Ray Bradbury: Biography

Ray Bradbury was born in Illinois in 1920. One of the world’s most renowned science fiction, fantasy, mystery and horror writers, he died on 5 July, 2012. Among the many awards he was conferred are the famed Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award (1994), the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters Award for 2000, and the National Medal of Arts, presented by then president George W. Bush. Bradbury also won the World Fantasy Life Achievement Award, Stoker Life Achievement Award, and First Fandom Award. He is also an SFWA Grand Master and SF Hall of Fame Living Inductee.

A special citation from the Pulitzer board was presented to him in 2007 “for his distinguished, prolific, and deeply influential career as an unmatched author of science fiction and fantasy.” He was also given the French Commandeur Ordre des Arts et des Lettres medal in the same year. Fahrenheit 451 secured him the Prometheus Award in 2006. Bradbury authored such bestsellers as The Martian Chronicles (1950), The Illustrated Man (1951), and Summer Morning, Summer Night (republished in 2008). His oeuvre includes 27 novels and 600 short stories. His works have sold more than eight million copies worldwide, and have been translated and published in over 36 languages.

Bradbury began his writing career at the age of 14. He became a noted writer by the time he was 29. His biography is highly motivating. He started writing when he was 11. He scrawled out stories on butcher paper as he could not afford better quality paper during the Depression. He wrote that in 1932, a certain magician touched the child on the nose with an electrified sword, made his hair stand on end, and shouted, “Live forever!” This stuff of fairy tales had an enduring impact on Bradbury: “I felt that something strange and wonderful had happened to me because of my encounter with Mr. Electrico… [he] gave me a future… I began to write, full-time. I have written every single day of my life since that day 69 years ago” (RayBradbury.com).

Though Bradbury was interested in drawing, acting, and magic, he made up his mind to hone his writing skills when he was in high school. With his fine writing skills, he impressed his teachers at Los Angeles High School. Since he could not afford to go to college, the library became his center of learning. He said: “Libraries raised me. I don’t believe in colleges and universities. I believe in libraries because most students don’t have any money. When I graduated from high school, it was during the Depression and we had no money. I couldn’t go to college, so I went to the library three days a week for 10 years.” (Steinhauer, 2009).

Bradbury saw formal education as an impediment to the blossoming of creativity. He remarked in an interview: “You can’t learn to write in college. It’s a very bad place for writers because the teachers always think they know more than you do—and they don’t” (ibid). Writers such as Poe, Pope, and John Donne were his role models (The Paris Review, 2009). He also admired the writings of William Shakespeare, Aldous Huxley, John Steinbeck, Robert Frost, Thomas Wolfe, Katherine Porter, Edith Wharton, and Jessamyn West. While he learned objectivity from Steinbeck, he developed appreciation for “atmosphere, character, and motion” from Eudora Welty.

Poetry also had a hold over Bradbury’s imagination; he became famous for his lyrical style. The New York Times, in its obituary, hailed Bradbury as “responsible for bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream” (Jonas, 2012). His book Zen in the Art of Writing: Essays on Creativity delineates his love for writing. It is more a eulogy to the charm of writing than an instruction manual that amply describes his passion for his art.