French student, I hope you'll be nice with me and help me improve my English.
Thanx for all your en...
French student, I hope you'll be nice with me and help me improve my English.
Thanx for all your enthusiastic comments on my first op. Please read my circle of trust.
Member since:10.09.2001
Reviews:2
Members who trust:7
...nothing that you can believe or teach others", Captain Beatty (sorry, I translated it from French, but I think it's accurate enough).
You all know (or you should know) Ray Bradbury's "Martian Chronicles", the worldwide bestseller. But do you know his other masterpiece, "Fahrenheit 451" ? No ? My op is made for you then.
WHO IS RAYMOND DOUGLAS BRADBURY ?
Ray Bradbury's born in Waukegan, Illinois, in 1920, and is still alive (for a long time I hope). He published his 2 well-known books "Martian Chronicles" and "Fahrenheit 451" in 1950 & 1953 respectively. Although Bradbury is considered as a (excellent) Sci-Fi writer, I'd rather say that he is a genius poet that has written more than 300 short stories (huge, isn't it ?). He stresses indeed less on the scientific side of the future than many other Sci-Fi authors, such as Aldous Huxley whose knowledge in biology was impressive. If you're not convinced, here I quote him: "If you can't have the reality, a dream is just as good". A great man whose wisdom isn't shared by all...
WHAT IS FAHRENHEIT 451 ?
*** SUMMARY:
Before talking about the book, I will just explain the title. Actually 451°F is the temperature when paper begins to burn. Why the title ? Read my little summary.
In an unfortunately too-near future (no date is given by Bradbury, that avoids the problems of Orwell's "1984" for example), a fireman named Guy Montag is happy to do his job. The only hitch is that Bradbury's firemen don't fight against fire but WITH fire. Since all the houses are fire-proof, they don't have to extinguish the fires, but on the contrary their jobs consist in burning all the books they hear about. Montag is married with Mildred (does her name mean that she can't take a decision all by herself ?), a woman who spends her time watching television walls. Two events will change his life forever. First, Guy meets Clarisse, a 17-year girl full of life. She doesn't go to school as the other teenagers. Instead, she loves wandering about, watching the flowers or the moon. Moreover, she knows a lot of things about the past thanks to her uncle. She doesn't act like the norm, and Guy is fascinated by that girl, until her disappearance. Later, during an intervention at an old woman's, Montag sees the latter die because she didn't want to quit her books, which meant her whole life. Montag will be greatly upset by that death, he will begin to doubt about his job, his life... Montag starts to irresistibly love books, not because of the ideas written in them, but, and that's even more important, because of the symbol, the knowledge they contain. His chief and his most dangerous enemy, the captain Beatty, will try to crush him in his own ground, because he has read a lot of books in his life and rejected them (ie. the title of my op). His only ally, an old man name Faber, who didn't fought against the ban when it was time, sees in the young man a means to make up for his former weakness...
*** MY OPINION:
I am under the charm of this book. To me, it's the best dystopia (the contrary to an utopia) I've ever read. Some will object that "Brave New World" describes the future world better than Bradbury does. I can't disagree, but that isn't relevant. Actually, even if the reader feels that one needs to stay in the norm, turned into a vegetable by the huge television walls in order to be more obedient, Ray succeeded in avoiding the mere description of the mechanisms through which the government stays at the power. To me, it's the real strength of this book. Orwell's "1984" is far too manichean, based on a thesis-antithesis-synthesis plan. Besides, while Huxley keeps hammering the same arguments from the start to the end of his bestseller, Bradbury knows how to use irony, and a poetic style that makes us dream as Guy Montag.
The most remarkable about "Fahrenheit 451" is how Bradbury succeeds in doing a subtle criticism of his fifties society, and it is rare enough in science fiction to be noted. Moreover, even if Bradbury isn't really a "technologist" (sorry for the word but I can't find another one) - and he is the only one able to do science-fiction without science - that doesn't forbid him to be really understand his society and view the dangers that may appear in a near future. For example, while the B&W television has just been invented, Bradbury already thinks about huge television walls and their empty shows. That fascinating topicality of the book, half a century after its publication, is the main advantage of this novel. In a period when people worry about their children who don't like reading book, when the same people spend their free time passively before their TV sets, Bradbury's universe looms... Indeed, despite no description of the mechanics used by the government, in my opinion it's the dystopia that is the most likely to happen precisely because it happens by chance, thanks to the absence of reaction of people stupefied by the television.
At last, Ray's universe where war looms reveals all the tensions caused by the Cold War and the War of Korea. Nevertheless, Bradbury is a real optimistic, since although the war threatens to make terrible casualties, Ray thinks that Mankind can "use" that destruction to take a new start, with saner fundations, rebuild a civilisation worth to be lived, thanks to the books learned by the few shadow resistance fighters who couldn't accept the oblivion of the past. Bradbury is a ferocious defender of Mankind with a great "M", he thinks that mankind will always be able to raise up (cf. "Martian Chronicles", "The Million-Year Picnic"), and I like to think like him.
TO CONCLUDE:
I must apologise if you found my op too long, but the strength emanating from it really nailed me to it. Bradbury is a fabulous writer that must be read by all, even those who dislike science-fiction, since his novels are everything but boring Sci-Fi.
Another apology since I'm French and it was my first op on Ciao UK (even if I'm not really junior on Ciao France), so I'd like the most feedback possible: about mistakes I made, non-idiomatic expressions, or congratulations for such a great op :)
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
I think you wrote a lean review that does away with all unnecessary bunk and goes straight for the relevant points. You captured the novel's spirit without giving away too much of the plot. In other words: You nailed it. Of course, there would be much more to say on this book, but for a review this suffices. Here's what the man himself had to say: http://www.laweekly.com/news/news/ray-bradbury-fahrenheit-451-misinterpreted/16524/
In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury's classic, frightening vision of the future, firemen ... more
don't put out fires--they start them in order to burn books. Bradbury's vividly painted society holds up the appearance of happiness as the highest goal--a place whe...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
InFahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury's classic, frightening vision of the future, firemen don't ... more
put out fires--they start them in order to burn books. Bradbury's vividly painted society holds up the appearance of happiness as the highest goal--a place wher...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
InFahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury's classic, frightening vision of the future, firemen don't ... more
put out fires--they start them in order to burn books. Bradbury's vividly painted society holds up the appearance of happiness as the highest goal--a place wher...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury's classic, frightening vision of the future, firemen ... more
don't put out fires--they start them in order to burn books. Bradbury's vividly painted society holds up the appearance of happiness as the highest goal--a place whe...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
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