"451 degrees Fahrenheit": reviews. "451 degrees Fahrenheit", Ray Bradbury: book reviews

Science fiction is a special genre of literature that originated in the nineteenth century. It was the rapid technical progress that gave birth to so many interesting ideas in the minds of thinkers of that time.

What did the science fiction writers write about, what ideas did they want to convey to us? First of all, they created wonderful worlds of a bright future, in which both people are kinder, and the grass is greener, and spacecraft have long gone beyond the limits of the solar system.

Especially bright and beautiful utopia were created by the Strugatsky brothers. In their works they described the wonderful World of Noon - the life of our civilization in the twenty-second century. It completely lacks commodity-money relations, and labor for the benefit of society has become a holy duty of every person.

Around the same time, an American Ray Bradbury wrote "451 degrees Fahrenheit". The book is very different from the utopian works of Soviet science fiction. This novel is an anti-utopia, showing the opposite side of the consumer society: the moral disintegration of people and the cruelty of the system in relation to dissenting individuals.

Let's go on a trip to the anti-dysfunctional world of the novel "451 degrees Fahrenheit"! Reviews, a film and two theatrical productions based on the book - read more about this.

Ray Bradbury is a famous American science fiction writer

This person can be reliably attributed to the great writers of his genre, along with Daniel Kiese and Robert Shackley.

Bradbury lived ninety-two years, for which he wrote over eight hundred books: short stories, novels and novels. His literary work speaks of an excellent fantasy, rich life experience and inexhaustible optimism.

For most people, the American science fiction writer is familiar with two books: "451 degrees Fahrenheit" and "Dandelion Wine". The second work is an autobiographical story telling about the author's childhood. It is rich in beautiful descriptions of the nature and life of people in a small American town.

The most widely-read work of the author is "451 degrees Fahrenheit". The review of this work is presented below. It contains a lot of interesting thoughts.

The book that made the author popular was 451 degrees Fahrenheit. Reviews of people who read this work speak for themselves. Someone is familiar with the novel, someone seems to be a protest against society. But indifferent this work does not leave anyone.

"451 degrees Fahrenheit": description

Events take place in the near future in the homeland of Bradbury - in the United States of America.

The author shows a totalitarian system dominated by consumer thinking, and mass culture almost completely replaced books that make you think. Moreover, the government helps to destroy literary works.

The life of an ordinary person consists only of work and rest, there are simply no other time activities. At the same time, leisure activities include watching TV or driving around the city on jet cars. From this way of life, people gradually become stale, secluded, cease to love each other, do not have children ...

But there are a handful of "other" (dissenters) who have not accepted the rules of the game and are hiding from the authorities, continuing to remain themselves.

Ray Bradbury shows that any person can change, only desire is important. Guy Montag, the protagonist of the book, a living example of this: from an intact cog in the system, he turns into a full-fledged person, and contributes to this amazing combination of circumstances ...

Basic Characters

Who are the brightest heroes? "451 degrees Fahrenheit" is full of interesting personalities, we list the main:

• Guy Montag is the main character, firefighter. A vivid example of the fact that any person can change if he is at the right time in the right place.
• Mildred is the wife of the protagonist. The victim of government propaganda - watching TV for days on end.
• Clarissa McLellan is a neighbor of the Montague couple, an eccentric, dissident. Despised the cult of consumption. She loved nature, was fond of reading books.
• Brandmaster Beattie is the brutal chief of Montag.
• The electric dog is an inanimate metal robot, the right hand of firefighters. Somehow imprisoned by the smell of man, causes animal horror.
• Faber is an intelligent person, he taught literature to Guy Montagu in college.

It was the main characters that made the novel "451 degrees Fahrenheit" so colorful. Reviews about them try to compile yourself, reading a short story.

The plot of the novel before the death of Clarissa

Let's start an interesting journey through the pages of the book "451 degrees Fahrenheit". The description of the story will be as concise as possible. We will try not to miss the most interesting moments.

Why did the author decide to call his book this way? The fact is that 451 degrees Fahrenheit is the temperature at which the paper starts burning. The most respected profession is the firefighter. The main hero of anti-utopia - Guy Montag - is a valiant representative of this profession: he burns books regularly and does not see anything wrong with it.

Once Guy returns home after a busy day's work and meets a strange young woman. She turns out to be Clarissa - his roommate around the house.

Between them, a conversation begins about life ... They walk through the rustling autumn foliage, Clarissa says she loves to walk alone at night and inhale various smells, sometimes even waiting for the sun to rise. For this, her uncle curses her, calling her mad, but she does not care, for love of nature is always stronger than someone's limitations. Also, Clarissa reads, despite the strictest ban by the authorities.

This oddball causes contradictory thoughts in Montag: he is surprised by her fearlessness and attitude to the system. The protagonist feels that she is not like everyone else - she is not at all worried about stupid TV shows, she is afraid of fast driving and inhuman sports games. But it is inclined to reflection, has sensual memories of normal life and asks Montagu the question that changed him: "Are you happy?" He seriously reflects about this and begins to perceive the world around in another way.

Appearing at work, Montag surprises his colleagues with the beginnings of common sense. He also manages to take home several books for reading. Two days later, Clarissa dies: she is hit by one of the jet cars traveling at high speed.

After the death of Clarissa

Guy takes a vacation, he no longer wants to burn books. The main character reflects on the meaning of his life ...

At this time Beatty comes to him. The chief feels the changes that have occurred with Montag. He lectures to him that all people should be like each other like two drops of water. Books, however, give rise to doubts, so they must be set on fire. But Montag has already changed, he is not interested in Beatty's words.

The main character tells his wife that he keeps books at home. She sincerely does not understand his deed. Then Montag finds Fauber - his wise teacher of literature in college. The old man listens to him attentively and gives advice to keep the books. Also, the inventor gives his friend a small receiver, through which they can communicate at a distance.

Returning home, the hero meets guests - his wife's friends. Montag breaks loose from their stupid behavior and does incredible - reads verses aloud. Puzzled women disperse to their homes and hand over the protagonist of the police - they tell about the availability of his forbidden literature.

Unsuspecting Montag comes to work, where he meets Beatty with a flamethrower. They go to the main hero's house: the brutal boss orders Montagu to burn books. Instead, the main character kills the chief of the fire department and the electric dog.

After all that happened, Montag decides to flee the city. He gets out into the countryside, swims along the river and finds a flock of vagabond-freethinkers. Now they are one team!

The next morning the wandering vagabonds set out on their journey ... They went farther and farther from the city. Freethinkers survived, each of them carried in his head the invaluable baggage of knowledge and a great desire to change the world for the better.

Important quotation

We find it interesting to quote an excerpt from the novel "451 degrees Fahrenheit". Quotes of the main character and his teacher tell us about the role books play in human life.

"All that you seek, Montag, exists in the world, but a simple man can see only one hundredth with his own eyes, and the other ninety-nine percent he learns through the book." This phrase belongs to the wise Faber, the teacher of Montag.

Public attitude to the work of Bradbury

Contradictory opinions of critics caused the novel "451 degrees Fahrenheit". The author was a freethinker by his youth: he described quite accurately and boldly the processes taking place in American society.

In 1967, the first publication of a book for middle and high school students was held. But with a small remark: about seventy five author's proposals were paraphrased, many of the author's favorite curses were replaced by synonyms. These words are not abusive when translated, but very clearly reflect the essence of what is happening. Also, the editors decided to remove two fragments of the text about criticism of abortions.

In the Soviet Union in 1956, the first copies of the book "451 degrees Fahrenheit" were on sale. Reviews were very different: from enthusiastic to sharply negative. Despite the opinion of critics, the book in the USSR was not banned.

"451 degrees Fahrenheit": review of the film

The novel caused a resonance among the creative community. Already in 1966 the picture "451 degrees Fahrenheit" was released. The film is much inferior to the book, but for the sake of interest, it's worth watching.

The director is Francois Truffaut. The role of Guy Montag performs Oscar Werner, Clarissa plays Julie Christie. This indisputably talented actress, known for the role of Laura in the Hollywood adaptation of "Doctor Zhivago." But the image of a madman did not fit her. It has long been known that the roles of strange and eccentric people are best given to the same characters in life.

Also in the movie some facts are changed. According to the plot of the work there were no romantic relations between Clarissa and Guy, they were good friends, and in the middle of the book the heroine in general tragically perishes.

In the film, the girl remains alive. The final picture is the joint withdrawal of the main characters in the countryside, where they join a group of dissidents.

Little attention is paid to Faber - an intellectual, a thinker and a real vagabond, devoted to his moral principles.

I would like to hope that some capable director will not ignore "451 degrees Fahrenheit". The film will turn out more believable and close in content to the book. This would be a great gift to all lovers of fantasy and creativity Ray Bradbury.

Reflection in art

Surprisingly, according to the plot of anti-utopia, not only the performance "451 degrees Fahrenheit", but also the ballet is staged. Such a contradictory work caused a sincere desire to work on it from various theatrical figures: from ballet choreographers to stage directors.

Modern ballet in two acts

Choreographer Snezhana Zdor, together with the troupe of the Krasnoyarsk Opera and Ballet Theater, created a beautiful and sensual ballet based on the novel "451 degrees Fahrenheit". The genre is the same - an anti-utopia, the idea is that a person dreams about an intimidating world of the future, similar to the plot of the book.

The world of gloss, baubles and glamor is wonderful. Actors dance to the music in the style of new age ... Ethnic and religious motives for perfectly selected photos and video installations leave no one indifferent.

Against the backdrop of all this chaos, there is a change in the identity of Guy Montague - it is absurd to the events taking place. He recruits internal forces and chooses the path of the dissenter.

Actress, who plays the role of Clarissa, just perfectly fit into the image is a refined girl with luminous eyes and a strange expression.

Critics did not leave indifferent the intention of the directors (Snezhany Zdor and Grigory Oksanych - the author of excellent special effects) - to connect an interesting choreography with ethnic music to create the ballet "451 degrees Fahrenheit". Reviews of the audience indicate that the idea has justified itself.

Performance

The theatrical production of the novel took place in 2007 with the joint cooperation of the Frenchman and the Russian. Adolf Shapiro from the Et Cetera Theater invited Russian artist Boris Zaborov to cooperate. The fruit of their collaboration was a remarkable performance on the plot of the novel "451 degrees Fahrenheit". The content is slightly changed, but the quality of the production was not affected.

Shapiro is a well-known pessimist and skeptic, so he believes that what has been written in the book has already happened. It turned out quite fascinating: a detective story, a love story and ... a ray of hope. Performed the role of famous actors, mostly French.

Interesting facts about the legendary novel

1. During the Soviet period there were prisoners who knew by heart many favorite books, including the novel "451 degrees Fahrenheit". Quotations from him became known to their relatives and friends. Those, in turn, continued distributing the favorite book among their acquaintances, despite the negative reviews of some critics about it.

2. "451 degrees Fahrenheit" - a novel that inspired many creative people. For example, in 2002 the film "Equilibry" was shot in the genre of anti-utopia. The Russian rock band Aria released the Symphony of Fire. The text draws on the questions raised in the novel Bradbury.

3. The author printed his best book on a primitive typewriter, rented from the local library.

4. Bradbury turned out to be a predictor in the good sense of the word: before the publication of many technical inventions, he colorfully described them. For example, the radio is a "shell" and 3D technology (TV panels in the apartments and small portable screens).

5. The first publication of the novel "451 degrees Fahrenheit" was held in the magazine "Playboy".

6. To date, the anti-Utopia Bradbury is an indisputable classic. People continue to read the novel, discuss it on forums and quote at every opportunity. This suggests that the plot of the book is relevant to this day. This tendency is a confirmation of the fact that people have not lost their ability to reflect, to reasoning and manifestation of the best spiritual qualities.

The work "451 degrees Fahrenheit" is one of the best in the genre of dystopia. It will be interesting for a person of any age, because he talks in simple language about complex things: about the organization of society and the transformation of the individual into a person.