TMC: Something Eloquent This Way Comes

[Buzz]

For me, I find there’s something poetic and eloquent in Ray Bradbury‘s prose. His stories have never been considered hard science fiction, but there is an almost hypnotic eloquence that draws me in. Felt the same way when we read Fahrenheit 451. Also, there’s an ethos that seems to be timeless. Many of these stories are relevant today. I really enjoyed reading this… Is this just my own fondness for the author that introduced me to science fiction when I was young or does anyone else get the same vibe?

PS - I thought Mark Boyet outdid himself in the Audible version. Fantastic.

[John (Taloni)]

Yeah...as a kid I just noticed the elegant writing, so different from the matter of fact styles of the others making up the Big Four. Bradbury's writing style and defense of libraries has made him a favorite among librarians. When I heard him speak in early 2000 it was at the Anaheim Library and the location was no accident. He did it as a fundraiser for them.

[Ruth]

I really like his writing style - his prose is mostly spare, but with poetic flourishes that make it interesting and memorable.

[William]

Buzz wrote: "Is this just my own fondness for the author that introduced me to science fiction when I was young or does anyone else get the same vibe?...."

I've been reading SF for many moons, yet this is the first time I've read Bradbury. I've always meant to (so many great authors respect his work) I just never got around to it.

Yet now, halfway through The Martian Chronicles, I'm struggling to put my finger on my feelings...

"an almost hypnotic eloquence " and "an ethos that seems to be timeless".

Yes you put words to it, I don't think it's just your nostalgia. I think that there is just a timelessness to his writing, and, as you rightly say, a relevance that is as true today as it was then.

[Tina]

I'm loving it.

If you have the version with Bradbury's Introduction, he talks about meeting Aldous Huxley after The Martian Chronicles was published:

'...Aldous Huxley, who, at tea, leaned forward and said, "Do you know what you are?"
Don't tell me what I'm doing, I thought. I don't want to know.
"You," said Huxley, "are a poet."
"I'll be damned," I said.
"No, blessed," said Huxley.'

[Buzz]

Tina wrote: "...If you have the version with Bradbury's Introduction, he talks about meeting Aldous Huxley after The Martian Chronicles was published:

'....Aldous Huxley, who, at tea, leaned forward and said, "Do you know what you are?"
Don't tell me what I'm doing, I thought. I don't want to know.
"You," said Huxley, "are a poet."
"I'll be damned," I said.
"No, blessed," said Huxley.' ."

Wow, what a great quote! Thank you for sharing that. My version doesn't have that.

[Buzz]

Ruth wrote: "I really like his writing style - his prose is mostly spare, but with poetic flourishes that make it interesting and memorable."

Yes! It's simple but somehow weighty at the same time. It feels more natural than someone who's trying hard to wax poetic...

S is for Space and R Is for Rocket are the first two Bradbury books I read, and also my first introduction to science fiction. I went back and re-read them a couple years ago for the first time since I was a kid and was amazed at how beautifully written some of the stories are.

Reading Bradbury always puts me in a contemplative mood...

[Ian (RebelGeek)]

Buzz wrote: "For me, I find there’s something poetic and eloquent in Ray Bradbury‘s prose. His stories have never been considered hard science fiction, but there is an almost hypnotic eloquence that draws me in..."

That is what I love about Patrick Rothfuss

[Buzz]

Ian wrote: "BThat is what I love about Patrick RothfussPatrick Rothfuss..."

Oh he's so good. He writes with much more of a sense of adventure than Bradbury, though lol. Very different tone than Bradbury.

[Steve]

Bradbury's prose is such that it made it easier to ignore some of the anachronisms and anthropormorphisms that fall flat in this age. For example, I set aside this quote (not a spoiler):

Time looked like snow dropping silently into a black room or it looked like a silent film in an ancient theater, one hundred billion faces falling like those New Year balloons, down and down into nothing. That was how Time smelled and looked and sounded. And tonight—Tomás shoved a hand into the wind outside the truck—tonight you could almost touch Time

This kind of prose reeled me in when I read "All Summer In A Day", assigned in English when I was 12.

[Ruth (tilltab) Ashworth]

Yes, I agree with everything above. The prose is lovely, and makes the book so easy to read. The stories are simple enough, but the prose makes them something to contemplate. It captures the imagination.