.

Turning to other projects/loves,interest, helps. Ultimately, I discovered the person of Jesus Christ and He was better than Ray! I can now put Ray into perspective. Playing the piano since I was 6 or 7 has now helped do a facsimile of the style of working with words what Ray subscribes to, at least for me. The specific arrangements of the piano keys become 'metaphors' and it's quite easy for me to compose.

So we each work out our individual complexity. For a recent sample of stuff I do on the piano, check out my youtube rendition I did right before this Thanksgiving, 06.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA0G3N8tJh4