Fahrenheit 451

No cover

Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451 (1953, Ballantine Books)

256 pages

English language

Published Oct. 19, 1953 by Ballantine Books.

OCLC Number:
346202
Goodreads:
304023

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Fahrenheit 451 is a 1953 dystopian novel by American writer Ray Bradbury. Often 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 as "'the temperature at which book paper catches fire, and burns": the autoignition temperature of paper. The lead character, Guy Montag, is a fireman who becomes disillusioned with his role of censoring literature and destroying knowledge, eventually quitting his job and committing himself to the preservation of literary and cultural writings. The novel has been the subject of interpretations focusing on the historical role of book burning in suppressing dissenting ideas for change. In a 1956 radio interview, Bradbury said 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. …

84 editions

Subjects

  • conformity
  • authoritarianism
  • subversion
  • book burning

Places

  • United States of America