Description
Book SynopsisChronicles the making of an iconic American writer by exploring Ray Bradbury's childhood and early years of his long life in fiction, film, television, radio, and theatre.
Trade Review"Particularly strong in detailing Bradbury’s friendships, influences, and professional relationships and endeavors." --
Orbit"Every page is packed with fascinating material about one of this country’s most beloved writers."--The Washington Post, Michael Dirda
"A very Bradburyian biography."--SFRA Review
"Eller's work is thorough and enlightening on the subject of one of science fiction's greatest minds. Highly recommended not just for Bradbury fans but for all students of science fiction."--Library Journal
"A treasury of otherwise unavailable information. . . . Fans of Bradbury will find this book a fascinating and revealing look into his life and work."--
Science Fiction Studies"Jonathan R. Eller traces a wide variety of influences on Ray Bradbury's work, offering a detailed literary and cultural genealogy. Utterly compelling, this book contains a substantial amount of new material that will be invaluable for future scholars of Bradbury's work." --Gary K. Wolfe, author of
Evaporating Genres: Essays on Fantastic Literature"A richly contextualized interpretation of Ray Bradbury's personal experience, his intellectual and artistic life, and the cultural milieu in which his gifts developed. Becoming Ray Bradbury will be the definitive account of Bradbury's development as a writer." --David Mogen, author of
Wilderness Visions: The Western Theme in Science Fiction Literature"In great and always fascinating detail, Eller chronicles the journey Bradbury took from his youth to his early middle years. . . . [A] fine and important book."--
Neworld Review "Eller shows how Bradbury found his vocation in a private world of mimeographed fanzines and couch-surfing, of transcontinental trips to the very first SF conventions, of the intense rivalries and controversies of a small enclosed world. . . . Eller’s excellent account makes clear that one of the reasons why Bradbury came to seem an important new voice is that he was never as naive a writer as literary patrons such as Christopher Isherwood and Aldous Huxley may have assumed.”
Times Literary Supplement "A stunningly good examination of what in Ray's life turned him into the unique, individual writer he became."--
Huffington Post "Eller must surely be the preeminent biographer of Ray Bradbury."--
Choice "As perhaps the most knowledgeable scholar of Bradbury's body of work, Eller offers an in-depth study of his subject's early life, laying out his development from pulp publications toward
The Martian Chronicles (1950) and
Fahrenheit 451 (1953). . . . A fitting tribute to the impact that Ray Bradbury has had for his readers.
Becoming Ray Bradbury reminds fans and scholars alike of the need to revisit our well-worn copies of
The Martian Chronicles, Fahrenheit 451 and the countless short stores that introduced so many of us to the realm of the fantastic."--
Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts "Articulate and engaging, astonishingly rich in detail, and demonstrating exemplary research and scholarship,
Becoming Ray Bradbury will be regarded as the most authoritative biography of Bradbury's life and work for many years."--Peter Stockwell, author of
Texture: A Cognitive Aesthetics of Reading
