Becoming Ray Bradbury (Volume 1)

Becoming Ray Bradbury chronicles the making of an iconic American writer by exploring Ray Bradbury's childhood and early years of his long life in fiction, film, television, radio, and theater. Jonathan R. Eller measures the impact of the authors, artists, illustrators, and filmmakers who stimulated Bradbury's imagination throughout his first three decades. Unprecedented access to Bradbury's personal papers and other private collections provides insight into his emerging talent through his unpublished correspondence, his rare but often insightful notes on writing, and his interactions with those who mentored him during those early years. 
Beginning with his childhood in Waukegan, Illinois, and Los Angeles, this biography follows Bradbury's development from avid reader to maturing author, making a living writing for pulp magazines. Eller illuminates the sources of Bradbury's growing interest in the human mind, the human condition, and the ambiguities of life and death--themes that became increasingly apparent in his early fiction. Bradbury's correspondence documents his frustrating encounters with the major trade publishing houses and his earliest unpublished reflections on the nature of authorship. Eller traces the sources of Bradbury's very conscious decisions, following the sudden success of The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man, to voice controversial political statements in his fiction, and he highlights the private motivations behind the burst of creative energy that transformed his novella "The Fireman" into the classic novel Fahrenheit 451.
Becoming Ray Bradbury reveals Bradbury's emotional world as it matured through his explorations of cinema and art, his interactions with agents and editors, his reading discoveries, and the invaluable reading suggestions of older writers. These largely unexplored elements of his life pave the way to a deeper understanding of his more public achievements, providing a biography of the mind, the story of Bradbury's self-education and the emerging sense of authorship at the heart of his boundless creativity.

Biographies & Memoirs

Eller, Jonathan R.

Arts & Literature

University of Illinois Press

Ray Bradbury Unbound (Volume 2)

In Ray Bradbury Unbound, Jonathan R. Eller continues the story begun in his acclaimed Becoming Ray Bradbury, following the beloved author's evolution from a short story master to a multi-media creative force and outspoken visionary. At the height of his powers as a poetic prose stylist, Bradbury shifted his creative attention to film and television, where new successes gave him an enduring platform as a compelling cultural commentator. His passionate advocacy validated the U.S. space program's mission, extending his pivotal role as a chronicler of human values in an age of technological wonders. Informed by many years of interviews with Bradbury as well as an unprecedented access to personal papers and private collections, Ray Bradbury Unbound provides the definitive portrait of how a legendary American author helped shape his times.

Celebrated storyteller, cultural commentator, friend of astronauts, prophet of the Space Age--by the end of the 1960s, Ray Bradbury had attained a level of fame and success rarely achieved by authors, let alone authors of science fiction and fantasy. He had also embarked on a phase of his career that found him exploring new creative outlets while reinterpreting his classic tales for generations of new fans. Drawing on numerous interviews with Bradbury and privileged access to personal papers and private collections, Jonathan R. Eller examines the often-overlooked second half of Bradbury's working life. As Bradbury's dreams took him into a wider range of nonfiction writing and public lectures, the diminishing time that remained for creative pursuits went toward Hollywood productions like the award-winning series Ray Bradbury Theater. Bradbury developed the Spaceship Earth narration at Disney's EPCOT Center; appeared everywhere from public television to NASA events to comic conventions; published poetry; and mined past triumphs for stage productions that enjoyed mixed success. Distracted from storytelling as he became more famous, Bradbury nonetheless published innovative experiments in autobiography masked as detective novels, the well-received fantasy The Halloween Tree and the masterful time travel story "The Toynbee Convector." Yet his embrace of celebrity was often at odds with his passion for writing, and the resulting tension continuously pulled at his sense of self.The revelatory conclusion to the acclaimed three-part biography, Bradbury Beyond Apollo tells the story of an inexhaustible creative force seeking new frontiers.

Bradbury Beyond Apollo

Product Description 
A successful, award-winning writer on the brink of placing 
Fahrenheit 451 in the American canon, Ray Bradbury entered the autumn of 1953 as a literary figure transcending fantasy and science fiction. Jonathan R. Eller continues the story begun in his acclaimed 
Becoming Ray Bradbury, following the beloved writer's evolution from a short story master to a multi-media creative force and outspoken visionary.\nDrawn into screenwriting by the chance to adapt 
Moby Dick for Hollywood, Bradbury soon established himself in film and television. Though the work swallowed up creative energy once devoted to literary pursuits, Bradbury's successes endowed him with the gravitas to emerge as a sought-after cultural commentator and media figure. His passionate advocacy validated the U.S. space program's mission and allowed him to assume the role of a dreamer of futures voicing opinions on technology, the moon landing, and humanity's ultimate destiny.\nEller draws on interviews with Bradbury and unprecedented access to personal papers and private collections to tell the story of how a great American author helped shape his times. 
 Review 
"Engaging. . . . Eller's second volume of Bradbury's biography is ultimately a melancholy and cautionary tale."-- 
Washington Post\n"A fine biography of a fascinating man."-- 
Times Literary Supplement\n"Intimate, conscientious, and triumphant, a truly profound examination of Bradbury's accomplishments and legacy. Highly recommended for all sf lovers and those with an appreciation for non-fiction and literature."-- 
Library Journal\n"A thorough documentation of Bradbury’s career. . . . This warm, informative biography depicts him as a thoughtful and disciplined writer who helped make science fiction a respected literary genre."-- 
Kirkus\n"Eller captures the joy of creations that new forms allowed Bradbury, such as the intensely visual interpretation of 
Moby Dick that he wrote for director John Huston. . . . Fans who know Bradbury only for his fiction are likely to enjoy this diverse look at his work and creative process."-- 
Publishers Weekly\n"Eller shows how Bradbury's work in the cinema (and his greatest success there) endowed him with a public gravitas that empowered him as a noteworthy speaker on issues pertinent to the Space Age. How the author of the once fantastic seeming 
Martian Chronicles could by the early 1970s speak realistically about a very likely journey to Mars in the not entirely distant future speaks, of course, for the acceleration of progress in recent times but also of this important writer's vision."-- 
American Literary Scholarship\n"An intimate look at the working life of one of the most important twentieth-century writers. . . . The depth of insight supplied by Eller's archival research imbues this text with a fresh inquisitive style that informs and inspires. . . . A valuable addition to the library of any Bradbury fan." -- 
Science Fiction Studies\n"Few contemporary authors have been written about as extensively as Ray Bradbury, but no one has surpassed Jonathan Eller. In his previous study, 
Becoming Ray Bradbury, he captured the odd nature of Bradbury's imagination perfectly in the context of his life and age--keeping a myriad of influences and ambitions in perspective. With the publication of 
Ray Bradbury Unbound, Eller not only confirms his position as the great comprehensive Bradbury scholar. He has also written what may be the best single account of a major science fiction author's rise to fame and achievement." --Dana Gioia, author of 
Pity the Beautiful and former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts 
 About the Author 
Jonathan R. Eller is a Chancellor's Professor of English at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis, the senior textual editor of the Institute for American Thought, and director of the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies at IUPUI. 
Ray Bradbury Unbound and its predecessor 
Becoming Ray Bradbury were eac

Mustard Gas and Roses; The Life & Works of Kurt Vonnegut 1922-2007

Mitchell, Breon

The Lilly Library

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Eller, Jonathan R.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Eller, Jonathan R.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Eller, Jonathan R.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Becoming Ray Bradbury (Volume 1)

Ray Bradbury Unbound (Volume 2)

Bradbury Beyond Apollo

Becoming Ray Bradbury (Volume 1)

Ray Bradbury Unbound (Volume 2)

Mustard Gas and Roses; The Life & Works of Kurt Vonnegut 1922-2007