2013 marked the 60th anniversary of Ray Bradbury's 'Fahrenheit 451' - a widely taught book in many schools. In 1714, Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit invented the thermometer to measure the temperature. First published in October 1953, 'Fahrenheit 451' sought to explore oligarchy and the censorship of information through the burning of all books. It was noted 'Fahrenheit 451' was written at the time of the Cold War and published a couple of months after the Korean War had ended.
Ray insisted, "I didn't write 'Fahrenheit 451' to predict the future. I was trying to prevent it...I write fantasy. Science fiction is the art of the possible. I imagine the impossible..." 'Fahrenheit 451' was made into a motion picture in 1966 starring Julie Christie.
On reflection in 2002, Ray remarked, "I am a library person. I never made it through college you see. I’m self-educated in the library so anything that touches the library touches me. 'Fahrenheit 451' is the only science fiction novel I've written...firmly based in technology and what we are doing to ourselves with television. I could forsee the day would come when you have wall-to-wall television (referring to Big Brother). And we have it right now, if you want to instal it, you know...I was vitally concerned, upset to see what was going on in the world...The real threat is ignorance and the lack of education."
Ray Bradbury believed, "To speak of 'Fahrenheit' you have to speak of all my other books. Everything has been an accident. Everything has been unplanned. Everything has been a passion, madness or great love...Everything that has happened to me above 'Fahrenheit' since is reward from playing the game for the fun of it - to see what in hell was in the back of my mind...but thank God I behaved unconsciously and didn't try to intellectualize my career left or right, black or white, up or down, male or female. None of that junk. Just me and the typewriter and the future."
Writing his opinion piece in the Dallas News website in April 2013, Sam Weller made the observation, "I worked with Bradbury for 12 years as his authorized biographer...Because of this singular, decidedly complex relationship between biographer and subject, people often inquire about my opinions of 'Fahrenheit 451' and its themes. Did Bradbury really mean it when he said his book was not about censorship?...Bradbury was a 'mass of contradictions'...Bradbury insisted to me that an older writer should never go back and rewrite his earlier published work....Yet his canon is peppered with revised versions of stories, altered tales rewritten at various stages of his career to better suit connected story cycles....''Fahrenheit 451' is less about Big Brother and more about Little Sister,' he told me. Still, Bradbury's 2007 comments, that 'Fahrenheit 451' is not about censorship, are off base, another example of his contradictory nature...In fact, when he made his controversial comments in 2007, I told him I respectfully disagreed...As Bradbury’s biographer, I was well acquainted with his proclivity to contradict himself and his penchant for subtle revisionist history. More than one of Bradbury’s stories morphed over the years, taking on new life, becoming mythical versions of his own reality....."
