Discussion on the Hemingway e-list brought up some comments on Bradbury today. I just thought some of you might be interested.

It started with a comment that Hemingway's stories are a really good way to turn young people on to good literature, as the novel is sometimes hard for a non-reader to get into.

I suggested adding some Bradbury stories to the pedagogical effort. Some responded and we discussed, "The Parrot Who Met Papa", "The Kilimanjaro Device", "The Veldt" "Something Wicked This Way Comes", Farenheit 451" "Martian Chronicles", and "Zen and the Art of Writing".

Some comments were:

"He's a just plain good read for this age group. I ruthlessly make 'em read classics, and Something Wicked This Way Comes is always a favorite for boys in this age bracket who want to go to college but have never enjoyed literature. Today I used The Martian Chronicles in a tutoring session. Ray Bradbury is the secret weapon of reading for this age group. I can still toss Fahrenheit 451 at the counter culture Know-No-it-alls and get a rise. I don't know why, as the book seemed rather unsophisticated to me at that age--I liked it better when I was older." -- KP

"You're right. That's about the age when Ray Bradbury first lit up my world: I remember that period (11-12) as one when I first became excited about fine, imaginative writing. Thanks to Bradbury (particularly "The Martian Chronicles"), I arrived at that understanding without feeling as if I were being made to consume "serious" literature -- you know, something of good taste that didn't taste good. And I remember, too, being quite disappointed when I later discovered how often Bradbury's work is branded as sci-fi, and then unfairly dismissed as mere genre work. "The Veldt" is an amazing piece of work. I found his "Zen in the Art of Writing," a collection of essays, to be impressive, too, and inspiring." -- PB

I loved this line: "Ray Bradbury is the secret weapon of reading for this age group."

Anyway, I thought some might be interested that a bunch of Hemingway scholars were discussing Bradbury today.

Thank you Mr. Dark for sharing these thoughts with us. I have enjoyed Hemingway's writing, particularly The Old Man and The Sea. It contains many elements which can be related to several of Ray's works.

"The secret weapon of reading." So much nicer, somehow, than "the ultimate gateway drug."

I've always wondered why RB mentions in F-451 that FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS is one of the few books not banned by that government?

Beatty (I think) seems to be hinting that it's not thought-provoking. But, maybe it's provoking the exact kind of thoughts the government wants it's subjects to be subscribing to?

Any ideas, anyone?

[This message has been edited by grasstains (edited 04-18-2006).]

Probably because it was about the death of ideals.

That detail was missed by a lot of people, including those who made the movie. In the book it was LITERATURE which was banned, not READING. In the movie, newspapers and street signs were composed of pictures, simply confusing the viewers as to how Montag knew HOW to read. Hope this error is not repeated in the new movie.

Irony ~ I am doing a unit of RB short stories (compiled from various collections) and have just added EH's great The Snows of Kilimanjaro.

Mr. B's poetic style and imagery is matched pen stroke for pen stroke by Mr. H's symbolic methods and realism. You think?!

Dandy, good observations! Though, in defense of the movie, when Montag begins to read, it is a great struggle for him.
And, did I ever mention the wonderful music?

Ummm...someone is adamant on the excellence of that music.

Did you know that Bernard Herman did a lot of work for the Radio show �Suspense�? So, in that case, perhaps he has worked on other Bradbury projects because Ray had a number of stories on that show.

Bernie was all over the radio in those days.
He was Orson Welles' favourite.
(Hitchcock's too, in the movies.)

A Bernard Herrmann �Did You Know?�

Although Herrmann had completed and cued the soundtrack for the film �Torn Curtain�, he and Hitchcock disagreed on the music so Herrmann was fired and his score dropped and the film ended up with a fine score by another composer. Both still exist. The scene where Gromek is killed in the farmhouse kitchen (Hitchcock wanted to show how hard it was to kill a man) is intentionally shown with no music at all, and works�very chilling. It�s fascinating however to listen to Herrmann�s music while viewing this scene. He could write some very scary music. In the 80�s, when the assassination attempt was made on Ronald Reagan, I happened to catch it on tape. Herrmann�s Gromek sequence fits this tape perfectly. Interestingly, Gromek�s first name was Hermann (one �r�, two �n�s�)..

Incidentally, I loved Lila Kedrova�s performance as � Will you be my spons-ore� Countess Kuchinska.