Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward
The best way to enjoy it is not to nitpick the projections, but take them as an alternate universe. Read each one as a slice-of-life vignette, looking at some aspect of the humanity, in conflict with its own technological creations.
And enjoy the artistry of the words and images created by them. . .
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fantasyfan
Excellent points! I would add that the nature of the world so created has its own imaginative power. Venus, for instance, is certainly not the watery, jungle world that so many SF writers of the fifties thought it was but that does not diminish the vision these writers created.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AnotherCat
For the first "short stories" which are (in my view) hardly related at all, I thought the book was going to be a mission to read but as I got further into it they became retrospectively framed. And my aversion to short stories was overcome, I think because they represent a (fictional) history and history is just one big story made up of many collections of both closely and loosely related short stories, and I can read history no problem at all.
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Thank you everyone for your insights!
I highlighted the ones above that I found particularly helpful.
Science fiction is outside my usual genres for reading (that's a good thing to explore something new!). Does anyone have a good definition of what science fiction is?
I am about 60% through and enjoying the book so far. I especially like the "artistry" of the prose which makes it pleasurable to read. I have been trying to read more short stories lately since it's another genre I don't read much of, and I like how these are loosely framed in vignettes to create a bigger picture. I have never read
Winesburg, Ohio to understand how it was an influence. It's been on my TBR awhile.... Can anyone explain that please?
I thought it was interesting that in the UK the book was titled
Silver Locusts with slightly different content according to wikipedia. That title seems to me more aggressive than
The Martian Chronicles. Also some editions removed "Usher II" and added "The Fire Balloons" in its place. My edition has both. I liked "The Fire Balloons" and the introduction of religion into the framework. I haven't gotten to "Usher II" yet.