Output details

“Re-Presenting Mars: Ray Bradbury’s Martian Stories in Media Adaptation”

Brief Description

This book chapter examines the ways in which a set of short stories by the American author Ray Bradbury (1920-2012) have been adapted to multiple media including radio, television and film. The chapter examines questions of medium-specificity and issues arising from the realistic (or otherwise) depiction of a fantasy landscape. This book chapter is a substantially revised version of a paper presented at the J.Lloyd Eaton Conference, University of California Riverside, June 2008.

Research Rationale

While Bradbury’s fiction has been previously examined, there is little prior research on how it has been transformed in and by different media. The “Mars” stories represent a major strand in Bradbury’s authorship and career involvement with media, and this chapter is a first attempt to uncover the key issues. The book, themed as a historical exploration of treatments of Mars in fictional and factual portrayals, is edited by leading science-fiction scholars Howard V. Hendrix, George Slusser, Eric Rabkin, who each contribute a chapter. Other contributors to the volume include Robert Crossley (author of Imagining Mars: a Literary History (Wesleyan UP, 2011)).

Strategies Undertaken

The article draws on examination of archival recordings and films, and close reading of Bradbury’s text and various script adaptations. It is developed from a conference paper presented at the J.Lloyd Eaton Conference, University of California Riverside, June 2008.