Comments on: Ray Bradbury: Beyond Science Fiction

By: Robert M. Blevins

Robert M. Blevins — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 07:05:13 +0000

Let's try to think of Ray as a writer who lived on Science Fiction Street, but occasionally ventured out of the neighborhood. 'Fahrenheit 451" was a warning on the evils of suppressing free speech, while "The Martian Chronicles' bypassed hard science in favor of the human connection if we ever visit other worlds and cultures. You cannot really pigeonhole Bradbury...not completely. I congratulate Ray on receiving the Pulizer award. And like the author of this article, I think they should give him the CATAGORIZED award for literature. They could base this on '451' alone, since it is in the Top Three of 20th century books on future social commentary. The other two being: '1984' and 'Brave New World'.

By: Jamie

Jamie — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 17:59:45 +0000

If works by Bradbury or any other "Science Fiction" author were ignored in favor of other, lesser works, then that's your teacher's fault, not the Pulitzer board. This sounds more like a matter of style on the part of your teachers. Is it reasonable that more than one Bradbury novel be taught in a given survey course? What other books were taught? Why is Bradbury more important than whoever else he's competing with? I am sure that there are plenty of professors who teach books by the authors we've mentioned. I simply don't accept that the reason why (you perceive) "Science Fiction" as being ignored is because it's called Science Fiction. Anyone actually teaching, especially at a college level, would not be so simple. Maybe the guys who you had just chose other books, but I'm sure they give plenty of respect to these authors we've been talking about. There are so many great books, you can't teach them all. I read a couple Kurt Vonnegut Jr. books for a high school English class, FWIW, alongside Catcher in the Rye and Cannery Row and Lord of the Flies and all that crap.

By: Jonathan York

Jonathan York — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 15:12:01 +0000

I didn't make my argument clear enough. I don't care personally whether we call things "science fiction" or not. What I mean is that nearly all of Bradbury's books (except Fahrenheit 451) got ignored in my high school and college English classes and whenever I read criticism. And the reason textbook-writers, professors, and critics could mostly ignore him was that his books had this label. The Pulitzer board recognized his achievement, but they kept the label. I think he would have more readers if the board and other ostensible authorities stopped using it.

By: Joseph Price

Joseph Price — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 16:35:33 +0000

Let me second Jamie's sentiment with a quote from Vonnegut about science fiction writers:

"I love you sons of bitches. You're all I read any more. You're the
only ones who'll talk all about the really terrific changes going on,
the only ones crazy enough to know that life is a space voyage, and
not a short one, either, but one that'll last for billions of years.
You're the only ones with guts enough to really care about the future,
who really notice what machines do to us, what wars do to us, what
cities do to us, what big, simple ideas do to us, what tremendous
misunderstanding, mistakes, accidents, catastrophes do to us. You're
the only ones zany enough to agonize over time and distance without
limit, over mysteries that will never die, over the fact that we are
right now determining whether the space voyage for the next billion
years or so is going to be Heaven or Hell."

By: Jamie

Jamie — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 14:39:06 +0000

You seem to view the Science Fiction label is a stigma. I think anyone with more than a passing interest in literature doesn't think Science Fiction = SciFi (e.g. Stargate SG-1 or whatever) and I don't see it as a stigma. Authors like Phlip K. Dick, Isaac Asimov, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., George Orwell, and so on are clearly (or at least often) well within that realm and few would argue against their importance.

This genre, in the hands of a skilled author, creates a platform for exploration of ideas and hypothetical situations that don't exist in the construct of our lives. Science Fiction authors have predicted and explored social and political situations in ways that wouldn't have been possible without the other planets or future times or whatever.

Anyway, I have no problem with labeling great authors as Science Fiction writers - it's a perfectly legitimate and in fact necessary framework for great writing.