Orbiting Ray Bradbury's Mars: Biographical, Anthropological, Literary, Scientific and Other Perspectives

264 Pages·2013·3.29 MB·English

by  Gloria McMillan

Orbiting Ray
Bradbury’s Mars
CRITICALEXPLORATIONSINSCIENCEFICTIONANDFANTASY
(a series edited by Donald E. Palumbo and C.W. Sullivan III)
1Worlds Apart? Dualism and Transgression
in Contemporary Female Dystopias(Dunja M. Mohr, 2005)
2Tolkien and Shakespeare: Essays on Shared Themes and Language
(ed. Janet Brennan Croft, 2007)
3Culture, Identities and Technology in the Star WarsFilms: Essays on
the Two Trilogies(ed. Carl Silvio, Tony M. Vinci, 2007)
4The Influence of Star Trekon Television, Film and Culture
(ed. Lincoln Geraghty, 2008)
5Hugo Gernsback and the Century of Science Fiction(Gary Westfahl, 2007)
6One Earth, One People: The Mythopoeic Fantasy Series of Ursula K. Le Guin,
Lloyd Alexander, Madeleine L’Engle and Orson Scott Card(Marek Oziewicz, 2008)
7The Evolution of Tolkien’s Mythology: A Study
of the History of Middle-earth(Elizabeth A. Whittingham, 2008)
8H. Beam Piper: A Biography(John F. Carr, 2008)
9Dreams and Nightmares: Science and Technology in Myth and Fiction
(Mordecai Roshwald, 2008)
10Lilithin a New Light: Essays on the George MacDonald Fantasy Novel
(ed. Lucas H. Harriman, 2008)
11Feminist Narrative and the Supernatural: The Function of
Fantastic Devices in Seven Recent Novels(Katherine J. Weese, 2008)
12The Science of Fiction and the Fiction of Science: Collected Essays on SF Storytelling
and the Gnostic Imagination(Frank McConnell, ed. Gary Westfahl, 2009)
13Kim Stanley Robinson Maps the Unimaginable: Critical Essays
(ed. William J. Burling, 2009)
14The Inter-Galactic Playground: A Critical Study
of Children’s and Teens’ Science Fiction(Farah Mendlesohn, 2009)
15Science Fiction from Québec: A Postcolonial Study(Amy J. Ransom, 2009)
16Science Fiction and the Two Cultures: Essays on Bridging the Gap Between
the Sciences and the Humanities(ed. Gary Westfahl, George Slusser, 2009)
17Stephen R. Donaldson and the Modern Epic Vision: A Critical Study
of the “Chronicles of Thomas Covenant” Novels(Christine Barkley, 2009)
18Ursula K. Le Guin’s Journey to Post-Feminism (Amy M. Clarke, 2010)
19Portals of Power: Magical Agency and Transformation in Literary Fantasy
(Lori M. Campbell, 2010)
20The Animal Fable in Science Fiction and Fantasy(Bruce Shaw, 2010)
21Illuminating Torchwood: Essays on Narrative, Character and Sexuality
in the BBC Series(ed. Andrew Ireland, 2010)
22Comics as a Nexus of Cultures: Essays on the Interplay
of Media, Disciplines and International Perspectives
(ed. Mark Berninger, Jochen Ecke, Gideon Haberkorn, 2010)
23The Anatomy of Utopia: Narration, Estrangement and Ambiguity in
More, Wells, Huxley and Clarke(Károly Pintér, 2010)
24The Anticipation Novelists of 1950s French Science Fiction: Stepchildren of Voltaire
(Bradford Lyau, 2010)
25The TwilightMystique: Critical Essays
on the Novels and Films(ed. Amy M. Clarke, Marijane Osborn, 2010)
26The Mythic Fantasy of Robert Holdstock: Critical Essays
on the Fiction(ed. Donald E. Morse, Kálmán Matolcsy, 2011)
27Science Fiction and the Prediction of the Future: Essays on Foresight
and Fallacy(ed. Gary Westfahl, Wong Kin Yuen, Amy Kit-sze Chan, 2011)
28Apocalypse in Australian Fiction and Film: A Critical Study(Roslyn Weaver, 2011)
29British Science Fiction Film and Television: Critical Essays
(ed. Tobias Hochscherf, James Leggott, 2011)
30Cult Telefantasy Series: A Critical Analysis of The Prisoner, Twin Peaks, The X-Files,
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Lost, Heroes, Doctor Whoand Star Trek (Sue Short, 2011)
31The Postnational Fantasy: Essays on
Postcolonialism, Cosmopolitics and Science Fiction
(ed. Masood Ashraf Raja, Jason W. Ellis and Swaralipi Nandi, 2011)
32Heinlein’s Juvenile Novels: A Cultural Dictionary(C.W. Sullivan III, 2011)
33Welsh Mythology and Folklore in Popular Culture: Essays on
Adaptations in Literature, Film, Television and Digital Media
(ed. Audrey L. Becker and Kristin Noone, 2011)
34I See You: The Shifting Paradigms of James Cameron’s
Avatar (Ellen Grabiner, 2012)
35Of Bread, Blood and The Hunger Games: Critical Essays on the
Suzanne Collins Trilogy(ed. Mary F. Pharr and Leisa A. Clark, 2012)
36The Sex Is Out of This World: Essays on the Carnal Side of
Science Fiction(ed. Sherry Ginn and Michael G. Cornelius, 2012)
37Lois McMaster Bujold: Essays on a Modern Master of
Science Fiction and Fantasy(ed. Janet Brennan Croft, 2013)
38Girls Transforming: Invisibility and Age-Shifting in
Children’s Fantasy Fiction Since the 1970s(Sanna Lehtonen, 2013)
39Doctor Who in Time and Space: Essays on Themes, Characters,
History and Fandom, 1963–2012(ed. Gillian I. Leitch, 2013)
40The Worlds ofFarscape: Essays on the Groundbreaking
Television Series(ed. Sherry Ginn, 2013)
41Orbiting Ray Bradbury’s Mars: Biographical, Anthropological,
Literary, Scientific and Other Perspectives(ed. Gloria McMillan, 2013)
42The Heritage of Heinlein: A Critical Reading of the Fiction
Television Series(Thomas D. Clareson and Joe Sanders, 2013)
43The Past That Might Have Been, the Future That May Come:
Women Writing Fantastic Fiction, 1960s to the Present
(Lauren J. Lacey, 2013)
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Orbiting Ray
Bradbury’s Mars
Biographical, Anthropological,
Literary, Scientific
and Other Perspectives
Edited by GLORIA MCMILLAN
Foreword by Peter Smith
CRITICALEXPLORATIONSINSCIENCEFICTIONANDFANTASY, 41
Donald E. Palumbo andC.W. Sullivan III, series editors
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA
Orbiting Ray Bradbury’s Mars : biographical, anthropological,
literary, scientific and other perspectives / edited by Gloria
McMillan ; foreword by Peter Smith.
p. cm. — (Critical explorations in science fiction
and fantasy ; 41)
[Donald E. Palumbo and C.W. Sullivan III, series editors]
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7864-7576-6
♾
softcover : acid free paper
1. Bradbury, Ray, 1920–2012—Criticism and interpretation.
I. McMillan, Gloria (Professor) editor of compilation.
II. Title.
PS3503.R167Z79 2013
813'.54—dc23 2013031526
BRITISHLIBRARYCATALOGUINGDATAAREAVAILABLE
© 2013 Gloria McMillan. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
On the cover: (foreground) Ink drawing of Ray Bradbury by
John Tibbetts (www.johnctibbetts.com); (background) Painting
of a canal-lined Mars by William K. Hartmann of the Planetary
Science Institute
Manufactured in the United States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Foreword
PETER SMITH 1
Preface
GLORIA MCMILLAN 3
Introduction: Landing on Bradbury’s Western Mars
GLORIA MCMILLAN 5
Part One: Biographical Lens
Miracles of Rare Device: Bradbury and the American Southwest
JONATHAN R. ELLER 11
The Sorcerer’s Apprentices: How the Lives of Three Regional
“Weird Fiction” Writers Became Creatively Entangled
WOLF FORREST 24
Part Two: Anthropological Lens
Prescient Border Crossing: “I See You Never” and the
Undocumented Mexicans Americans Prefer Not to See
MARLEEN S. BARR 39
Bradbury’s Survivance Stories
GRACE L. DILLON 57
A “Night Meeting” in the Southwest: Hospitality in
The Martian Chronicles
ADAM LAWRENCE 70
Illustrating Otherness: Crossing Frontiers in The Illustrated Man
FRANCISCO LAGUNA-CORREA 88
vii
viii Table of Contents
Part Three: Literary Lens
Loss in the Language of Tomorrow: Journeying Through Tucson
on the Way to “Usher II”
AARON BARLOW 105
Bradbury’s Mars: Pathway to Reinvention and Redemption
KIMBERLY FAIN 117
The Desert Is Earth and Mars: An Ecocritical, Bachelardian
Exploration of “And the Moon Be Still as Bright” and
It Came from Outer Space
CHRISTOPHER COKINOS 133
Part Four: Scientific Lens
Why Does Mars Beckon Us?
ARI ESPINOZA 157
The Exploration of Mars: An Unintentional Invasion?
DAVID M. ACKLAM 164
A Martian Chronicle
CHARLES L. DUGAN, JR. 176
The Naming of Names
CHRISTOPHER P. MCKAY and CAROL STOKER 181
Part Five: Media Lens
De-Alienating the Alien: The Limits of Empathy in NBC’s
The Martian Chronicles Miniseries
PAUL COTE 193
The Illustrated Man Illustrates Our Future
HOWARD ALLEN 211
Silver Locusts on the Silver Screen: Bradbury’s Western Mars
Confronts 1960s British Art-Cinema
MARTIN R. HALL 218
Part Six: Educational Lens
Teaching Martians in Tucson
GLORIA MCMILLAN 229
About the Contributors 243
Index
Acknowledgments
Many people have aided in the completion of this book. First, I would
like to thank our editor Donald E. Palumbo for his timely interventions and
useful tips. I would also like to thank Jim Corrick for sharing his expertise in
editing a collection of essays. Marleen Barr provided moral support on days
when it seemed a daunting task, as did Carol Nowotny-Young, Chris Cokinos,
Tish Haymer, Shirley Curson, Curt Stubbs, Bjo and John Trimble, Karen
Anderson, Carol and Warren DePriest, LAFAS member Karl Lembke, and
others too numerous to get their just mentions. John Tibbetts put in a heroic
effort to give us an artist’s view of Ray Bradbury the man, as did photographer
and filmmaker Terry Sanders. And all of our contributors wish to thank
BASFA (Baja Arizona Science Fiction Association), the local Tucson science
fiction club, which jumped on board and made immediate plans to highlight
this book and the local participants at a forthcoming TusCon. The TusCon
programmers Scott Glener and Joe Palmer gave real thought to making this
project grow legs. The Kuiper Circle, the Educational and Public Outreach
Advisory Board of the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Lab has
also given valuable guidance and support. The chair of the Kuiper Circle EPO
subcommittee David Acklam even wrote an essay!
Last but not least, my family helped in the production of this text by
making many practical adjustments to their lives so that I could have the time
to work. My mother Gloria Ptacek and mother-in-law Mary McMillan gave
moral support. My sister Holly provided good laughs. My husband Bob put
up with the usual stresses of collecting widely diverse essays and wrangling
them into a somewhat consistent form. And thanks to our son Chris, who
was extraordinarily kind and patient to a distracted mother.
Many thanks to all. I could never have done this without you.
ix