Here
is a good selection of a tiny portion of quotes from the great man’s works.
My first thought is what a great philosopher and shrewd observer of human nature he was. There was something in him that responded to the poignancy of the human condition, it’s big and little ironies. You sense that he loved mankind but was all too aware of our shortcomings and mean spirited bouts of cruelty. That gives his writing a sadness that I really identify with. At the same time it gives it a hopefulness as if he is watching it all and rooting for us, wanting the better angels of our nature to win out.
The Boston Herald quotes him as saying:
“What I have always been is a hybrid author,” Bradbury said in 2009. “I am completely in love with movies, and I am completely in love with theater, and I am completely in love with libraries.”
Gotta love a man like that!!
Last summer I read the book Death is a Lonely Business. It is called a mystery book in some places but it is typical of the uncategorizable nature of Bradbury’s work. There is some beautiful prose mixed in with questionable plot twists and odd unexplained relationships. It is semi-autobiographical they say because it’s about an aspiring sci-fi writer who stumbles on a murder mystery.
Little known facts about Ray Bradbury:
He refused to drive a car or fly in a plane.
The cover on The Illustrated Man is actually an early pic of wundayatta The map on his ass comes alive at night and if you look closely, very closely, you can retrace the steps of Marco Polo across the ancient silk route. Zoom in and you can see the Empress of China in flagrante delicto with her lover. On the opposite ass cheek you can see her modeling for her artist/lover in the nude! If Bradbury hadn’t been so anti-censorship he would have decided against the cover art model altogether. As it was he decided to seat the tattooed model to cover up the most objectionable bits.