When I was seven or eight years old, I began to read the science-fiction magazines that were brought by guests into my grandparents' boarding house in Waukegan, Illinois. Those were the years when Hugo Gernsback was publishing 'Amazing Stories,' with vivid, appallingly imaginative cover paintings that fed my hungry imagination.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the early influences of literature in shaping creativity and imagination.
In this passage, Ray Bradbury reminisces about his childhood experiences with science-fiction magazines, highlighting how they sparked his imagination and creativity. The mention of 'Amazing Stories' and its vivid cover art illustrates the profound impact that literature and visual art can have on young minds, fostering a lifelong passion for storytelling and artistic expression.
In practice
In a book club discussion about the influence of childhood reading on authorship.
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.
With film roles, it just has to be a character either I haven't done before, or a role with somebody really interesting or with an interesting person or group of people.
As artists, we have an opportunity to help the public evolve, raise consciousness and awareness, teach, heal, enlighten and inspire in ways the democratic process may not be able to touch. So we keep it moving.
In a portrait, you have room to have a point of view. The image may not be literally what's going on, but it's representative.
I do not photograph nature. I photograph my visions.
I feel as though I've gotten to a point where I don't really want to set a book in any real place ever again.
You live in my heart where no one sees you but I do. That vision becomes this art.
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