author of something wicked this way comes

The family finally settled in Los Angeles in 1934.īradbury graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1938, at which time he chose to forgo college and immediately begin his writing career. Electrico also appears in Something Wicked This Way Comes.) Though Bradbury's hometown is Waukegan, the family often moved as Spaulding Bradbury looked for jobs during the Great Depression. Electrico touched him with a sword and told him, 'Live forever.' (A character based on Mr. On his personal Web site, Bradbury reports that he was inspired to become a writer after attending a carnival where a man performing as Mr. Bradbury began writing around the age of twelve. A reader from an early age, Bradbury spent a great deal of time in the Waukegan town library, upon which the library in Something Wicked This Way Comes is based. He was the third son of Spaulding Bradbury (a telephone lineman) and Esther Marie Moberg Bradbury (a Swedish immigrant). Ray Bradbury was born on August 22, 1920, in Waukegan, Illinois.

Something Wicked This Way Comes has been more or less continuously in print since 1962 a relatively recent edition of the novel was printed by Eos in 1999. By virtue of the story's considerable thematic depth, coupled with its plethora of fantastical imagery and its accessibility to younger readers, the book has been a mainstay in school curricula, kept there for several decades by the timeless nature of the novel's themes and content. Ultimately a meditation on the power of love in the face of evil, the novel contains a wealth of themes, ranging from the natures of transformation to the graceful acceptance of aging. Appealing to children and adults alike, the story, which lies on the cusp between the horror and fantasy genres, portrays two boys and their adventures with a mystical circus and its sinister ringmaster. In fact, Something Wicked This Way Comes combines elements of the bildungsroman (a coming-of-age story) with elements of science fiction. It was written on the heels of his science-fiction classics The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451 as well as his widely read bildungsroman Dandelion Wine. Published in 1962, Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury, is arguably the last of the author's most beloved novels.

Author of something wicked this way comes