Criticism > Short Story Criticism > Bradbury, Ray (Vol. 29) - Wayne L. Johnson (essay date 1978)
Bradbury, Ray (Vol. 29) - Wayne L. Johnson (essay date 1978)
Wayne L. Johnson (essay date 1978)
SOURCE: "The Invasion Stories of Ray Bradbury," in Critical Encounters, Frederick Ungar Publishing Company, 1978, pp. 23-40.
[In this excerpt, Johnson discusses the principal themes of Bradbury's invasion stories, noting that they fall into one of two categories: those involving the destruction of Earthlings by Martian forces and those concerning the destruction of Martians by alien Earth creatures.]
Seven-year-old Mink bursts into the house and begins snatching up kitchen utensils and apparently random bits of junk to be hauled outside for use in some mysterious game. "What's the name of the game?" inquires her mother. "Invasion!" the girl replies. Mink's mother goes on about her housework unaware that her daughter is telling the literal truth, and that what appears to be an innocent children's game is actually the prelude to an invasion of Earth by creatures from another world—Ray Bradbury...
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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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