Plays by Ray Bradbury. Ray Bradbury - books and biography. The beginning of creative activity

At the mention of the name Ray Bradbury, everyone thinks of the most fascinating fantasy novels. Ray Bradbury is one of the best science fiction writers, winner of a number of literary awards, including in the science fiction genre. However, Bradbury did not consider himself a science fiction writer.

Ray Douglas Bradbury was born on August 22, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois, USA. The father of the future writer, Leonard Spaulding Bradbury (1891-1957), came from an English family, one of the first settlers in North America. Moved from England in 1630. There is a family legend in the autobiography: Ray's great-grandmother Mary Bradbury is a "Salem witch" hanged after a 1692 trial. Ray's mother is Marie Esther Moberg (1888-1966), Swedish.

In addition to Ray, another son, Leonard, grew up in the family. Two others (brother Sam and sister Elizabeth) died in infancy. The boy got acquainted early with the death of loved ones, which left a mark in some literary works in the future.

The Bradbury family loved art. Attention was paid to the emerging cinema.

During the "Great Depression" in a small town, my father could not find a job. In 1934, the Bradbury family moved to Los Angeles, settling in the house of the boy's uncle. Lived hard. After leaving school, the young man worked as a newspaper seller. The family had no money to continue their studies. Higher education Ray didn't get it. According to the writer, college was replaced by the library. Three times a week the young man sat behind books in the reading room. Then, at the age of 12, the boy had a desire to compose himself. There was no money to buy E. Burroughs' book "The Great Warrior of Mars", and the young writer came up with the continuation of the story himself. This is the first step of Bradbury the sci-fi.

Creation

The boy decided to become a writer. Finally, the desire was formed after graduation from school. The first step of creativity was the publication in the local newspaper of the poem "In Memory of Will Rogers" in 1936. Ray wrote short stories, emulating the style of . The critic and adviser of the young writer was Henry Kuttner, an American science fiction writer.

At the age of 17, Bradbury became a member of the American community of young authors - the Los Angeles Science Fiction League. The stories began to appear in cheap fiction collections. Loomed literary style inherent in the works of Bradbury. Since 1939, in two years, he published 4 issues of the Futuria Fantasy magazine. By 1942, the writer switched completely to literature. At this time he wrote fifty stories a year.

Despite the meager income, Bradbury did not leave creativity. In 1947, the first collection of short stories by the writer, The Dark Carnival, saw the light of day. The collection includes works from the period 1943-1947. Characters appeared for the first time: Uncle Enar (the prototype is Ray's Los Angeles uncle) and "Wanderer" Ceci. The collection was coolly received by the public.

In the summer of 1949, Ray Bradbury arrived by bus in New York. Checked into the hostel of the American Young Christian Association. I offered stories to 12 publishing houses, but no one was interested. Luckily, Don Congdon, Bradbury's literary agent, got through to Doubleday. The publishing house at this time was preparing a collection of science fiction. Bradbury interested the publisher Walter Bradbury (namesake). Walter agreed to publish Bradbury on the condition that the stories be thematically combined into a novel.

Overnight, Ray laid out general review future novel in the form of an essay and provided it to the publisher - it was a chain of plots from early stories about Mars, collected into a single work. In The Martian Chronicles, Bradbury invisibly drew a parallel between the exploration of Mars by the heroes of the novel and the arrival of colonialists in the Wild West. The novel veiledly showed the mistakes and imperfections of mankind. This book revolutionized science fiction. Bradbury considered The Martian Chronicles to be his finest work.

Ray Bradbury achieved worldwide recognition with the release of the novel Fahrenheit 451 in 1953. The novel is based on two stories: "Fireman" (not published) and "Pedestrian". The debut publication was published in parts in Playboy magazine, which had just begun to gain popularity.

The epigraph of the book says that 451 degrees Fahrenheit is the ignition temperature of paper. The plot of the novel tells about a consumer totalitarian society. The writer showed a society that put the acquisition of material values ​​at the forefront. Books that make the reader think are to be burned along with the houses of the owners of prohibited literature. Main character In the novel, firefighter Guy Montag, who is involved in the burning of books, believes that he is doing the right thing, the right thing. Guy meets a 17-year-old girl, Clarissa. Acquaintance turns the worldview young man.

The novel was censored. Ballantine Books for High Schools revised and removed 70 passages from the novel. In 1980, the writer demanded that the novel be published without abridgements.

In the USSR, the novel, despite negative comments in ideological publications, was published in 1956. The film adaptation of "451 degrees Fahrenheit" in 1966 was filmed by French director Francois Truffaut. In 1984, based on the book, the TV show The Sign of the Salamander was released.

In 1957, a partly biographical book, Dandelion Wine, was published. This story by Bradbury is not like other works. It touches upon the author's childhood experiences. The plot tells about the summer adventures of 1928 brothers Tom and Douglas Spaulding, who live in the small town of Green Town. Ray is the prototype of 12 year old Douglas.

Bradbury wanted to create a larger piece. Publisher Walter Bradbury insisted on dividing the story into two parts. The second part, called by the author "Summer, goodbye!", Was published only half a century later, in 2006.

Another novel that connects Ray Bradbury with childhood is Raised from the Ashes. This is a story about the quirky Elliot family, whose house is inhabited by amazing fairy-tale creatures. The novel includes the stories "Family Meeting", "April Witchcraft", "Uncle Einar" and others. The writing of the stories included in the novel was facilitated by Ray's vivid childhood memories. As a ten-year-old boy, together with his brother, for Halloween, he came to Aunt Neiva. Gathered corn stalks and pumpkin. The aunt dressed up the boy as a sorcerer and hid it under the stairs in his grandmother's house to frighten the guests sneaking in the dark. The holidays passed in stormy fun. The writer calls the most precious memories of that atmosphere.

The collection "The Cure for Melancholy" was published in 1960. It published stories from the period 1948-1959. Stories included: "A Fine Day" (1957), "Dragon" (1955), "Wonderful Ice Cream Suit (1958), "First Night of Lent" (1956), "Time to Leave" (1956), "It's Rainy Time » (1959) and others. The collection is devoted to psychology, the nature of human nature.

The writer criticized modern society, considering it consumer. Bradbury believed that in the world not enough attention is paid to science, the development of the space industry. People have stopped dreaming about the stars, they are only interested in material things. Bradbury's works appealed to mankind to stop the soulless attitude towards the future. A striking example is the story "Smile", which takes place in the near future. People degraded, burned all the books. The main entertainment is the public destruction of the surviving works of art. On the square there is a line of people who want to spit at the painting "Mona Lisa".

Bradbury's most republished story is "Thunder Came". The science fiction story is based on "chaos theory", more commonly referred to as the "butterfly effect". This is a work about the fragility of the balance of nature on Earth. The plot of the story is the basis of the films and TV series "And Thunder Struck", "The Butterfly Effect", "100 Years Ago".

The writer's work is inextricably linked with cinema and theater. Bradbury wrote screenplays, the most famous of which is Moby Dick. Author and presenter of a number of television shows from the Ray Bradbury Theater series, which ran from 1985 to 1992.

Personal life

The support of the wife of an aspiring writer is invaluable. Bookstore clerk Margaret Maclure married Ray Bradbury on September 27, 1947. Income from stories at first did not bring a lot of money, so at the beginning family life the main breadwinner is the wife.

The marriage was happy and lasted until the death of Maggie, as the writer affectionately called his beloved woman, in 2003. It was to her that the author dedicated the novel The Martian Chronicles, writing: “To my wife Margaret with sincere love.”

Ray Bradbury and his wife had four children - daughters Bettina, Ramona, Susan and Alexandra.

Death

Ray Bradbury lived to be 91. Life was full of unceasing work. Every morning, already in old age, the writer began at his desk. He believed that creativity prolongs his life. The bibliography of the writer was replenished to death. The last novel came out in 2006.

Bradbury had an extraordinary sense of humor. Once, when asked about his age, Bradbury replied:

“Imagine the headlines in all the newspapers in the world - “Bradbury is 100 years old! They will immediately give me some kind of award: simply for the fact that I have not died yet. ”

At the age of 79, the writer had a stroke. He spent the rest of his life in wheelchair. Bradbury died on June 5, 2012 in Los Angeles. The house of the writer's family was demolished in 2015.

Creativity assessment and awards

Ray Bradbury received the Nebula and Fiction Awards. Awarded the American Academy Award, nominated for the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award (1984). On account of science fiction national medal in the field of arts (2004) and the title of "Grand Master". Ray Bradbury - winner of the Pulitzer Prize (2007) and Lifetime Achievement Award.

Ray Bradbury is named after an asteroid. NASA's Space Lab decided to name the first writer to suggest the existence of life on Mars to the landing site of the MSL Curiosity rover on the Red Planet. On October 15, 2015, the International Astronomical Union approved the name "Bradbury" for a crater on Mars.

Ray Bradbury has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Books

• "Martian Chronicles"
• "451 degrees Fahrenheit"
• "Dandelion Wine"
• "Trouble Coming"
• "Death is a lonely affair"
• "Cemetery for Madmen"
• "Green Shadows, White Whale"
• "Somewhere an orchestra is playing"
• "Leviathan-99"

Unusual, unique, extraordinary - such epithets can be applied to the work of the outstanding science fiction writer Ray Douglas Bradbury. When you pick up his novel or story, you are surprised at the non-standard of what is written. With his heroes, you can fly away in a time machine into the distant past, step into another world, defeat the forces of evil and fight enemies. Over the course of his life, more than eight hundred different works came out from under the pen of the writer Ray Bradbury.

A talented child was born on August 22, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois. His mother, Marie Esther Moberg, was from the large Swedish Moberg clan. The woman lost two children (a son and a daughter), and therefore overprotected Ray, not allowing him to get out of bed even with a cold for a long time. The impressionable boy, who had an amazing memory, bitterly received the news of the death of his brother and sister Elizabeth. This influenced his stories in the future, one of the main themes of which is the escape from death to fantastic, fictional worlds.

Incredible was the fact that Ray, unlike other children, remembered the first hours after his birth. Maybe this is due to the fact that he was born overweight. The boy clearly remembered the first snowfall, and how he was taken to the cinema for the first time at the age of three. The image of the freak in the film called "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" struck an impressionable child.

Ray's relationship with his father Leonard Spalding Bradbury and his older brother did not work out. The dissimilarity of characters affected: Ray Bradbury was very different in dreaminess and love of reading. Fantasy is one of the genres of the writer. In the images of heroes, you can often recognize members of his family. For example, Uncle Einar (his image is presented in the eponymous fantasy story by the writer Bradbury) actually existed. He was Ray's favorite relative, his uncle, who moved to Los Angeles with his family. Also from real life the names of Bion and Aunt Nevada are taken in the stories.

From the pen of Ray Bradbury came out over four hundred stories. This is “Tomorrow the end of the world” (The Last Night of the World), and “Shore at sunset” (The Shoreline at Sunset), and “Smile” (The Smile), as well as “And the thunder” (A Sound of Thunder ) and many others. The author calls many stories and novels quotes from the works of other famous writers and poets: "Something Wicked This Way Comes" - from Shakespeare; "An outlandish wonder" - from Coleridge's unfinished poem "Kubla (y) Khan" ... It is surprising that the author of these unique creations received only a school education, although at school he attended a poetry circle, whose visitors, besides him, were thirteen talented girls.

With the choice of who he wants to become, young Ray decided at the age of 12. Persistently, step by step, he masters the difficult profession of a writer, despite the Great Depression that reigned in America.

The beginning of a career as a writer

His first publication was the poem "In Memory of Will Rogers", published in 1936 in a Waukean newspaper.

In the 1930s, the Bradbury family moved to Los Angeles. And at the age of 20, Ray began to read the works of Dostoevsky, which were a kind of textbook for a talented young man. The future writer saw a model of how to write novels correctly.

In 1937, Bradbury joined the Science Fiction League, an association of young writers. After a while, his first stories could be seen in cheap paperback editions. But among other works they stood out for their lyricism and depth of thought.

The first serious works of Ray Douglas Bradbury are his collection of short stories called "Gloomy Carnival", published in 1947, as well as the works "The Martian Chronicles" and "451 degrees Fahrenheit", which were published in 1950. The first edition of The Martian Chronicles won fans of the writer's talent: when he returned from a trip (to sell books, Ray had to travel from Los Angeles to New York), he was met by a crowd of people who wanted an autograph.

If you are not familiar with the famous popular science fiction story, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with its summary before reading.

By the way, the first copy of The Martian Chronicles was typed by the hands of a devoted comrade-in-arms and wife Margaret (and is also dedicated to her). With this woman, the author of unique fantastic works connected his fate on September 27, 1947. She gave great importance creative work Ray and therefore, from the day of her marriage, she gave her husband the opportunity to stay at home and create.

An erudite and educated woman, Margaret spoke four languages, knew the peculiarities of literature well and preferred some writers (among them Agatha Christie, Marcel Proust and, of course, her beloved Ray Bradbury). In the marriage of this wonderful couple, four daughters were born: Alexandra, Susan, Bettina and Ramona. Another serious work of Bradbury can be considered the book "Dandelion Wine" published in 1957, a novel that was compiled from separate stories. Unfortunately, its sequel, which was called "Summer, Farewell", was not immediately printed due to, as the editors claimed, "the immaturity of the text." This novel was published only in 2006.

What is the main achievement of Ray Bradbury? The fact that he managed to interest his reader in new genres of science fiction and fantasy, which had rarely been used in literature before. After 1963, Ray Bradbury, as before, continued to publish stories, but, in addition, he became interested in a new genre - drama. A consequence of this is the first collection of plays, The Anthem Sprinters and Other Antics, dedicated to Ireland, which was released in 1963.

Bradbury's passion for poetry manifested itself in the writing of three collections, which in 1982 were released in one volume. During this period of his life, the author created many novels and short stories that were far from the fantastic genre, and was published in various magazines.

An important component creative life became for Ray Bradbury and cinema. Raised on classic Hollywood movies, the science fiction writer calls his short stories, novels, and novellas "cinematographic." In addition, many screenplays came out from under his pen, in particular for the film "Moby Dick", which became the most successful.

From 1985 to 1992, the Ray Bradbury Theater TV series was released, which consists of sixty-five mini-films based on Bradbury's stories. Ray Bradbury is also honored by the fact that his work as a screenwriter was highly appreciated by the outstanding director Sergei Bondarchuk.

last years of life

When Ray Bradbury was already in his old age, he wrote either a story or a novel every day in the hope that this would prolong his life. The most recent major novel was published in 2006. At the age of 79, the writer suffered a stroke, as a result of which he was forced to sit in a wheelchair. But even in this state, the author was able to joke and maintain good spirits. “Imagine the headlines in all the newspapers in the world,” the writer answered reporters when he was ninety. – Bradbury is 100 years old! I'll be given an award right away." Alas, the famous writer did not live eight years before the centenary. He died in 2012.

Such is the fantastic fate of the prose writer and screenwriter, poet and science fiction writer Ray Bradbury.

Biography and creative activity of Ray Douglas Bradbury

5 (100%) 2 votes

The work of Ray Bradbury is one to admire. A master of short prose, he promptly, emotionally, unusually brightly and originally introduces the reader into the world of his characters. The world of personal feelings and impulses. World of fantasy and thoughts. A world endowed with sensations. Bradbury is a recognized master of the word, and after reading his books there is a certain aftertaste.

Ray Bradbury in one of his stories shares with readers that he writes all his things on a wave of enthusiasm and enthusiasm. It really is. Being already quite old, he continued to write. Every morning began with a story or story. New books come out every year. The last novel of the writer was published in 2006.

Bradbury wrote more than 800 works: novels and short stories, short stories and plays, articles, notes and poems. Many of them have been filmed. Best Ray's books Bradbury deservedly occupy a place in various ratings and polls.

"Martian Chronicles"

According to the newspaper Le Monde, the novel "The Martian Chronicles" took its rightful place in the list of "100 books of the twentieth century." One of the most loved by readers, according to the survey "Ray Bradbury - the best books." The book was first published in 1950.

In fact, the novel presents separate stories that were not originally conceived as a single whole. They are sometimes not connected by plots, contradict each other and even differ in mood. Unites them common topic future and exploration of a new planet.

Each of the stories raises the problems of humanity that were relevant at that time - capitalism, racism, the arms race, the Cold War. The author endures inconstancy and disorder modern world to the future. Shows the reader how tragically the life of earthlings can end if they fail to stop in time.

In fact, the author's fantastic worlds are our mysterious and amazing planet, which is destroyed by man himself, and not by strange creatures. Ray Bradbury's best books have been filmed, including The Martian Chronicles. Based on the novel, a mini-series of the same name was filmed, which was released on screens in 1980.

"451 degrees Fahrenheit"

The novel occupies the first lines of the list of "100 best books of science fiction", which, according to the editors of the magazine "World of Science Fiction", every fan of this genre must read. The novel "451 degrees Fahrenheit" is rightfully considered the best book of the writer, which brought him worldwide fame. One of the famous works in the genre of dystopia opens up to the reader a society in which books are prohibited.

Firefighters are in the business of burning books, not putting out fires. The world is filled with mindless entertainment and TVs. People stopped not only communicating with each other, but also thinking. In his work "Zen in the art of writing books" the author writes that this is literally a "penny novel". At that time, he could not afford a typewriter and rented one from the library hall for 10 cents per half hour.

"Holted the keys" with insane speed and wrote the first version of the novel "Firefighters" in 9 days. It subsequently became "Fahrenheit 451". The work, which the author calls "a penny novel", in the first line of the "Best Books of Ray Bradbury" list, has been translated into many languages ​​​​and became a world bestseller. In 1966, a feature film of the same name, based on the writer's book, was released.

"Dandelion Wine"

This book, according to the readers of LADY.TUT.BY, takes first place in the list of books that inspire. Top Fantasy Books 2016 features four of Ray Bradbury's best books, including Dandelion Wine. In the novel there is no supernatural theme familiar to the author. It is partly autobiographical.

Bradbury writes in one of his works that he did not interfere with feelings and the past to tell about himself. And he turned into a twelve-year-old boy, for whom every day of summer becomes a small discovery. The novel gives readers the opportunity to plunge into this magic. In feelings and experiences that cannot be repeated in adulthood.

“Dandelion Wine” is an opportunity to return to the world of childhood, smell the summer and feel that life is full of sunshine. Take a break from the daily bustle and notice its light. Only an unsurpassed master of words, which is Ray Bradbury, can provide readers with such an opportunity.

Books (their list is short) that can kindle a thirst for life, awaken bright and warm feelings in a person, I want to read again and again. Dandelion Wine is one of them. This is a portion of the solar elixir. The novel should not be read in one breath. It must be tasted in small sips. Savoring page after page of "caught and bottled summer".

Goodbye summer

As he writes in one of his Ray's stories Bradbury, are created by trial and error. And he turned out to be right. This is exactly what happened with the manuscript of the book "Dandelion Wine", which the publishers called "raw" and part of it was postponed "until better times." But for the rejected part, the author immediately found a name - "Summer, goodbye." She was waiting in the wings, acquiring "new thoughts and images."

The protagonist in the novel gradually matures. And during this period, the line separating children and adults is clearly traced. The hero finds himself in the center of the eternal conflict between fathers and children. But he is not afraid to ask questions that concern him and receive frank answers. The author worked on the novel for about half a century. Farewell Summer is the author's last novel. Even before its release, the book received consumer demand.

Ray Bradbury. Books

• "The Cure for Melancholy" - realistic stories;
• "Man in Pictures" - a collection of popular science stories;
• "And Thunder Came" - science fiction stories;
• "Golden Apples of the Sun" - stories;
• "Trouble Coming" is a fantasy novel;
• "Dark Carnival" - a collection of "horror" and fantasy stories;
• "Death is a lonely affair" is a detective novel.

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So I read another book by my beloved Bradbury ... For me, it is stronger than Dandelion Wine, but weaker than The Martian Chronicles. At Bradbury's, I also read the collections "The Cure for Melancholy", "October Country" and "Dark Carnival". The latter is very similar in theme and atmosphere to the work, which will be discussed now. So trouble is coming, a dark carnival is coming to a small American town...

It was a little surprising that the events of the book "Trouble Coming" unfold in the same city where the events described in "Dandelion Wine" and its sequels take place - in the fictional Greentown. The city is hardly recognizable, there are no intersections with the "dandelion" series in heroes or places, and everything seems alien and gloomy. But the author quickly introduces the reader to everyone and disposes to new heroes.

The line of Willy and his father turned out to be close to me: for years I had a difficult relationship with my father: they never spoke frankly, did not talk heart to heart with each other. The ratio of our ages was the same as in Bradbury's novel, when the father at the age of 13 is almost an old man - both for himself and for those around him. She was critical of her father, his statements, actions, but in the process of reading the book, towards the end, I wanted to hug him, to say how much I love him - such an imperfect, but my own father. Thanks for that Bradbury.

When did I want to read this book? I took it with me on a trip to Yaroslavl. I visited the city for the second time and, when choosing a book for a trip, I remembered how I walked along the Volga embankment for the first time, looked at the bizarre and ominous clouds in the sky and the first phrase that came to my mind then was: "Something terrible is coming, trouble is approaching ...". It so happened that at that time in Yaroslavl I was reading The Martian Chronicles. And then the problem really happened. It was the death of a loved one who lived right there, in Yaroslavl. Returning to the city after 2 years, I considered the novel "Trouble Coming" to be the most suitable book for the trip. The same town, the same death, the same feeling of imminent trouble that once visited me here ...

What is the novel about? Who is it for? A novel about two boys, a strange and sinister carnival and its dark deeds... But this is clearly not a reading for teenagers. Many things they will not understand, they will not be able to appreciate. Bradbury put a lot of philosophical component into the novel. Separate thoughts, reasonings and ideas (expressed by the characters - mostly by Willy's father, Charles) are interesting and new not only for that time, but also for today. Much has been said about death, life, its meaning. You need to be ready to read, to have behind you a certain baggage of everyday experience, life wisdom, experienced losses. That alone is worth picking up a book with. Otherwise, there will be no sense in reading and sense from it.

According to Bradbury, based on the philosophy of his novel, EVIL comes into the world each time in a different incarnation and feeds on our tears, pain, sadness, sadness. By the way, I remember David Lynch, his "Twin Peaks", the embodiment of evil - the insidious spirit of BOB and the food that HE eats - garmonbosia (a mixture of human pain and suffering that looks like corn porridge). Sounds like you agree? And Bradbury makes it clear what is the weapon against this unknown EVIL. Perhaps simple and trite, but this is our joy and smile. Could this save Laura Palmer from BOB (oh, sorry, I'm all about my own, about sore)? As for Laura, you no longer know, but the smile and joy really saved the heroes of the novel. Evil (very likely temporarily, and very unlikely permanently) was destroyed by this.

A little chaotically, but it is said about emotions, sensations, observations. Now briefly about the translation. I didn't like him very much. From the very beginning of reading, I stumbled over the structure of sentences, individual words that were not entirely appropriate and correctly used in the context (for example, the unexpectedly rude “devoured”, and also the suddenly overly Russian “burly matron” - thanks for not being a “fat woman”, but that’s all same). There are many such examples. The name William / Willy cut to the heart. Old and wrong: I am exclusively for a more correct and fine translation - William / Willie (remember Shakespeare). And "William" - the translation option is still irrelevant. But it's not even about the name. The feeling of a well-organized, foldable, solid and easy-to-read text did not arise for me. Although I pay tribute to Grushetsky and Grigorieva: the author's style, the lively and familiar voice of his own uncle Ray, was preserved in their translation - it sounds, despite the obvious roughness of the Russian text. But I will try not to return to their translations. Even the title of the book is not translated correctly. A more accurate version is "Something terrible is coming." This is the title of the novel as translated by Zhdanov, who also translated The Martian Chronicles. More than worthy work: perhaps in the future I will also get acquainted with his version of the translation of the novel "Trouble Coming".

It seems like she didn't forget anything. The end of the review is near, which means it is a sin not to touch the end of the work itself. Don't expect a pure happy ending. The novel is kind of cut off. Lightness is mixed with bitterness: the main characters are safe and sound, evil is defeated, but the victims of the carnival remained its unfortunate victims, doomed to suffering. Among them is the sweet, innocent Mrs. Foley, the teacher of the guys Jim and Willy ...

As a conclusion, some numbers and estimates:
Reading time - about 3 weeks.
Book rating - 4.
Translation score - 3.
Author rating - 5
(WELL THIS IS BRADBURY!!!).

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Time Machine

If you take three rays of the summer sun, the aroma of fresh grass, after a light breeze, add a pinch of childhood memories and a drop of magic to it, you will get the most delicious, most intoxicating drink on earth - “Dandelion Wine”. And if you ever want to try it, be prepared for the fact that it knocks you down after the first “sip” and does not let go for a long time. The aroma of carelessness, freedom and a smile that only childish spontaneity can cause will accompany you from the beginning to the end of the book. The writer skillfully opens his eyes to the magnificence of the most ordinary things, refreshing long-forgotten thoughts in the memories of adults. The book will not leave anyone indifferent, because "Dandelion Wine" has the most wonderful taste on earth, familiar to each of us ... the taste of childhood!

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"Time is a heavy burden. We know too much. Truly, we have lived too long. And you, in your newfound wisdom, must make every effort to make your life complete, enjoy every moment and someday, after many years, fall asleep calmly, knowing that your life is a success and that we, the Family, love you.

This short story is about an ordinary boy Timothy and his completely unusual Family. The boy is not happy to be different from them, especially when listening to the stories of invisible cousins, the winds that live in houseboats, the ghost on the Orient Express, and the Thousand-Great-Great-grandmother of the mummy Neef. Despite the usual boy, relatives love him and accept him for who he is. But even this family has its own problems.

Such a bewitching book about the supernatural that surrounds us, but we do not always see, about care and support, and about eternal life - does it make sense?

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Ray Bradbury Born August 22, 1920 at 11 St. James Street Hospital, Waukegan, Illinois. Full name - Raymond Douglas (second name in honor of the famous actor Douglas Fairbanks). Ray's grandfather and great-grandfather, descendants of the first settlers - the English who sailed to America in 1630 - published two Illinois newspapers at the end of the 19th century (in the province this is a certain position in society and fame). Father - Leonard Spaulding Bradbury. Mother - Marie Esther Moberg, Swedish by birth. By the time Ray was born, his father was not even 30, he worked as an electrician and was the father of a four-year-old son, Leonard Jr. (together with Leonard Jr., his twin brother, Sam, was born, but he died two years old). In 1926, Bradbury had a sister, Elizabeth, who also died as a child.

Ray rarely remembered his father, more often his mother, and only in his third book (A Cure for Melancholy, 1959) can one find the following dedication: "To the father with love that woke up so late and even surprised his son". However, Leonard Sr. could no longer read this, he died two years earlier, at the age of 66. This unexpressed love is vividly reflected in the story "Desire". In Dandelion Wine, which is essentially a book of childhood memories, the main adult character is named Leonard Spaulding. The collection of poems “When the Elephants Bloomed for the Last Time in the Courtyard” the author provided the following dedication: “This book is in memory of my grandmother Minnie Davis Bradbury and my grandfather Samuel Hinkston Bradbury and my brother Samuel and sister Elizabeth. They all died a long time ago, but I remember them to this day.” Often he inserts their names into his stories.

"Uncle Einar" existed in reality. It was Ray's favorite relative. When the family moved to Los Angeles in 1934, he also moved there - to the delight of his nephew. Also in the stories there are the names of another uncle, Bion, and aunt Nevada (she was simply called Neva in the family).

“I started reading Dostoyevsky's works when I was 20 years old. From his books I learned how to write novels and tell stories. I read other authors too, but when I was younger, Dostoevsky was the main one for me.”

Ray Bradbury has a unique memory. Here is how he tells it himself: “I have always had what I would call an “almost complete mental return” to the hour of birth. I remember cutting the umbilical cord, I remember the first time I sucked my mother's breast. The nightmares that usually lie in wait for a newborn are listed in my mental cheat sheet from the very first weeks of life. I know, I know it's impossible, most people don't remember anything like that. And psychologists say that children are born not fully developed, only after a few days or even weeks gaining the ability to see, hear, know. But I - saw, heard, knew ... ". (remember the story "The Little Killer"). He clearly remembers the first snowfall in his life. A later memory is about how his parents, still three years old, took him to the cinema for the first time. There was a sensational silent film "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" with Lon Chaney in the title role, and the image of a freak struck little Ray to the core.

“My early impressions are usually connected with the picture that still stands before my eyes: a terrible night journey up the stairs ... It always seemed to me that as soon as I step on the last step, I would immediately find myself face to face with a vile monster waiting me upstairs. I rolled down head over heels and ran crying to my mother, and then the two of us climbed the stairs again. Usually the monster was running away somewhere by this time. For me, it remained unclear why my mother was completely devoid of imagination: after all, she never saw this monster.

There was a legend in the Bradbury family about a witch in their own pedigree - a great-great... great-grandmother, allegedly burned at the famous Salem witch trials in 1692. There, however, the convicts were hanged, and the name of Mary Bradbury in the list of those held “on the case” could turn out to be a mere coincidence. Nevertheless, the fact remains: since childhood, the writer considered himself the great-grandson of a sorceress. It is worth noting that in his stories the evil spirits are just kind, and otherworldly creatures turn out to be much more humane than their pursuers - puritans, bigots and "clean" lawyers.

The Bradbury family moved to Los Angeles in the 1930s, at the height of the Great Depression. When Ray graduated high school, they couldn't buy him a new jacket. I had to go to prom in the costume of the late uncle Lester, who died at the hands of a robber. The bullet holes on the belly and back of the jacket were neatly mended.

All his life Bradbury lived with one woman - Margaret (Marguerite McClure). Together they had four daughters (Tina, Ramona, Susan and Alexandra).

They married on September 27, 1947. From that day forward, for several years, she worked all day so that Ray could stay at home and work on the books. The first copy of The Martian Chronicles was typed with her hands. This book was dedicated to her. Margaret learned four languages ​​in her life, and was also known as a connoisseur of literature (among her favorite writers are Marcel Proust, Agatha Christie and ... Ray Bradbury). She was also well versed in wines and loved cats. Everyone who knew her personally spoke of her as a person of rare charm and the owner of an extraordinary sense of humor.

“On trains ... in the late evening hours I enjoyed the company of Bernard Shaw, J.K. Chesterton and Charles Dickens - my old friends who follow me everywhere, invisible but tangible; silent, but constantly agitated... Sometimes Aldous Huxley sat down with us, blind, but inquisitive and wise. Richard III often traveled with me, he ranted about murder, elevating it to a virtue. Somewhere in the middle of Kansas, at midnight, I buried Caesar, and Mark Antony shone with his eloquence when we left Eldebury Springs ... "

Ray Bradbury never went to college, he formally completed his education at the school level. In 1971, he published an article entitled "How I Graduated from Libraries Instead of College, or Thoughts of a Teenager Who Went to the Moon in 1932."

Many of his short stories and novellas are named as quotes from the works of other authors: "Something Wicked This Way Comes" - from Shakespeare; "Outlandish Wonder" - from Coleridge's unfinished poem "Kubla (y) Khan"; "Golden apples of the sun" - a line from Yeats; "I sing the electric body" - Whitman; “And the moon still silvers the space with its rays ...” - Byron; the story "Sleep in Armageddon" has a second name: "And it may be possible to dream" - a line from Hamlet's monologue; the conclusion of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Requiem" - "Home the sailor returned, he returned home from the sea" - also gave the story its title; the short story and collection of short stories "Happy Machines" are named after a quote from William Blake - this list is far from complete.

“Jules Verne was my father. Wells is a wise uncle. Edgar Allan Poe was my cousin; he is like a bat - he always lived in our dark attic. Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers are my brothers and comrades. Here is all my family. I'll also add that my mother, in all likelihood, was Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the creator of Frankenstein. Well, who else could I become, if not a science fiction writer with such a family.

Ray Bradbury's car number F-451 is nailed to the wall in Ray Bradbury's office, despite the fact that he himself never got behind the wheel.

“What about my gravestone? I would like to borrow an old lamp post in case you wander to my grave at night to say "Hi!". And the lantern will burn, turn and weave some secrets with others - weave forever. And if you come to visit, leave an apple for the ghosts.”