Literary Criticism and Reviews: Ray Bradbury
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For good reason, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 remains a very popular book over 60 years since its debut, and it often is read in English classes in college or high school. When I was 12 or 14, I read the copy pictured at right probably 8 times, just as I did with Heinlein’s Space Cadet. I seem to recall doing a book report on it in high school, too.
When I started really looking into Chief Beatty’s discussion of “technology, mass exploitation, and minority pressure” in the mid-1990s, I was surprised that only a fairly limited amount of criticism on the novel existed. Moreover, critics simply had not addressed some of the issues that I myself found crucial. |
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Now, essays of mine that first appeared in academic journals have been reprinted in various textbooks on Bradbury or in the Contemporary Literary Criticism series which some libraries carry, and students of course also often can access these articles in the online literary research databases to which their institutions’ libraries subscribe.
Those first articles were written in, ahem, the 20th century, back when I was still teaching, but then more recently I ended up falling into the orbit of Salem Press, a sub-unit of the mammoth EBSCO Information Services, which runs so many of those online research databases. Salem asked me to put together a new volume of original criticism on Fahrenheit 451, which was released in December 2013. A few years later they asked for a proposal for a new project, so we did a 2017 volume covering the breadth of the works of Ray Bradbury. Serving as volume editor on projects like these was wonderful, as I was able to get acquainted with so many other great scholars...and of course I got to write a few more pieces myself, which is always nice.
In any event, below is a list of what I have written on Bradbury, with links to the full-text articles wherever available.
Those first articles were written in, ahem, the 20th century, back when I was still teaching, but then more recently I ended up falling into the orbit of Salem Press, a sub-unit of the mammoth EBSCO Information Services, which runs so many of those online research databases. Salem asked me to put together a new volume of original criticism on Fahrenheit 451, which was released in December 2013. A few years later they asked for a proposal for a new project, so we did a 2017 volume covering the breadth of the works of Ray Bradbury. Serving as volume editor on projects like these was wonderful, as I was able to get acquainted with so many other great scholars...and of course I got to write a few more pieces myself, which is always nice.
In any event, below is a list of what I have written on Bradbury, with links to the full-text articles wherever available.
“Fahrenheit 451 and the Possible.” The Palgrave Encyclopedia of the Possible. Ed. Vlad Petre Glaveneau. New York:
Palgrave, forthcoming 2020.
Editor, Critical Insights: Ray Bradbury. Critical Insights Series. Ispwich, MA: Salem, 2017. Amazon page here,
Salem page here.
“About This Volume.” vii-xii.
“On Ray Bradbury and His Works.” xiii-xxvii.
“From ‘Halloween Was Outlawed and Christmas Was Banned!’ to ‘You Can Stay Happy All the
Time’: Shifting Impetuses for Book Burning from ‘The Exiles’ and ‘Usher II’ to Fahrenheit 451.”
46-59.
“Chronology of Ray Bradbury’s Life.” 209-13.
“Major Works.” 215-16.
“Bibliography.” 217-22.
“About the Editor.” 223.
Time’: Shifting Impetuses for Book Burning from ‘The Exiles’ and ‘Usher II’ to Fahrenheit 451.”
46-59.
“Chronology of Ray Bradbury’s Life.” 209-13.
“Major Works.” 215-16.
“Bibliography.” 217-22.
“About the Editor.” 223.
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“Bradbury the Master: Review of David Seed, Ray Bradbury.” Extrapolation 58.2-3 (Summer/Winter 2017): 338-41. |
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“Ray Bradbury Completed: Review of Jonathan R. Eller, Ray Bradbury Unbound.” Extrapolation 57 (2016): 366-69. First-page preview available online here. |
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“Orbiting Ray Bradbury's Mars: Biographical, Anthropological, Literary, Scientific and Other Perspectives” (review). SFRA Review 307-308 (Winter/Spring 2013-14): 30-32. Available online here. |
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Editor, Critical Insights: Fahrenheit 451. Critical Insights Series. Ispwich, MA: Salem, 2013. Salem page here, Amazon
page here.
page here.
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“About This Volume.” vii-xii.
“On Fahrenheit 451.” 3-16. “From ‘Government Control of This and That’ to ‘The Whole Culture’s Shot Through’: Behavior, Blame, and the Bomb in The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451.” 62-74. “Chronology of Ray Bradbury’s Life.” 232-36. “Works by Ray Bradbury.” 237-38. |
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“Bibliography.” 239-41.
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“About the Editor.” 242.
“ ‘They Got Me a Long Time Ago’: The Sympathetic Villain in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451.” Critical Insights: Dystopia. Ed. M. Keith Booker. Critical Insights Series. Ispwich, MA: Salem, 2013. 125-41. |
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“ ‘To Build a Mirror Factory’: The Mirror and Self-Examination in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.” Critique: Studies in
Contemporary Fiction 39 (Spring 1998): 282-87.
Rpt. as “Mirrors and Self-Examination in Fahrenheit 451” in Readings on Fahrenheit 451. Ed. Katie de Koster. Greenhaven
Press Literary Companion Series. San Diego: Greenhaven, 2000. 55-62.
Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism 235. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Detroit: Gale, 2007. 120-23.
Rpt. in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, new ed. Ed. Harold Bloom. Bloom’s Modern Critical Interpretations Series. New
York: Infobase, 2008. 163-69.
First-page preview available online here.
Listed in Jonathan R. Eller and William F. Touponce. Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction. Kent, OH: Kent State UP, 2004.
558.
Listed in Ray Bradbury, new ed. Ed. Harold Bloom. Bloom's Modern Critical Views Series. New York: Infobase, 2010. 222.
“ ‘Do You Know the Legend of Hercules and Antaeus?’ The Wilderness in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.” Extrapolation
38 (Summer 1997): 102-9.
Rpt. as “The Power of the Wilderness in Fahrenheit 451” in Readings on Fahrenheit 451. Ed. Katie de Koster. Greenhaven
Press Literary Companion Series. San Diego: Greenhaven, 2000. 66-75.
Rpt. in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. Ed. Harold Bloom. Bloom’s Modern Critical Interpretations Series. Philadelphia:
Chelsea House, 2001. 121-28.
First page preview available online here.
Listed in Robin Anne Reid. Ray Bradbury: A Critical Companion. Critical Companions to Popular Contemporary Writers
Series. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2000. 54.
Listed in Jonathan R. Eller and William F. Touponce. Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction. Kent, OH: Kent State UP, 2004.
558.
Listed in The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders, vol. 3. Ed. Gary
Westfahl. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2005. 1030.
Listed in Ray Bradbury, new ed. Ed. Harold Bloom. Bloom's Modern Critical Views Series. New York: Infobase, 2010. 222.
“What ‘Carried the Trick’? Mass Exploitation and the Decline of Thought in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.”
Extrapolation 37 (Fall 1996): 245-56.
Rpt. in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. Ed. Harold Bloom. Bloom’s Modern Critical Interpretations Series. Philadelphia:
Chelsea House, 2001. 109-20.
Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism 235. Ed. Jeffrey Hunter. Detroit: Gale, 2007. 114-20.
Cited in Joseph Hurtgen. The Archive Incarnate: The Embodiment and Transmission of Knowledge in Science Fiction. Critical
Explorations in Science Fiction and Fantasy 65. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2018. 47-48.
Cited in Evan Brier. A Novel Marketplace: Mass Culture, the Book Trade, and Postwar American Fiction. Philadelphia: U of
PA Press, 2009. 187.
Listed in Robin Anne Reid. Ray Bradbury: A Critical Companion. Critical Companions to Popular Contemporary Writers
Series. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2000. 53-54.
Listed in The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders, vol. 3. Ed. Gary
Westfahl. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2005. 1030.
Listed in Ray Bradbury, new ed. Ed. Harold Bloom. Bloom’s Modern Critical Views Series. New York: Infobase, 2010. 222.
Listed in “Fahrenheit 451.” Wikipedia.org (“Further Reading”). URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit_451.
“[Hands in] Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.” The Explicator 54 (Spring 1996): 177-80.
Rpt. as “The Imagery of Hands in Fahrenheit 451” in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. Ed. Harold Bloom. Bloom’s Modern
Critical Interpretations Series. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2001. 105-8.
Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism 235. Ed. Jeffrey Hunter. Detroit: Gale, 2007. 112-14.
Available online here and here.
Listed in Jonathan R. Eller and William F. Touponce. Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction. Kent, OH: Kent State UP, 2004. 558.
Listed in Harold Bloom, ed. Ray Bradbury, new ed. Bloom's Modern Critical Views Series. New York: Infobase, 2010. 222.
Listed in Phil Nichols. “Re-Presenting Mars: Bradbury’s Martian Stories in Media Adaptation.” Visions of Mars: Essays on
the Red Planet in Science Fiction. Ed. Howard V. Hendrix, George Slusser, and Eric S. Rabkin. Jefferson,
NC: McFarland, 2011. 116.
Listed in “Fahrenheit 451.” Wikipedia.org (“Further Reading”). URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit_451.
Contemporary Fiction 39 (Spring 1998): 282-87.
Rpt. as “Mirrors and Self-Examination in Fahrenheit 451” in Readings on Fahrenheit 451. Ed. Katie de Koster. Greenhaven
Press Literary Companion Series. San Diego: Greenhaven, 2000. 55-62.
Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism 235. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Detroit: Gale, 2007. 120-23.
Rpt. in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, new ed. Ed. Harold Bloom. Bloom’s Modern Critical Interpretations Series. New
York: Infobase, 2008. 163-69.
First-page preview available online here.
Listed in Jonathan R. Eller and William F. Touponce. Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction. Kent, OH: Kent State UP, 2004.
558.
Listed in Ray Bradbury, new ed. Ed. Harold Bloom. Bloom's Modern Critical Views Series. New York: Infobase, 2010. 222.
“ ‘Do You Know the Legend of Hercules and Antaeus?’ The Wilderness in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.” Extrapolation
38 (Summer 1997): 102-9.
Rpt. as “The Power of the Wilderness in Fahrenheit 451” in Readings on Fahrenheit 451. Ed. Katie de Koster. Greenhaven
Press Literary Companion Series. San Diego: Greenhaven, 2000. 66-75.
Rpt. in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. Ed. Harold Bloom. Bloom’s Modern Critical Interpretations Series. Philadelphia:
Chelsea House, 2001. 121-28.
First page preview available online here.
Listed in Robin Anne Reid. Ray Bradbury: A Critical Companion. Critical Companions to Popular Contemporary Writers
Series. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2000. 54.
Listed in Jonathan R. Eller and William F. Touponce. Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction. Kent, OH: Kent State UP, 2004.
558.
Listed in The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders, vol. 3. Ed. Gary
Westfahl. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2005. 1030.
Listed in Ray Bradbury, new ed. Ed. Harold Bloom. Bloom's Modern Critical Views Series. New York: Infobase, 2010. 222.
“What ‘Carried the Trick’? Mass Exploitation and the Decline of Thought in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.”
Extrapolation 37 (Fall 1996): 245-56.
Rpt. in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. Ed. Harold Bloom. Bloom’s Modern Critical Interpretations Series. Philadelphia:
Chelsea House, 2001. 109-20.
Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism 235. Ed. Jeffrey Hunter. Detroit: Gale, 2007. 114-20.
Cited in Joseph Hurtgen. The Archive Incarnate: The Embodiment and Transmission of Knowledge in Science Fiction. Critical
Explorations in Science Fiction and Fantasy 65. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2018. 47-48.
Cited in Evan Brier. A Novel Marketplace: Mass Culture, the Book Trade, and Postwar American Fiction. Philadelphia: U of
PA Press, 2009. 187.
Listed in Robin Anne Reid. Ray Bradbury: A Critical Companion. Critical Companions to Popular Contemporary Writers
Series. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2000. 53-54.
Listed in The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders, vol. 3. Ed. Gary
Westfahl. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2005. 1030.
Listed in Ray Bradbury, new ed. Ed. Harold Bloom. Bloom’s Modern Critical Views Series. New York: Infobase, 2010. 222.
Listed in “Fahrenheit 451.” Wikipedia.org (“Further Reading”). URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit_451.
“[Hands in] Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.” The Explicator 54 (Spring 1996): 177-80.
Rpt. as “The Imagery of Hands in Fahrenheit 451” in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. Ed. Harold Bloom. Bloom’s Modern
Critical Interpretations Series. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2001. 105-8.
Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism 235. Ed. Jeffrey Hunter. Detroit: Gale, 2007. 112-14.
Available online here and here.
Listed in Jonathan R. Eller and William F. Touponce. Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction. Kent, OH: Kent State UP, 2004. 558.
Listed in Harold Bloom, ed. Ray Bradbury, new ed. Bloom's Modern Critical Views Series. New York: Infobase, 2010. 222.
Listed in Phil Nichols. “Re-Presenting Mars: Bradbury’s Martian Stories in Media Adaptation.” Visions of Mars: Essays on
the Red Planet in Science Fiction. Ed. Howard V. Hendrix, George Slusser, and Eric S. Rabkin. Jefferson,
NC: McFarland, 2011. 116.
Listed in “Fahrenheit 451.” Wikipedia.org (“Further Reading”). URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit_451.
