Miraculously, smoke curled out of his own mouth, his nose, his ears, his eyes, as if his soul had been extinguished within his lungs at the very moment the sweet pumpkin gave up its incensed ghost.
Interpretation
This quote conveys a vivid, imaginative moment where a character experiences a profound connection to an ephemeral beauty through sensory imagery.
In this quote by Ray Bradbury, the author uses rich and evocative imagery to illustrate a transformative experience. The smoke symbolizes the fleeting nature of life and creativity, suggesting that in the act of creation—represented by the sweet pumpkin—something deep within us is released and shared, even as it is simultaneously lost. This moment encapsulates the bittersweet beauty of artistic expression and the transient nature of sensory experiences.
In practice
This quote can serve as a reflection during an art exhibition discussing the creative process.
I've written about 2,000 short stories; I've only published 300 and I feel I'm still learning. Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a great writer, but if he applies the old fashioned virtues of hard, constant labor, he'll eventually make some kind of career for himself as a writer. Ray Bradbury, 1967 interview (Doing the Math - that means for every story he sold, he wrote six "un-publishable" ones. Keep typing!)
I never went to college, so I went to the library.
There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.
I think the sun is a flower, That blooms for just one hour.
The first thing a writer should be is - excited. He should be a thing of fevers and enthusiasms. Without such vigor, he might as well be out picking peaches or digging ditches; God knows it'd be better for his health.
You can't try to do things; you simply must do them.
Racist writing is a craft failure.
An artist's sphere of influence is the world.
If a man devotes himself to art, much evil is avoided that happens otherwise if one is idle.
The object, which is back of every true work of art, is the attainment of a state of being, a state of high functioning, a more than ordinary moment of existence. In such moments activity is inevitable, and whether this activity is with brush, pen, chisel, or tongue, its result is but a by-product of the state, a trace, the footprint of the state.
Fortunately art is a community effort - a small but select community living in a spiritualized world endeavoring to interpret the wars and the solitudes of the flesh.
I want my stories to move people ... to feel some kind of reward from the writing.
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