It doesn't mean,
Why Does He Inspire YOU?

My Question: Why Does He Inspire At All??

He inspires the juice of feeling, bitter or sweet for a reaction to personal experience.

Althought I will admit feeling like putting down a book, after certain stories. But I still come back.

Great question. Here is my initial take:

Great Characters: He writes about people who "feel" real. Several of his characters inspire a real and genuine concern with how they resolve the issues in their lives. Sometimes in re-reading (like SWTWC and F451) you get to know the characters over a period of years and they become almost like family. Not all writers can do this with their characters. He also has characters who are morally ambiguous -- which causes you to wrestle with who they are. Should you be sympathetic?, etc. Some of his Martian characters come across as being real "people". This, also, is an achievement.

Theme: He writes about ideas that seem germane to the human condition: loneliness, the impact of technology on the person and relationships, the role of relationships in the formation of life's meaning, fear, hatred, vengence, evil, hope, god, the need for connection, the need for redemption, a sense of wonder. These issues all reach out and touch us at some place in OUR own lives.

Language: Bradbury uses language in a unique way. When you read a Bradbury story, you can often tell it's a Bradbury story even if you don't know who the author is. In this way, he is like Hemingway. In both cases, their use of the language to tell their stories is both unique and compelling. It rings with it's own voice.

Story: He is an amazing story-teller. The stories are compellingly told -- it is often difficult to put them down mid-stream. The stories are also original, but in many cases are based on very simple premises. He is able to extrapolate meaning from small events, fears, concerns, and questions. He puts characters in simple situations, tweaks things, and a story is born.

Anyway, those are the things I think make him an inspiration. Perhaps in cases where people don't think he's an inspiration, he still provides a connection that becomes meaningful.

Ray Bradbury inspires because he is able to entwine his wordsinto the very depths of your consiousness and make you question reality so to speak.

This is a really interesting question. I think Mr. Dark pretty much covered the elemental aspects of Ray's writing and I agree.

I have to say that I'm not so sure inspiration can be separated from a personal context, though.

I know that while I find Ray immensely inspiring, others do not. Some people think he's Gene Roddenberry for crying out loud!

In fact I was NOT inspired by Ray as a 14 year old. I had my wisdom teeth removed that summer and it was a messy operation. All I could do for a couple of weeks was drink milkshakes and read library books. I read a collection of stories by Ray (I don't remember wich one) and they left me feeling cold. My feeling after finishing the stories was, "so what"?

Years later, Avalon books reissued Martian Chronicles in a smart, inexpensive little hardback (bless them!) and I thought I owed it to myself to at least read ONE "classic". WOW, I was hooked from there on in.

So, while I could say Ray Bradbury inspires because of the emotional resonance of his writing, there has to be a person in which that emotion can resonate. And I think that means it will be an intensely personal experience that varies from person to person.

I think WritingReptile is right in that there must be a personal response in order for inspiration to take place.

I think that question with Bradbury is why does his writing INSPIRE so many people?

The subjective reaction is imperative to literature (in fact, I think the power of good literature is that it creates a climate where the reader becomes creatively involved with the writing -- imagining characters, settings, emotions, evaluating arguments, etc.), but Bradbury seems to cause this in so many people.

For me, it was ninth grade. My entire life was impacted by my reading of F451. I became an inveterate reader with an almost endless curiousity about life and its meaning. This need to read in a billion fields is still very much alive in me. It was either placed there or turned on by Bradbury's writing.

It goes beyond subjectivity, themes, poetry, story, characters, etc., yet it includes them all.

There is a magic in the fantasy worlds that Bradbury creates. I am sucked into them -- even though I know they are bizarre. In Tomorrows' Child, for example (In I Sing the Body Electric), a child is born into a different dimension, while the other dimension's version of himself is as a blue pyramid in this world. This is ridiculous! But I am pulled in to the dilemma and grief of the parents as they wrestle with a solution to this. Meanwhile, they are feeding a bloody blue pyramid with baby food! There is a magic that lets me get emotionally involved with a story that, on it's surface, is so ridiculous. Who else could pull that off? The Skeleton is another example. In the end, he is a geletanous (is this a word!?) mass who can talk. Yet I care!

This is Bradbury's world. And when you pull in his skill in language and his strong thematic undercurrents, it is inspirational.

I think B inspires because there is always something of ourselves in his characters, sometimes we don't or find hard to identify the place but we identify the feelings and sometimes is the other way round. I feel there is always something of me in the stories I read. And he inspires also because he gives us room to think about the world around us as follow him in his stories. for it is as isf he is opening the door for me to be myself and feel the world around me.

I think the fact that Bradbury deals with universals of the human condition is why we can see ourselves in these stories -- bizarre though they may sometimes be.

For example, in Tomorrow's Child, the quandary of the parents is not too different from the reaction of a parent who struggles with a child born with serious difficulties. I think this is why I can relate to the parents' dilemma, confusion and fear in this story. I have kids. While mine have been blessed in their health, I know others who have had to really reach out to a child who just cannot reach back. As you watch parents struggle with kids who have serious problems, one of the things that is so inspirational is that they love their child and want to communicate with him/her no matter what. This is what I see in this story, for example. That parental yearning to be with, to touch, to communicate with their child -- no matter what. Yet Bradbury does not idealize these situations into mush. He deals with all the issues and feelings involved.

This ability to address, comprehensively, the whole scope of human emotion is one of the things I find inspirational about Bradbury's writings.

Although I agree with many of the comments above, I also tend to think it is like the difference between a teacher talking in monotone sentences and one who is enthusiastic about what they are presenting.
For example, have you ever read some of Tom Clancy's early work? Although the plot ideas are often good (Red Storm Rising) and his knowledge of the armed forces seems deep, the amount of description far outweighs character depth.

Because Ray has such an enthusiam for what he does, it tends to be contagious for both readers and writers. He constantly reminds us of the joy of discovery, even in moments of heartache, and that life is always worth living.

Also, Ray's stories also tend to flow like rivers (where Clancy's stories sometimes flow like setting cement) and those rivers (to get metaphorical) team with unmatched life and originality.

Despite his age, Ray is somewhat like a child, in the most positive sense of the word. He takes away the layers and the pretense and has a fresh outlook on the world. It's very clear that he loves life, despite its many flaws. Every time I read one of his books or stories, his enthusiasm for life rubs off on me and I feel like I'm looking at the world with fresh eyes, like when I was a kid. That leaves me feeling very giddy, even rejuvenated, at least for a while. That feeling is why I keep coming back to his books over and over.

kaleidoscope and Imskipper hit on an important thing when they mention Bradbury's enthusiasm as a source of his inspiration to his readers.

John Wesley (founder of Methodism) was once asked why so many people came to hear his sermons. He replied that he set himself on fire and the people came to watch him burn. Bradbury has much of that in him. When you read his descriptions of his writing, it often includes the idea that the stories drive him and he just records.

From the introduction to "The Stories of Ray Bradbury" is this:

"Writing is supposed to be difficult, agonizing, a dreadful exercise, a terrible occupation. But, you see, my stories have led me through my life. They shout, I follow. They run up and bite me on the leg -- I respond by writing down everything that goes on during the bite. When I finish, the idea lets go, and runs off. That is the kind of life I've had. Drunk, and in charge of a bicycle, as an Irish police report once put it. Drunk with life, that is, and not knowing where off to next. But you're on your way before dawn. And the trip? Exactly one half terror, exactly one half exhilaration."

In an essay titled, "The Joy of Writing" in his book, "Zen and the art of Writing" Bradbury writes,

"Zest. Gusto. How rarely one hears these words used. How rarely do we see people living, or for that matter, creating by them. Yet if I were asked to name the most important items in a writer's make-up, the things that shape his material and rush him along the road to where he wants to go, I could only warn him to look to his zest, see to his gusto."

And,

" . . . the first thing a writer should be is -- excited. He should be a thing of fevers and enthusiasms. Without such vigor, he might as well be out picking peaches or digging ditches; God knows it'd be better for his health."

Ray is truly gifted with words, as shown by the above quotations. I think that man could recite a shopping list and make it sound special. I hope you don't think I'm totally sappy if I confess that he often brings me to tears.

Imskipper::::
Sappy? For years, I would cry uncontrollably somewhere during the reading of the first 200 words of Ray's short story, "Death and the Maiden."
I spent a long time trying to figure it out. Now I pretty much know, but can't figure out how to put the reasons into words....

Thanks for understanding, Nard. When my students ask me why I love Bradbury so much I give several reasons, but usually end by saying that I can't put all of my reasons into words, that it's just something about his writing style that I connect with on an instinctive level. He hits me in the heart, maybe? Or would it be the soul??

It's gotta be the soul! Goosebumps and lumps in your throat that come from somewhere deep inside are all signs that your soul is trying to speak to you.

Never stop listening. It will lead you down a road less traveled, unearthing a treasure trove of rich rewards.

I love this forum!