Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian novel by Ray Bradbury, published in 1953. It is regarded as one of his best works. The novel presents a future American society where books are outlawed and "firemen" burn any that are found. The book's tagline explains the title: "Fahrenheit 451 – the temperature at which book paper catches fire, and burns ..."
The novel has been the subject of interpretations focusing on the historical role of book burning in suppressing dissenting ideas. In a 1956 radio interview, Bradbury stated that he wrote Fahrenheit 451 because of his concerns at the time (during the McCarthy era) about the threat of book burning in the United States. In later years, he described the book as a commentary on how mass media reduces interest in reading literature.
In 1954, Fahrenheit 451 won the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature and the Commonwealth Club of California Gold Medal. It has since won the Prometheus "Hall of Fame" Award in 1984 and a 1954 "Retro" Hugo Award, one of only four Best Novel Retro Hugos ever given, in 2004. Bradbury was honored with a Spoken Word Grammy nomination for his 1976 audiobook version.
Adaptations include François Truffaut's 1966 film adaptation of the novel and a 1982 BBC Radio dramatization. Bradbury published a stage play version in 1979 and helped develop a 1984 interactive fiction computer game titled Fahrenheit 451, and a collection of his short stories, A Pleasure to Burn.
雷·布雷德伯利(Ray Bradbury)，出生于美国伊利诺斯州的沃基甘。1941年起他开始给几家杂志投稿，1943年起专业写作，三年后获得“最佳美国短篇小说奖”。迄今已出版短篇小说集近二十部，其中著名的有：《火星编年史》(1950)、《太阳的金苹果》 (1953)、《R代表火箭》(1962)、《明天午夜》(1966)等。《华氏4510》是他最为著名的长篇小说之一。该书奠定了作者小说家的地位。布雷德伯利不仅是世界闻名的科幻小说家，而且还是当代美国文学中数一数二的文法家，他的短篇小说几乎已被翻译为全世界的各种文字。
目录 · · · · · ·