Hi all,
I've just joined up and am posting a query. I have recently read "Bradbury: An Illustrated Life" which contains an important extract from Ray Bradbury's theatrical adaptation of "Fahrenheit 451", in which Fire Captain Beatty shows Bradbury his enormous colllection of books - which he doesn't read, but which he once loved before becoming bitterly disilliusioned and coming to hate books. I am currently doing some research, and wondered - is there any published full version of this theatrical adaptation? Any info would be gratefully recived. Thanks! Piers

I don't know if their version contains the scene you are looking for, but the script for the theatrical version of FAHRENHEIT 451, as well as many of Ray's other plays, are available from the Dramatic Publishing Company. Just do a search by author. Here is a link to their website:
http://www.dramaticpublishing.com/

quote:

Originally posted by Piers:
...in which Fire Captain Beatty shows Bradbury his enormous colllection of books - which he doesn't read, but which he once loved before becoming bitterly disilliusioned and coming to hate books.

Piers, I think you mean Beatty shows MONTAG his enormous collection of books!

And I can confirm that the Dramatic Publishing edition of the F451 play does include this scene. It is also discussed (and quoted at length) in an essay which Ray published as an afterword to some editions of the F451 novel, and which also appears in the essay colllection "Zen in the Art of Writing".

- Phil

I do indeed mean that Beatty shows Montag the book collection Phil! That's what comes of writing bulletin board posts in a hurry... Thanks to you and Richard for your help - I should now be able to hunt down the requisite resources! Best wishes, Piers

Piers,

I notice from your profile that you are a UK university lecturer. That makes two of us! What do you teach?

- Phil

I teach philosophy, Phil. My research specialism gears to the environmental turn in moral and political philosophy, and at present I'm looking at this througth an interdiscipinary lens, via examination of utopian and dystopian thought. Hence my interest in Bradbury and "Fahrenheit 451"! My background is actually interdisciplinary anyway, since my BA was a joint honours in English Literature and Philosophy, but it's only now that I'm putting all the pieces together again. What about you?

Oh nothing as grandiose as that! I teach video production. Everything from storyboarding to documentary theory to theories of technological change.

Do you have any connection with the Science Fiction Foundation Library? (If it still exists.) Just wondered whether that would be useful for the study of utopian and dystopian visions.

- Phil

We do have a special Science Fiction collection here at Liverpool, which is pretty good. I certainly get the feeling of being in the right place from that point of view, especially when one bears in mind that the philosophy society here is the Stapledon Society, named after Olaf Stapledon.... Is your interest in Bradbury mainly on the cinematic side, then Phil? I can't help but think that the new film of F451 surely has to be better than the Truffaut effort. I'm not the expert that you are on these things, but I'm afraid I thought the Truffaut adaptation was abysmal. Cheers - Piers

Ah yes, wasn't Stapledon born in Liverpool? Or am I confusing him with someone else?

I'm interested in literature as well as media. Some years ago I was involved with the British Science Fiction Association, and used to write book reviews for Andy Sawyer, who became the Librarian for the SF Foundation - hence my query.

As for Truffaut, I think of his film as an interesting experiment, but very much a failed one. I find it is only watchable by Bradbury fans (and then only under protest). It doesn't seem to have any point of contact for the general viewer; nor does it have much value for the study of Truffaut, whose "realistic" films are far better crafted.

In that Frank Darabont is a solid adapter of strong narratives, I like to think the new film is in safe hands. But I wouldn't be surprised if the new film fails to materialise.

- Phil

How does one come to writing book reviews? Or being any kind of literary or film critic? Is it just by chance or is there some path of study one must take?

(1) You study what kinds of reviews your paper (or whoever your target publisher is going to be) and then write and submit, write and submit, write and submit. Periodically, they get published.

(2) Then you get a fantastic agent who gets you nationally syndicated and helps you become an influencial and rich critic and you get to meet a bunch of rich people who suck up to you so you review their work in a positive way.

The first part I've done. The second part has, thus far, eluded me.

I agree with Mr Dark, especially the first part.

In my case, I first got my words in print through fan magazines and literary journals. These usually won't pay you anything, but if they like your work you may become part of the regular reviewing team. At this level, the only reward (apart from being published) is that you get to keep the review books they send you! That's where reviewing becomes a mixed blessing: most stuff you get sent to review will stink!

If you were looking to make a career out of reviewing, I would say that studying Literature (with a capital L) is a must; or Journalism. And for film reviewing, take some courses in Film Studies.

- Phil

I think Stapledon was born in Liverpool, Phil, yes, and it's interesting that you should know Andy Sawyer - he seems to have friends everywhere, his name comes up so often in my investigations!

Thanks for your informed opinion of the Truffaut adaptation; it's nice to have what sounds like support for my view that in at least some important ways, Truffaut just didn't get it. As a result of the info kindly given by folk on this site, I today received the F451 adaptation as play through the post. I've only had time for a brief browse so far, but already it's very interesting indeed to see the changes and adjustments that Bradbury made for the stage adaptation, especially in relation to Captain Beatty. Most valuable, and I'm extremely grateful for being pointed in the right direction! Best wishes, Piers

Back to the reviewing issue, I have to go with Philnic on studying literature as a foundation. I would also take on a serious study of literary criticism, itself. I took a class on this in college (I have Masters degrees in English and Philosophy),and one of my most valuable classes was on literary criticism. The text (which I still have and reference) was:

"Criticism: The Major Texts". (Enlarged Ed). W.J. Bate. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, NY. 1970. ISBN 0-15-516148-2.

This book starts with Plato and Aristotle and goes up through Coleridge, Shelley, Arnold, Eliot, Wilson, Frye, Stevens and Sartre. Literary criticism, at a very high level, has been going on for a long time.

Good literary criticism is a blend (an academic art, really) of educated opinion, careful reading, and objective evaluation. Much of it is comparitive in nature, and if you are not familiar with literature and critical theory, your writing (like much I read out there today) will be a bit shallow. There is a balance that includes subjectivity, but there are applicable objective criteria in evaluating the quality of the various writing disciplines.

My first paid book review came when a publisher doing a YA-targeted biography on Ray Bradbury saw my postings here and contacted me about doing a publisher's review for them. They paid me $100.00.

Good luck!


[This message has been edited by Mr. Dark (edited 04-03-2004).]