Rainer Maria Rilke

"Live a while in these books, learn from them what seems to you worth learning, but above all love them. This love will be repaid you a thousand and a thousand times, and however your life may turn,-it will, I am certain of it, run through the fabric of your growth as one of the most important threads among all the threads of your experiences, disappointments, and joys."--Rainer Maia Rilke


Pages

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Classics Never Go Out of Style

The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury

Classic Fiction

I would love to see this tattooed man!  The descriptions sounds so amazing.  With the popularity of tattoos today, I can say, once again, that Bradbury was a literary visionary.

What a genius idea for a collection of short stories.  A man wanders out of the woods one day.  He is completely covered in beautiful, brilliant tattoos.  As the narrator looks at him, each tattoo starts moving, coming to life and telling a story.

Bradbury is a master of science fiction and the stories in this collection range from terror-filled to tragic to just plain weird.  The 18 short stories do not have interconnecting scenes or characters but are only connected through the skin of the tattooed man.  My favorite story was the first one called "The Veldt".  It's about a family who has two kids who watch too much of their 3D TV.  When the parents try to discipline the kids and take their TV away, the children retaliate by turning the channel to an African veldt with hungry lions ad locking their parents in the room.  Some stories were so tragically awful.  "Kaleidoscope" was about a group of astronauts hurtling through space with no change of rescue.  "The Last Night of the World" is where a couple discover this one night is their last on Earth.  How would you spend your last moments? Not like them, that's for sure!  I also really like "The Exiles.  Any story with Edgar Allen Poe and other famous classic authors as main characters is the story for me!

Bradbury, always in fashion--no matter the decade!

No comments:

Post a Comment