Introduction


Ray Bradbury

When all is said and done, when all the pens have run dry and all the computers are unplugged, Ray Bradbury will remain literature’s favorite bogeyman. Despite an incredibly prolific career that spans countless styles, formats, and genres, Bradbury is best known for his creepier tales. Whether chronicling the spooky carnival in Something Wicked This Way Comes or the nightmarish society of Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury had a knack for tapping into very real human fears—paranoia, solitude, abandonment, death. Surprisingly, Bradbury often shrugged off his sci-fi reputation because he believed his tales, no matter how sinister, often had some basis in reality. So, yes, the monsters under your bed just might be real after all.

Essential Facts

  1. Of the numerous adaptations of Ray Bradbury’s works into film and television, one of the earliest was It Came From Outer Space, a minor classic of the 1950s science-fiction genre.
  2. From 1985 to 1992, Bradbury hosted The Ray Bradbury Theater, a serial television show based on his short stories.
  3. Although mostly associated with science fiction and the macabre, Bradbury has written family-oriented material like The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit.
  4. Despite its box office success and the political firestorm it instigated, the film Fahrenheit 9/11 angered Bradbury because director Michael Moore appropriated the title of Bradbury’s classic Fahrenheit 451 without asking permission.
  5. Bradbury became a member of the now-famous Clifton Cafeteria’s Science Fiction club, which included other notable writers such as Robert Heinlein.
 

Recommended Resources

  1. Fahrenheit 451 Lesson Plans
  2. Fahrenheit 451 Study Guide (eNotes)
  3. Ray Bradbury - Critical Survey of Long Fiction
  4. Something Wicked This Way Comes Study Guide (quickNotes)

All Resources

Display as: Categories, List
  1. A Graveyard for Lunatics - Book Review
  2. A Graveyard for Lunatics quickNotes
  3. Critical Survey of Short Fiction
  4. Cyclopedia of World Authors
  5. Dandelion Wine - Book Review
  6. Dandelion Wine Study Guide
  7. Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
  8. Fahrenheit 451 - Book Review
  9. Fahrenheit 451 - Character Profiles
  10. Fahrenheit 451 - Literary Places
  11. Fahrenheit 451 - Science Fiction
  12. Fahrenheit 451 Censorship
  13. Fahrenheit 451 Lesson Plans
  14. Fahrenheit 451 Movie Learning Guide
  15. Fahrenheit 451 Study Guide (eNotes)
  16. Green Shadows, White Whale - Book Review
  17. It Came from Outer Space (1953)
  18. It Came from Outer Space 2 (1995)
  19. Quicker Than the Eye quickNotes
  20. Ray Bradbury - Critical Survey of Long Fiction
  21. Ray Bradbury Contemporary Literary Criticism (Vol. 1)
  22. Ray Bradbury Contemporary Literary Criticism (Vol. 15)
  23. Ray Bradbury Contemporary Literary Criticism (Vol. 3)
  24. Ray Bradbury Short Story Criticism
  25. Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature Study Guide (eNotes)
  26. Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)
  27. Something Wicked This Way Comes - Literary Characters
  28. Something Wicked This Way Comes - Masterplots II: American Fiction Series
  29. Something Wicked This Way Comes - Science Fiction
  30. Something Wicked This Way Comes Study Guide (quickNotes)
  31. The Illustrated Man (1969)
  32. The Illustrated Man - Science Fiction
  33. The Martian Chronicles - Book Review
  34. The Martian Chronicles - Literary Characters
  35. The Martian Chronicles - Masterplots II: American Fiction Series
  36. The Martian Chronicles - Science Fiction
  37. The Martian Chronicles quickNotes
  38. The Martian Chronicles: Part 1 (1979)
  39. The Martian Chronicles: Part 3 (1979)
  40. The October Country - Science Fiction
  41. The Oxford Companion to American Literature Article on Ray Bradbury
  42. The Oxford Companion to English Literature Article on Ray Bradbury
  43. The Toynbee Convector - Book Review
  44. The Veldt - Masterplots II: Short Story Series
  45. The Veldt Study Guide
  46. There Will Come Soft Rains - Masterplots II: Short Story Series
  47. There Will Come Soft Rains Study Guide