Ray Bradbury

by Eller, Jonathan R.

• ISBN13: 9780873387798
• ISBN10: 0873387791
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-06-01
• Publisher: Kent State Univ Pr

Summary

Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction is the first comprehensive textual, bibliographical, and cultural study of sixty years of Bradbury's fiction. Drawing on correspondence with his publishers, agents, and friends, as well as archival manuscripts, The Life of Fiction examines the story of Bradbury's authorship over more than a half-century, from his earliest writings, which include The Martian Chronicles, to his most recently published novel, Let's All Kill Constance. It shows in detail the often devious and unsuspected interconnections between his unpublished fiction, his story collections, and his most celebrated novels.
The Life of Fiction focuses on the nature of Bradbury's authorship, exploring his profound involvement with the life of "carnival" as a textual process as well as a thematic concern in his writings, and each chapter of this book delves more deeply into how this process of meaning has shaped Bradbury's technique over the years. Bradbury's authorship is finally seen as occupying a unique position in our literary landscape - one that operates on the borders of popular entertainment and serious literature.
Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction will be welcomed by Bradbury fans and scholar, adding greatly to the understanding of his work and affecting the way Bradbury is read.

Author Biography

William F. Touponce is professor of English and adjunct professor of American Studies, Institute for American Thought, Indiana University, Indianapolis.

Table of Contents

Foreword: "Ray, Ray, and Ray"	p. xi
Preface and Acknowledgments	p. xv
Introduction: Metaphors, Myths, and Masks: Origins of Authorship in the Texts of Ray Bradbury	p. 1
Out of the House of Arkham: Dark Carnival and The October Country	p. 51
Martian Carnivals: The Martian Chronicles (The Silver Locusts)	p. 105
The Simulacrum of Carnival: Fahrenheit 451	p. 164
The Carnival Blaze of Summer: Dandelion Wine	p. 208
Fathering the Carnival: Something Wicked This Way Comes	p. 256
Corpse Carnivals: A Memory of Murder, Death Is a Lonely Business, A Graveyard for Lunatics, and Let's All Kill Constance!	p. 310
Carnival Sideshows: The Fantasy and Science Fiction Story Collections	p. 357
Conclusions: A Carnival Sense of Life	p. 408
Afterword: A Conversation with Ray Bradbury	p. 433
Key to Abbreviations	p. 437
Bradbury's Fiction, Year-by-Year	p. 439
Unpublished Fiction	p. 505
Notes	p. 515
Selected Bibliography	p. 553
Index	p. 565
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