Praises for Bradbury

In this one of many articles published recently, we read praises for Ray Bradbury. He has been a legend for a long time...but we always wonder why certain obviously inventive and talented authors get ignored by the cognoscenti for so long. There are a number of possiblities. Feel free to weigh in here with your own.

A couple that come to mind:

-- Emerging hot new writers steal the attention of established ones in the annual analyses
-- The implications of written content is too disturbing resulting in avoidance once read

I'd like to think that it's the latter. Fahrenheit 451 rattled a few people...the social implications of such a dystopia were certainly troublesome. Perhaps so much so that critics didn't want to engender similar writings. Who knows. Orwell's 1984 certainly became far more digestible after it failed to represent the world state in that once-future year -- fortunately so.

We all read books at times that really make us think. It's sometimes more than we bargained for but that's what we're all subconsciously hoping for when we turn that first page: a fresh look at life. Bradbury has sparked the imaginations of readers in this way. He has the gift and long-deserved kudos are being bestowed. I guess there's a timing out there we all just have to try harder to understand.