(This continues my interview with Ray Bradbury from 1995.)
It goes back further than that season of 8, back to the time he was 3 and collecting metaphors -- myths and fair tales and sips of dandelion wine. He offers those illustrations Tuesday night to the crowd of 1,500 at Centenary College's Gold Dome. Young and old have gathered. To some he's the longtime master of miracles, to others, he's required reading in the flesh; the freshman class has been studying Fahrenheit 451.
In his black suit, blue shirt and tie, Bradbury looks like a breathing version of his cover photos, standing beneath the dome's ceiling, a sky of white cubes. They seem appropriate as a backdrop. They look like building blocks for one of the futuristic cities of his dreams.
He draws laughter as he tells of how he "walked funny" after seeing Lon Chaney in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. "When I was 5, Lon Chaney made the Phantom of the Opera in 1925," he continues, then recalls the film's impact on his imagination -- he borrowed a relative's opera cape and fashioned it to his own needs, sported a set of fake fangs and dropped from trees to scare passers-by.
"There were plans afoot to drown me in Waukegan, IL.," he recalls with a chuckle. Read more...
Start with Part 1
2 comments:
It would be interesting to see how many writers of our generation would list Ray Bradbury as a major influence. I wonder if there would be more males than females, and if there would be many writers outside the SF/Fantasy/Horror fields who would cite him. Someday I'd like to do a pole, although possibly one has already been done and I'm just not aware of it.
Uhm, I meant "poll," not "pole."
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