Criticism > Short Story Criticism > Bradbury, Ray (Vol. 29) - Christopher Isherwood (review date 1950)
Bradbury, Ray (Vol. 29) - Christopher Isherwood (review date 1950)
Christopher Isherwood (review date 1950)
SOURCE: A review of The Martian Chronicles, Tomorrow, Vol. X, No. 2, October, 1950, pp. 56-8.
[In the following assessment of The Martian Chronicles—the first major review of any Bradbury work—Isherwood considers Bradbury an author of fantasy literature in the tradition of Edgar Allan Poe, rather than an author of science fiction. ]
In February 1999, the first rocketship from Earth will land on Mars. Its two crew members will immediately be shot dead by a Mr. Yll K, with a gun which fires bees. Six months later, the crew of a second rocket will be subjected to a mercy killing by Mr. Xxx, a psychologist, in the belief that his victims must be incurable lunatics. In April 2000, the crew of a third rocket will likewise be murdered, while under a deep hypnosis which persuades them that they are visiting their dead relatives and their childhood homes on Earth. But the fourth...
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Criticism
- Christopher Isherwood (review date 1950)
- Gilbert Highet (essay date 1965)
- Damon Knight (essay date 1967)
- Russell Kirk (essay date 1969)
- Steven Dimeo (essay date 1972)
- Kent Forrester (essay date 1976)
- Willis E. McNelly (essay date 1976)
- A. James Stupple (essay date 1976)
- Wayne L. Johnson (essay date 1978)
- Thomas M. Disch (review date 1980)
- Orson Scott Card (review date 1980)
- Hazel Pierce (essay date 1980)
- Robert Plank (essay date 1981)
- Stephen King (essay date 1981)
- David Mogen (essay date 1986)
- Ray Bradbury (essay date 1987)
- William F. Touponce (essay date 1989)
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