the martian chronicles. ray bradbury (58)

The Martian Chronicles

Ray Bradbury

as soon as i finished “dandelion wine” i put in a request for “the martian chronicles”.  i absolutely loved “dandelion wine”  but was worried about this work because i do not consider myself a fan of sci-fi.  i have never seen (or had a desire to see) an episode of star trek or battlestar galactica or any of the star wars movies.  (i will give star wars a chance in the near future.)  but like h.g. wells, bradbury’s sci-fi doesn’t fit my preconceive notions of sci-fi (which would be pretty much things found on the syfy network.  lol)  bradbury himself didn’t really consider it sci-fi, as he explained in the introduction,

All that being true, how come The Martian Chronicles is often described as Science Fiction?  It misfits that description.  There is only one story in the entire book that obeys the laws of technological physics:  “There Will come Soft Rains.”

i think the best description of what “the martian chronicles” truly is was given by aldous huxley, as bradbury explained in the intro upon meeting huxley:

huxley ‘leaned forward and said, “Do you know what you are?”

            Don’t tell me what I’m doing, I thought. I don’t want to know.

            “You,”said Huxley, “are a poet.”

            “I’ll be damned,” I said.

            “No, blessed”, said Huxley.

(before i go on, such a cute story, right?  reading the introduction made me regret the fact that i never attended a talk given by bradbury and sadly being in los angeles there were plenty of opportunity for me to do so.)

i have only read three of bradbury’s works (i really want to read, “something wicked this way comes” but am saving it for halloween) but i have to agree with huxley for bradbury’s works really are poetry.  

"the martian chronicles" is a collection of short stories that chronicles earthlings missions to mars which leads to the  colonization of mars by earthlings and lastly the destruction of both mars and earth.  but mars isn’t just the red planet we learn about in science books, its more like mythical greece, and like mythical greece, readers get caught up in stories while ultimately gaining a better understanding of themselves and society.     

here are some examples of his stories being more than just aliens and astronauts:

-“Ylla”, the first story, and the name of a martian housewife who is no different from any other american suburban housewife (think "desperate housewives", yates' "revolutionary road") bored by her standstill life and full of dreams of a more exciting one.  then sadly having those dreams crushed by her husband.

-“The Earth Man” is a story that reminded me of “girl, interrupted” (the memoir not the movie) or “one flew over the cuckoo’s nest” (which i never read but kinda get the gist of it).  it’s the story of “real" astronauts that are institutionalized because they are thought to be the figment of an “insane” martian’s imagination.

“-And the Moon Be Still As Bright”  is the story of expedition to mars in which one member Spender worries about the consequences of the colonization of mars on martians and their culture.  Spender fights his fellow humans in attempt to preserve mars. it's an interesting foil to the european colonization of the americas and southeast asian counties. esp considering how one negative effect of humans on mars is that the human virus “chicken pox” results in the death of thousands of martian. 

-“The Green Morning”- tells the tale of Benjamin Driscoll, the martian johnny appleseed who solves the problem of low oxygen levels by planting trees on mars. which can be seen as an endorsement for being green.; 

-“the fire balloons” demonstrates that one should be tolerant of all religions. a group of priests travel to mars to save the souls of those that migrated before but come across martians and their religion.  the priests learned that god can be found in all shapes and sizes (there is a great discussion of what the chinese christian god must look like) and that there is not only just one right way of worship.   

my favorite of all the stories was “usher II.”

in this story, a gentleman mr. william stendahl builds a replica of edgar allen poe's "house of usher" which he uses to get his revenge on the bureaucrats that stifle creativity and free thought by burning books and stopping literature from being written. stendahl is a little creepy and does kill people but you have to admire his dedication to books.

if you get the chance take the time to read "the martian chronicles." and if you don't like sci-fi, you'll be fine. it reads like episodes of the twilight zone so they go by quickly. i suggest picking up a copy and putting it on your bed table and reading a story a night.

quotations:

"and they made Alice drink something form a bottle which reduced her to a size where she could no longer cry 'Curiouser and curiouser'" -description of what the government did to books in "Usher II"

"but already the words hung between planets and if, by some cosmic radiation, they could have been illuminated, caught fire in vaporous wonder there, her love would have lit a dozen worlds and startled the night side of Earth into a premature dawn, she thought." -description of janice's phone call from earth to her lover on mars in "the wilderness".

food for thought:

missions to mars in "the martian chronicles" started in 2030, which is 18 years from now. and on the plus side, legislature to censor books began in 1999 with "the great fire" being in 2006, so we are safe from that being our fate.

last but not least, i recently went to the hammer museum for their "made in LA" exhibit and found myself on what felt like bradbury's mars. (Pearl Hsiung. From Above It Is Not Bright; From Below It Is Not Dark, 2012)