Reviews of Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and related work
- Adaptation: Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
Fahrenheit 451 (1953
)
Ray Bradbury (writer).
Read in 2017.
In the most obvious comparison to Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), Fahrenheit 451 is a more conventional cathartic and heroic action piece, more in tune with wealthy postwar US society, which is probably why it stayed on high-school reading lists and, in turn, survived in pop culture for so long. Montag kills Beatty, unlike Smith with O’Brien, and ultimately the oppressive state is at least badly injured, with a humble seed of canonical old wisdom ready to replace it. For a credible update to Brave New World (1932), refer instead to the contemporary Player Piano (1952).
References here: “Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB” (1967), Smålands mörker (2012), The Hunger Games (2012).
‣ Fahrenheit 451 (1966
)
Decent shot at low-key future-world SF, but the ideas are as unimpressive as in the novel.