John Colmer (essay date 1978)


John Colmer (essay date 1978)

SOURCE: "Science Fiction," in Coleridge to Catch-22, St. Martin's Press, 1978, pp. 197-209.

[In the following excerpt, Colmer assesses Fahrenheit 451 as a work of social criticism, citing shortcomings in the novel's sentimentality and high-culture allusions.]

Fahrenheit 451 takes its place in a long line of works concerned with the survival of language and the written word, since it not only presents a future in which there is constant war or threat of war but one where there is no legitimate place for...

(The entire page is 1519 words.)

Want to read the whole thing?

Subscribe now to read the rest of this article. Plus, get access to:

  • 30,000+ literature study guides
  • Critical essays on more than 30,000 works of literature from Salem on Literature (exclusive to eNotes)
  • An unparalleled literary criticism section. 40,000 full-length or excerpted essays.
  • Content from leading academic publishers, all easily citable with our "Cite this page" button.
  • 100% satisfaction guarantee READ MORE