Before Ray Bradbury published Fahrenheit 451 as a novel in 1953, it originally appeared in a novella only about half that size in Galaxy​ in 1951.  I had known this for a good 40 years, having read Bradbury's account of the process...but only recently did I find a copy that wasn't prohibitively expensive.

Naturally, I bought it.

I scanned the beautiful Chesley Bonestell cover, an unrelated but gorgeous piece of art.  I scanned the interior art for "The Fireman" as well.  All now are posted to the "Other SF Art -- Pulp Magazines" page of my web.

And then I read the Bradbury.

How does it compare with the fuller Fahrenheit 451?  Well, "The Fireman" is much smaller and faster, not nearly as polished, and the reader is always thinking, "Oh, but where's--?" or "Is he gonna say--?"  The piece is a fascinating historical artifact, but quite a rough draft for those of us used to the novel.

Montag's first name is Leonard--no Guy Fawkes-ism yet.  Faber has a first name, too.  Beatty is Leahy.  Yet despite the 2052 date in the first page, unlike in the novel, the setting is more reminiscent of the time of writing, with no full-wall televisions yet, just actual TV sets and radios and even crap-magazines.  There's no green bullet from Faber, so we just plain old don't see him again until after the showdown.  Interestingly, Beatty's lecture over Montag's sickbed is just a teeny bit more specific on the "minority pressure" aspect than in the novel.

Once Montag reveals the books to Millie, he gets her--amazingly, to our minds now--to agree to daily readings, with him trying to teach her.  Montag actually is a tad bloodthirsty in a couple of places where thinking about the revolution, less diffident than in the more slowly unfolding novel.  And the Hound--  Why, the Mechanical Hound doesn't appear until almost the end!  There are no creepy firehouse growlings, therefore, no offhand mention of suicide by Hound, no electronic snuffling under Montag's door.  And it's called the Electric Dog, fer God's sake...  Wow.

Still, the novella is definitely worth the read.  And at least here you may enjoy the visual art as well!

​Rafeeq

I happened to read Jonathan R. Eller’s two-volume of Ray Bradbury out of order, but of course the first half is as solid and entertaining as the second.

Below is the little review I did on Goodreads yesterday:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1142232577?book_show_action=true&page=1

Rafeeq






Jonathan R. Eller's Becoming Ray Bradbury a very fine literary biography that focuses not on picayune personal matters--issue such as those sniffed at by the Russian Formalist critics of the 1930s, like whether Pushkin smoked--but instead on how a once-unknown, bookish mama's boy evolved into a writer whose work millions love and whose very name even more millions at least recognize.

Eller is a top-notch scholar of Bradbury's work, and as he delineates the events and relationships that shaped the development of this author's distinctive craft, he is able to bring in useful bits and pieces formerly lost to history. Who but Eller, for example, can refer casually to the "[m]ore than 200 known pages of discards moving forward from 'The Fireman' toward Fahrenheit 451..." (277-78), or can show us the first page of the story draft, composed back in 1943, of the tale that eventually became the final chapter of the 1950 The Martian Chronicles? At the same time, though, Eller illuminates the broad trends as well: the sometimes-fractious multiculturalism of Bradbury's prewar Los Angeles, the evolution of the pulp-magazine science fiction and fantasy genres of the 1930s and '40s, the mechanics of postwar book publishing...and of course the McCarthyism of the 1950s that made Fahrenheit 451 so timely.

With eminently readable prose, and using easily digestible 6- or 8-page chapters, Eller takes us from the aspiring high school author to the young man who, still in his early 30s, finally is growing beyond genre restrictions and into recognition by the wider literary world. Becoming Ray Bradbury then culminates with the publication of the man's most famous and enduring novel--and from there, the second of the two-volume biography,Ray Bradbury Unbound, ably takes over.

26 December 2014

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to read Jonathan R. Eller’s Ray Bradbury Unbound in preparation for a review for the journal Extrapolation—loved it.

The review itself will have to wait for late 2015, but below is the brief note I did on Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1051331889?book_show_action=false

Rafeeq





For right now, I will simply comment that Jonathan R. Eller'sRay Bradbury Unbound is a top-notch conclusion to the two-volume biography of perhaps the most famous name on modern speculative fiction, by perhaps the top scholar of Bradbury textual criticism. While the book of course discusses the author's life after Fahrenheit 451, it is not simply a chronology of personal matters but an explanation and analysis of Bradbury's development as an artist. As such, this study will be enjoyed by scholars and non-academic readers alike.

A fuller 1400-word review will be forthcoming in the academic journal Extrapolation in late 2015.

6 October 2014

Well, Fahrenheit 451 lovers, I am happy to report that Amazon at last appears to have the first copy of Salem's new Critical Insights: Fahrenheit 451 for sale: http://www.amazon.com/Fahrenheit-Critical-Insights-Rafeeq-Mcgiveron/dp/1619252244/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387419462&sr=8-1&keywords=critical+insights+fahrenheit+451 .

This is, if I do say so myself, rather a fine volume.  I am most pleased with the chapters my authors have contributed, and I am glad to see the book finally available.  I hope that students and scholars alike may enjoy this work for many years to come.

Rafeeq

After three long months of work, now over a dozen contributors from all around the world, along with the volume editor, are done, done, done!  All finished chapters have been approved by our series editor at Salem, table of contents has been set, and the index has been drawn up.  Now everything is in the hands of the final copy-editors, and we can look forward to publication in November.  'Tis very exciting.

Rafeeq

As the deadline approacheth, we are a good 85% done, and I hope to wrap up nearly everything in the coming week.  The essays are interesting and well written, table of contents is good to go, and apparatus is ready.  My new friends from all around the world have really pulled on the oars, and this trireme is almost into port: http://salempress.com/Store/samples/critical_insights/fahrenheit.htm.  'Tis very exciting indeed.

Rafeeq

First load of infrastructural matters plus a couple of chapters have been submitted to our series editor at Salem, and this is a very fine start.  Plenty more good stuff coming in from scholars in the next few weeks!

For the first time in a solid month, I also had some time for my novel.  Aside from some nice little edits here and there, I also tweaked chapter sizes very helpfully, which led to a rejiggering of the samples on the website, complete overhaul of all the links, etc., etc.  Strange, but I seem to find such things rather fun...

So now, as I wait for 451 contributors to send more chapters, it's time to revisit good ol' Student Body.

Rafeeq

I am pleased to report that all chapters for the Fahrenheit 451 project for the Critical Insights series of Salem Press have been assigned, so now we are well underway!

I am very happy to have been able to bring together a company of such scholars as kindly have responded to the call for essays, and I am privileged to be working with them.  The proposals we have are all fascinating indeed, and I can hardly wait to bring everything together in the final publication.

Thank you again to everyone who has expressed an interest in this exciting project.  And now, of course, it is time to write...

Rafeeq

As volume editor for a collection of new scholarly essays on Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 that will be published by Salem Press in its Critical Insights Series, I am entertaining proposals for the following:

a biographical sketch, around 2000 words;

an introductory chapter on Cultural/Historical Context, 4000-5000 words;

an introductory Compare-and-Contrast chapter, 4000-5000 words;

an introductory chapter on Critical Reception of the novel, 4000-5000 words;

an introductory Critical Lens chapter of a close reading from a particular critical standpoint, 4000-5000 words; and

ten Critical Reading chapters on topics related to the work, author, or its themes, 5000 words each.

Contributors will receive an honorarium of $250.  I believe access to the electronic version of the text may be given as well, and for traditionalists who enjoy having a printed book around—like myself, I confess—the press, if I recall, is amenable to purchase by contributors at around 50% off.

Fahrenheit 451 is a work particularly dear to me, one which over the years I have read again and again, taught, and written about.  In this current effort I am extraordinarily pleased to have the opportunity to bring together important essays that will help further the understanding of the novel by academics, students, and ordinary readers alike.

Interested scholars, please contact me immediately at rafeeq.o.mcgiveron@gmail.com.  Due dates will be around the middle of October, so the sooner I can get all ducks in a row, the better.  Naturally, if you are interested, I of course have fuller instructions/guidelines from Salem to send, then a contributor’s contract, etc.