Ray Bradbury “If a teacher suggests to his or her students that they conceive metaphors and write essays or stories about them, the young writers should take care not to intellectualize or be self- conscious and overanalyze their metaphors; they should let the metaphors race as fast and furiously and freely as possible so that what is stirred up are all the hidden truths at the bottom of the writer’s mind.”

Early Times He was born in Waukegan, Illinois on August 22, As a child, he was obsessed with magic and magicians. He attended every performance of Blackstone the Magician. The favorite time of the year for the Bradbury family was Halloween. His Aunt Neva read him the terror- filled tales of Edgar Allan Poe.

Bradbury’s Life Bradbury began his writing career in 1931 at the age of 11. In 1937, he started his own science- fiction fan magazine, or “fanzine,” titled, “Futuria Fantasia.” Bradbury says that he learned to write by recalling his own experiences. After moving to L.A., he started selling newspapers on the street.

Short Stories Some of the most famous short stories that he wrote are: “The Pendulum” “The Jar” “Homecoming”

Novels Some of his most famous novels are: The Martian Chronicles Dandelion Wine Something Wicked This Way Comes AND…

Fahrenheit 451 Written in Written on a rental typewriter in the basement of the UCLA Library. The story is set in a futuristic society and centers around a fireman named Guy. The job of the firemen of this time is to burn all books and the houses that harbor them.

Fahrenheit 451 It started as two short stories titled, “The Fireman” and “The Pedestrian.” When asked what inspired the idea of writing a book about the burning of books, Bradbury states that it was Hitler’s Nazi Germany that gave him the inspiration. “When I was fifteen, he burnt the books in the streets of Berlin. It grieved my soul.” This picture shows a public book-burning ceremony taking place in Nazi Germany.

Fahrenheit 451 Bradbury researched actual fire departments when writing the novel. When asked whether or not he was trying to predict what would eventually happen to our society, he stated: “I've tried not to predict, but to protect and to prevent.”

Interesting Facts One of his ancestors was a seventeenth-century Salem woman tried for witchcraft. He has stated that if he had to choose one book to preserve and memorize for society, it would be A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. When asked about why people should read literature, he states: “We are trying to solve the mystery of our loves, no matter what kind you have.”

Bradbury’s Legacy He died on June 5, 2012, at the age of 91. In 2004, he received the National Medal of Arts because of “his gift for language, his insights into the human condition, and his commitment to the freedom of the individual.”

Bradbury Quote “Anyone who is reading this book (Fahrenheit 451) should take the time to choose which book would be memorized and protected by ‘firemen’ and censorship. Don’t only name the book, but give reasons as to why it should be preserved and read by all.”