The Illustrated Man (1951) by Ray Bradbury - Fiction

One of America’s greatest science-fiction writer’s delivers a collection of stories diving into a wide range of the themes.

Ray Bradbury's raw artistic talent will draw you back time and again. I read and wrote about Fahrenheit 451 over two years ago and I’m still haunted by his storytelling. He was born in Illinois but moved with his family to Los Angeles as a teenager. After high school he self-educated by avidly consuming huge amounts of literature. At the 2001 ​Writer’s Symposium at Point Loma University, he advised his listeners to read one short story, one poem, and one essay every night for 1,000 nights. He is well known at UCLA for spending countless hours reading and writing in their downstairs Powell Library. His love of reading is palpable through his own works as evidenced by his powerful storytelling craft and finesse.

Like Fahrenheit 451 his collection of eighteen short stories in The Illustrated Man (TIM) have similar themes of dystopian worlds, our over-reliance on technology, and a lamenting for our lack of human connection due to our self-induced psychosis. And similar to The Martian Chronicles published just one year prior to TIM in 1951, Bradbury has a special interest in our relationship to space travel. In TIM about half the stories involve some sort of travel, usually to Mars, Venus, or the far reaches of the galaxy. The story “Kaleidoscope” is a prime example. A few astronauts are hurled through space after their ship is chaotically destroyed by asteroids. By using their space suit microphones they’re still able to communicate and release their inner demons, life regrets, final wishes, and honest thoughts about one another. It’s a jarring story that was reminiscent of the 2013 movie Gravity with Sandra Bullock.

In fact, many of TIM’s stories will remind readers of movies, T.V. shows, or contemporary popular books. “The Fox and The Forest” to Looper (2021), “The Exiles” to Coco (2017), “The Rocket” to The Space Farmer (2006), and “Marionettes Inc.” to Her (2013). It’s easy to see how modern movie writers and directors could have utilized TIM for idea-generating catalysts. “The Long Rain” is about a few space travelers stuck on Venus searching for the enigmatic Sun Domes where they can escape the perpetual and deadly rain. “The City” is about a living city laying dormant until humans return so it can finally get its revenge with covert robotic weaponry. “The Veldt” centers on two children who become so engrossed in a virtual reality game room that they commit a heinous crime to keep it “alive.” And “The Fire Balloons” is about two Catholic missionaries who attempt to reach mysterious and ancient inhabitants of Mars and end up learning much more than they came to preach.

When watching modern movies the old adage there’s nothing new under the sun is quite fitting. However, while reading TIM we see how Bradbury could be the foundation for almost every post-1950s media related to science-fiction, especially space and time travel.

His storytelling is especially impressive in TIM for the fact that he writes convincingly within a range of perspectives, settings, and themes (not just space travel related). Take “Zero Hour” for example. The setting is a seemingly idyllic suburban neighborhood sometime in the not-so-distant future. Children play outside together, mothers take care of domestic duties inside, and fathers are away at work. Aliens want to invade earth; however, our aerospace defense systems are too strong. So what option do the space invaders have? They look where the adults are least focused on–the children. For one unsuspecting mother, Bradbury weaves a thread of ensuing dread by eerily displaying the childrens’ new interest in a game called “Invasion” along with a new friend named Drill. We discover that this game is being systematically played across the country and innocent child’s play soon becomes chaos for the adults. Bradbury crafts flawless foreshadowing and suspense. The mother ponders alone in the living room, “Children, children. Children loved you, hated you–all in half a second…How can you ever forget or forgive those [adults] over and above you, those tall and silly dictators?” Like all great literature, his works deserve to be read twice or thrice to grasp their true artistry.

TIM’s stories will fluctuate your emotions through joyous relief down to sickening grief and everything in between. You never really know how you might feel afterwards. You’ll want to cry after “The Rocket Man” about an absentee father obsessed with space travel. But after “The Rocket” you’ll find solace thinking about the father who will go to great lengths to fulfill his family’s happiness. No matter what, with TIM you do know that you’re going to get a well-crafted and thoughtful story.

Bradbury’s influence on our modern T.V., movie, and literary culture simply can not be overstated. Along with Asimov, Lovecraft, and Herbert, he has a deserving place in the literary canon. The Illustrated Man is evidence of his well-earned praise and accolades.