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Mar 20, 2008 Werner rated it liked it

Shelves: short-stories, science-fiction

Note, Nov. 2, 3017: I edited this just now to correct a minor typo.

Though the 16 stories that comprise this collection are fitted into a super-imposed chronological framework, and are joined by some short units of bridging material, they were originally composed as stand-alones, not part of any larger unity. Bradbury was primarily a writer of short fiction, the main medium for his characteristic supernatural and science fiction in the era when he started writing; this book simply collects most o Note, Nov. 2, 3017: I edited this just now to correct a minor typo.

Though the 16 stories that comprise this collection are fitted into a super-imposed chronological framework, and are joined by some short units of bridging material, they were originally composed as stand-alones, not part of any larger unity. Bradbury was primarily a writer of short fiction, the main medium for his characteristic supernatural and science fiction in the era when he started writing; this book simply collects most of the stories he composed in the 1940s set on, or related to, Mars. Several of them have totally conflicting or contradictory premises and features, and they vary wildly in tone and effect. (They're uneven in quality as well, as noted below.) But that said, there are certain recurrent themes that bind them. Bradbury envisioned Mars colonization as a kind of re-enactment of the settling of the American frontier, a new New World with the same pitfalls and the same potential promise. He also was haunted, as were most post-World War II SF writers working in the long shadow of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, by the threat of nuclear war, and that concern is reflected in a number of the stories.

Some reviewers, both on and off of Goodreads, have faulted Bradbury for a drastic lack of scientific accuracy in his portrayal of Mars, which he pictures as much more hospitable to humanoid life than it actually is. (His ascription to his Martians of psi powers --the possibility of which, to say the least, is undemonstrated-- also doesn't please hard SF purists.) To a degree, those criticisms miss the point, however: Bradbury isn't trying to write scientifically accurate, hard SF, and failing at it; rather, he's writing from the standpoint of the genre's "soft" tradition (of which he was always an exponent, even in the days when the U.S. pulp SF ghetto was rigidly dominated by the hard school). He simply posited the kind of Mars he wanted for the kind of stories he wanted to tell, knowing full well that it was fictional and invented; if we take his "Mars" on those terms, the stories work as he intended.

Criticism has also been directed at these stories on the grounds of an alleged anti-American agenda. His space explorers/colonists are all Americans; they invade and occupy Mars, inadvertently bringing disease germs that virtually annihilate the native Martians, who are portrayed in "Ylla" as an aesthetic, artistic race. "Way in the Middle of the Air" is openly critical of white racism in the segregated U.S. South of the 1940s. And several of the stories posit a nuclear war on Earth, with the penultimate story, "There Will Come Soft Rains," graphically portraying the wanton total destruction of life and negation of human science and achievement that such a war would entail. These features, however, do not add up to or prove a root-and-branch essential hostility to America and its values. (Bradbury is actually a product of a small-town America that he often evokes with an affectionate nostalgia that's obviously genuine.) The parallel between the fate of Bradbury's Martians and our Indians is real and historically grounded; you can't re-tell American frontier history without facing it --and at least here, the Martians die only of unintentionally-borne disease; they aren't victims of deliberate genocide. (It could also be questioned whether the portrayal of Martian attitudes is intended as glowingly positive --Yll, as his wife recognizes, is a cold-blooded xenophobe and murderer.) But the promise of the frontier as a place of new beginnings, new possibilities and a second chance is also evoked here; one could view that as a positive take on the meaning of the American experience. Criticism of the treatment by some Americans of blacks (who are also Americans) isn't in itself anti-American; it echoes the sentiment of the song "My Country, 'Tis of Thee," where it says, "God mend thine every flaw." And to view nuclear war as immoral idiocy is not a position of disloyalty to America or American principles, unless we assume that mass genocide and mass suicide have always been intrinsic American ideals (they haven't). "Usher II" expresses a libertarian cultural attitude that's arguably quintessentially American; and "The Million-Year Picnic" brings a family of American nuclear war survivors to Mars as agents of a new beginning, where they finally have a chance "get it right."

There are certainly merited criticisms that can be made of several of these stories. The only one with any religious message, "Fire Balloons," is simply a wooden preaching of the "gospel" according to Gnosticism: "salvation" through evolving away from icky physicality. (The apostles Paul and John, judging from their letters, would have puked over it. :-)) The conclusion (not the climax) of "Mars Is Heaven!" is supposed to be dramatically effective, but doesn't make sense in the context. IMO, the poorest story in the group is "The Silent Towns," which showcases the sexism of Bradbury's generation at its worst; it has no message, except ridicule of overweight females and an attempt to generate "humor" at their expense.

Overall, though, I liked this collection; obviously, some stories are better than others, but I thought that most worked artistically. For me, Bradbury's style is a plus; it's lyrical and evocative, and full of appeals to all of the senses. My favorites in the group are "There Will Come Soft Rains" and "Way in the Middle of the Air," which I think are masterpieces. (Either would have been better selections for the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, IMO, than "Mars Is Heaven!"). ...more

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