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| In addition to the movie, there have been at least two ] dramatisations, both of which follow the book very closely. | In addition to the movie, there have been at least two ] dramatisations, both of which follow the book very closely. | ||
| ==Plot== | |||
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Revision as of 01:46, 30 June 2004
Fahrenheit 451 (1953) is a dystopian science fiction novel by Ray Bradbury. It is set in a world where books are banned and critical thought is discouraged; the central character, Guy Montag, is employed as a "fireman" (which, in this case, means "book burner"). 451 degrees Fahrenheit is stated as the temperature at which paper ignites and begins to burn. See fire point.
Though, given the time of the book's publication, its theme most obviously brings to mind the repression of intellectual freedom that characterised the McCarthy Era, Bradbury's critique of the censorial tendency also encompasses acts motivated by radical egalitarianism and what would today be called political correctness.
The book, with some plot changes, was made into a film in 1966 by François Truffaut, with Oskar Werner as Montag. There are plans for a remake in 2005, directed by Frank Darabont.
In addition to the movie, there have been at least two BBC Radio 4 dramatisations, both of which follow the book very closely.
Plot
After meeting a girl named Clarisse McClellan, Montag, a fireman, starts questioning the world he is in. The plot is driven by Montag's rejection of the mindless world in which he lives. He begins to collect books, to the horror of his wife, Mildred, whose only interest in life is the viewing of vacuous television shows (a parody of 1950's programming). When ordered to put fire to his house, he does so before turning his flamethrower on Beatty, his fire chief. With the aid of Faber, a well-educated but timid old man, he eludes a police helicopter and escapes into the forest, where he joins a wandering band of intellectual rebels, who have committed books to memory. The book ends as he watches "the city" destroyed by an atomic bomb.
ISBNs
- ISBN 0606006281 (prebound, 1953)
- ISBN 0871293102 (paperback, 1986)
- ISBN 0345342968 (mass market paperback, 1987)
- ISBN 089968484X (library binding, 1990, reprint)
- ISBN 067187229X (hardcover, 1993)
- ISBN 1560549599 (audio cassette with hardcover, 1995, unabridged)
- ISBN 0345410017 (paperback, 1996)
- ISBN 0783883137 (library binding, 1997, Large Type Edition)
- ISBN 8401422825 (hardcover, 1998)
- ISBN 156137301X (hardcover, 1999)
- ISBN 1561373028 (hardcover, 1999)
- ISBN 0791059294 (hardcover, 2001)
- ISBN 0758776160 (hardcover, 2002)
- ISBN 0743247221 (hardcover, 2003)
- ISBN 0848801474 (hardcover)
- ISBN 8401422345 (hardcover)
- ISBN 3257208626 (paperback)
- ISBN 7246250102 (paperback)
Influence on popular culture
The title of Bradbury's book has become a well-known byword amongst those who oppose censorship, in much the way George Orwell's 1984 has (although not to the same extent). As such, it has been alluded to in dozens of later contexts, amongst them the ACLU's 1997 whitepaper Fahrenheit 451.2: Is Cyberspace Burning? and Michael Moore's 2004 film Fahrenheit 9/11.