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Ray Bradbury - circa 2009 |
About four and a half years ago I attended a
fundraiser put on by the Friends of the Laguna Beach Library. The speaker was a then 87-year old bespectacled
unimposing man who was wheeled into the room and apologized for not
standing.
The man was Ray Bradbury, down from his Los Angeles
home and to this library in an affluent California beach city because budget
cuts were threatening the continued ability of libraries to remain open:
libraries that for him were self-described alternatives to college for those
who had no money.
As he spoke in generalities and specifics about why
he wrote every day since Mr. Electro touched him on his nose with an
electrified sword and told him he would “Live Forever” in 1932, and what he
wrote on those daily excursions, and how writing is in most of us if we just
remained observant of what goes on around us, I found myself drifting back to
my memories of reading what he had written, some in school as assignment, more
in discovering life around me, in college, in marriage, and in life itself as it
developed.
Both Mary and I were Bradbury fans before we
married, probably for different reasons.
I had gone through what might be described as a Science-Fiction phase,
devouring Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov and discovering the "Martian Chronicles"
along the way. She had felt a closeness
with his loosely autobiographical stories about his early years in Waukegan,
Illinois, since many of his experiences mirrored her upbringing in nearby
Janesville, Wisconsin.

In researching this post I found many interesting facts; not surprising when you consider the man’s age and a career that
produced more than 300 stories, numerous plays and screenplays, radio and
television writing for giants like George Burns, Alfred Hitchcock, and Rod
Sterling, and occasional poems and essays.
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Basement Office |
For instance, one of his fondest memories was being
asked to write the screen play for John Houston’s “Moby Dick”. His basement office, where he wrote until the
last weeks of his life has memorabilia galore, which he claimed inspired many
of his stories. Paramount in prominence
are items from his time in Ireland, where he would spend evenings keeping
Houston company while drinking Irish whiskey and telling stories.
He was fond of contrasting the idyllic peace of his
youth in, what he called Green Town with the adventurous and exotic environs of
places like Africa or even other worlds.
One of my favorite stories is “The Veldt”; set in Africa where a house
has so many features it can raise the children without parents. Mary and I share a famous favorite,
“Dandelion Wine”, which linked together several short stories set in the
Midwest, recalling for us our own youth.
I found two items that are still available that I
intend to buy: a DVD titled “Ray Bradbury’s Chrysalis” that came out in 2010
and a CD titled “Bradbury 13” recorded that same year: an audio book featuring,
among other stories, “The Veldt”. As I
make my way through those, I’ll remember the pleasant evening at the Laguna
Library and the memories evoked by a wonderful, prolific, man. You’ll find links in this post that will
allow you to find your own way to rediscovering Ray Bradbury. You also might enjoy the link to his “100
Short Stories” where you will find reflective reviews from many readers of all
ages.
In my next post I’ll share a recent article in The
New Yorker that looks at how American middle-class families are raising their
children. What this Anthropologist found
may surprise you.
Do you have a favorite Bradbury story? If so, comment me what, and more importantly,
why.
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