Ray Bradbury Forums
critisism on ray's short stories

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13 June 2002, 12:18 AM
artemis42
critisism on ray's short stories
i'm doing a research project on the stories fever dream, raise giant mushrooms, and zero hour. does anyone know where i might find critisism on these?
14 June 2002, 04:58 AM
Mr. Dark
See my reply to SharktheFish on this message board under "Resources" and then "It was too complicated for me"

Sharkthefish had asked about the story "Zero Hour" Nightshade and I both gave responses there (just now, in fact).

With Bradbury, it can be difficult to find criticism on the obscure stories. You have to really dig in and do two things: (1) Use Bradbury's introduction, interviews, afterwards, etc. as sources. (2) Use other stories and novels he has done and try to compare/contrast themes; and look at themes he seems to come back to over and over again. If you can tie those kinds of resources into your work, that will help.

Other than that, I'm not sure where to find resources on those particular stories.

Sorry.

Oh, you could also read my response under "Resources" and then "The Dwarf". Not that I think it's great or unduly detailed, but you may have to sort of work through the stories -- and the Dwarf response shows that.

In research, you can also tie in (like I did with Hawthorne under the Dwarf entry) other writers to enhance your research.

I'm not making excuses for being too lazy to do research, but literary research is not always just reading what critics wrote about a particular story/author. Sometimes research is broader in scope.

When I was doing my MA in English, the professors always said the greatest research tool was the mind. Thinking through the stories, characters, themes, etc. often leads to better research and interpretation. It is easy (believe me, I have done it myself) to just go read what someone else wrote than to think through and analyze the stories yourself.




[This message has been edited by Mr. Dark (edited 06-14-2002).]