musings of a different kind

Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 is one of those books that provokes a certain amount of thought when you read it at first. It is a dystopian novel, but not quite in the same mould as the other great dystopian novels of the 20th century. It is essentially a book about censorship, but not censorship as carried out by an organised government for the suppression of unpopular ideas, but censorship as an endemic practice within an anti intellectual society which in interested only in the most superficial things.

In my opinion, the book is a must read for everyone because one can clearly see how present day society is exhibiting some of symptoms that are described in the book. However, in recent editions of the book, Ray Bradbury has also included a small section called Coda, where he describes the exquisite irony of his book being subjected to the kind of censorship that he warns about within its pages. I recently saw the text of the Coda online.

I personally found the Coda to be a really inspirational piece of writing. It is short, precise and bluntly truthful in a way that is really refreshing. It captures not only the spirit and passion of a writer dedicated to his art, but also the way a writer needs his freedom to practice his art. As Bradbury says,

"There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches. Every minority, be it Baptist / Unitarian, Irish / Italian / Octogenarian / Zen Buddhist, Zionist / Seventh-day Adventist / Women's Lib/Republican, Mattachine/FourSquareGospel feel it has the will, the right, the duty to douse the kerosene, light the fuse."

This statement unfortunately holds true even today. Writers are usually the ones who are best positioned to highlight uncommon and unpopular ideas and are therefore in the vanguard of all intellectual movements. Yet not all topics or points of view are open to a completely free and frank intellectual discussion in society today. To cripple writers in any way would be to cripple society as a whole and Ray Bradbury's Coda is a very poignant warning of this.

Finally, the last lines of the coda are simply brilliant.


"In sum, do not insult me with the beheadings, finger-choppings or the lung-deflations you plan for my works. I need my head to shake or nod, my hand to wave or make into a fist, my lungs to shout or whisper with. I will not go gently onto a shelf, degutted, to become a non-book.

All you umpires, back to the bleachers. Referees, hit the showers. It's my game. I pitch, I hit, I catch. I run the bases. At sunset I've won or lost. At sunrise, I'm out again, giving it the old try.

And no one can help me. Not even you."

Edit: Today I came across a "letter to the editor" in the ND newsletter (which is called The Observer) which shows that Bradbury's Coda isn't in danger of becoming irrelevant even within the confines of Notre Dame. It was about a suggestion by a mother daughter pair who apparently had a problem with the ND fight song (The Notre Dame Victory March). The song was written a long time back (the 1920s), when Notre Dame was a College for men only. Consequently, there is a gender specific reference to "Her Loyal Sons" in the song but these women wanted it to be changed (presumably to "her Loyal Sons and Daughters") to reflect the present scenario. Of course the University is itself referred to in the feminine gender throughout the song :). Talk about exquisite coincidence and irony.