It was first published in 1953, parts published by Hugh Hefner in issues 2-4 of Playboy during the McCarthy period when censorship was a delicate issue.
I wasn't impressed by "the silent air-propelled train slid soundlessly down its lubricated flue in the earth and let him out with a great puff of warm air on to the cream-tiled escalator" (p.10) or "the cold November rain fell from the sky upon the quiet house" (93). I couldn't work out whether only certain books were banned. Why is he carry a book so openly on p.102? Sometimes he mixes metaphors, and I'm unsure what's metaphor and what isn't - e.g. on p.153 in
| Montag could not move. A great earthquake had come with fire and levelled the house and Mildred was under there somewhere and his entire life under there and he could not move. The earthquake was still shaking and falling and shivering inside him. |
can an earthquake fall? Sometimes the prose takes off, as on p.125 -
|
The world must reproduce, you know, the race must go on. Besides, they sometimes look just like you and that's nice. ... 'Caesarians or not, children are ruinous; you're you're out of your mind,' said Mr Phelps. 'I plunk the children in school nine days out of ten. I put up with them when they come home three days a month; it's not bad at all. You heave them into the 'parlour' and turn the switch. It's like washing clothes; stuff laundry in and slam the lid |
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