81–90 of 98 posts
He was the last of the giants, along with Heinlein, Clark and Asimov. As a kid in the 70s, I devoured their novels and stories from the 50s and 60s. Bradbury was probably the most sophisticated writer of the four, though I preferred Asimov's straightforward, techie prose more back then. But we did get to read Bradbury in school, while none of the others was deemed lofty enough for the curriculum (except Heinlein's St…
Orson Scott Card is not too far off, IMO.
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This thread feels incomplete without this Mark Twain quote: "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot."
I was expecting someone to mention his stance against modern tech and ebooks. But I like it better this way, this is a good memorial and nostalgia thread, fit for an author whose writing style was very nostalgic.
My favorite Ray Bradbury memory is the time he came to my school to talk about his books and ended up yelling at my English teach for trying to find hidden meaning that wasn't there just for the sake of busywork. RIP Mr. Bradbury.
Obviously doing things for busywork is pointless, but there is plenty of good to come of trying to find hidden meanings in books. Not all meaning was put there by the author and if you find something that helps you get deeper into a book or get more out of it for yourself, good for you. A book only has meaning when filtered through your brain so if your brain finds something, it's there. Note that this is not my idea…
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I assume that the "hidden meaning" was supposed to be a moral for the edification of the children ( Think of the children! ). The idea that all stories must have a moral in order to be legitimate is modern. Conventional wisdom gets in a self-righteous huff over how the different Inquisitions censored books. It would surprise modern people to see what books those old-time moral guardians did not censor. Daphnis and Ch…
My 11th grade English teacher tried to explain what every colour in a story meant. "Red is clearly used here to mean ..."
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When I was in school, I often wondered how often teachers did this.
I forget which year, but my high school had a class on science fiction. Which the teacher did not understand too well. I ended up having to publicly correct her on the interpretation of the end of 2001 (the book -- not that it matters given how closely it parallels the screen play). To her credit, she thought about it and publicly acknowledged my correction in a subsequent class. Also to her credit (and/or the school…
He managed to overcome this by gifting the teacher a dog eared copy of Dune stating "it's an allegory".
The book went unread for some time, but a year later the professor looked him up to let him know that he had read Dune, found it intriguing in how many subjects it touched, from social issues to ecology to economics and called it profound. He asked for some more recommendations upon which he rapidly became a fan of Clark, Heinlein (who he had read before, but now again with new eyes) and a few others.
I was with my classmate one day years later at a grocery store and this professor saw him and walked up to say hi. A short conversation later and the professor mentioned how he had turned into quite a fan of the genre and regrets he had spent so long ignoring it. Some of the works, he said were "silly" but a few were some of the most profound descriptions of the human condition and where we're going as a species, coupled with some of the only explorations of the changes to the ethical landscape as technology transforms the world in literature...etc. etc. Before he left he said he had recently started reading some of the old Cyberpunk works and found himself sitting up at night with the realization that many of the things described in the books were coming true now, decades later.
It was really interesting to see a man, who must have been in his 70s by this point, catch the sci-fi religion like that.
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I forget which year, but my high school had a class on science fiction. Which the teacher did not understand too well. I ended up having to publicly correct her on the interpretation of the end of 2001 (the book -- not that it matters given how closely it parallels the screen play). To her credit, she thought about it and publicly acknowledged my correction in a subsequent class. Also to her credit (and/or the school…
What was her interpretation?
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I forget which year, but my high school had a class on science fiction. Which the teacher did not understand too well. I ended up having to publicly correct her on the interpretation of the end of 2001 (the book -- not that it matters given how closely it parallels the screen play). To her credit, she thought about it and publicly acknowledged my correction in a subsequent class. Also to her credit (and/or the school…
An old classmate of mine had an English professor in college who, upon questions of why there was no Science Fiction on the reading list for the year, derisively called it irrelevant trash prose or some such while making pew pew sounds. He managed to overcome this by gifting the teacher a dog eared copy of Dune stating "it's an allegory". The book went unread for some time, but a year later the professor looked him u…
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Orson Scott Card is not too far off, IMO.
Brandon Sanderson as well.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This thread feels incomplete without this Mark Twain quote: "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot."
I was expecting someone to mention his stance against modern tech and ebooks. But I like it better this way, this is a good memorial and nostalgia thread, fit for an author whose writing style was very nostalgic.
He had a short piece in last week's New Yorker on how "The Fire Balloons" was inspired by the fire balloons he, as a small boy, lit with his grandfather. It was a beautiful testament to his craft and his inspiration. Sadly, behind the paywall: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/06/04/120604fa_fact_... RIP