Ray Bradbury, one of America’s beloved sci-fi writers, turns 91 today. So how about a little party favor: This retro clip takes you back to the 1970s (we believe) and it features Bradbury giving a rather intriguing take on the role of literature and art. For the author of Fahrenheit 451, literature has more than an aesthetic purpose. It has an important sociological/psychoanalytic role to play. Stories are a safety valve. They keep society collectively, and us individually, from coming apart at the seams. They’re the linchpin of civilization. And they provide a more immediate source of pleasure and wonder too. His most recent book, We’ll Always Have Paris: Stories, came out in 2009.
This clip now appears in our collection of 275 Cultural Icons. Here you can watch great thinkers and artists speaking in their own words…
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Thanks for posting this. As a lifelong reader of Bradbury, it is just lovely to hear and see him speak about his craft. In some ways Bradbury reminds me of Updike – utterly unpretentious, writing for our pleasure just because he can.
A good interview which everyone should view….Happy Birthday Ray, LIVE FOREVER! XXX John