There will come nuclear winters: chaos and ruin in the eternal future of the cold war

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2316-9826.literartes.2022.195825

Keywords:

Ray Bradbury, Martian Chronicles, Anthropomorfization, Science fiction

Abstract

The present article proposes an analysis of the short story “There Will Come Soft Rains”, written by the North-american author Ray Bradbury. The story, afterwards put into a greater narrative to form the book The Martian Chronicles, the author describes the end of the lonely existence of the last automated house in the wastes of a nuclear holocaust. Using the theory of such authors as Julio Cortázar, Jorge Luis Borges and Tzvetan Todorov, the article seeks to analyze the author’s use of the tools of anthropomorphization and of the Aristotelian Rethorical Passions to write a narrative of human values and the struggle of man, through technological legacy and its permanence, against human biological ephemerality.

Author Biographies

  • William Fernando de Souza Alves, Universidade Estadual Paulista. Faculdade de Ciências e Letras de Araraquara

    William Alves (formerly a receiver of the PROUNI-MEC and PIBID-CAPES scholarships) is currently enrolled in a Masters Degree in Literary Studies offered by Sao Paulo State University's College of Science and Letters of Araraquara (FCLAr-UNESP). He also has a degree in History and a specialist (lato sensu) title in Contemporary Literature by the College of Education "Sao Luís", in Jaboticabal/SP.

Having developed projects on the regional historiography of the city of Bebedouro/SP - being the cofounder of the Historiographic Sociedade of Bebedouro (SoHiBe) -, he also participates in the Subgroup of Mythopoethic Studies, organized by Ma. Cristina Casagrande de Figueiredo Semmelmann and subordinated to the Research Group on Literary and Cultural Productions for Children and Youth III (CNPq/USP), the PLCCJ, under the coordination of Profa. Dra. Maria Zilda da Cunha.

Nowadays, teaches history in a voluntary preparatory course (UNEAfro, at the Conceição Evaristo branch), and works as a Financial Clerk in the local city government, being an occasional colaborator on the independent magazine ComTempo.

  • Aparecido Donizete Rossi, Universidade Estadual Paulista. Faculdade de Ciências e Letras de Araraquara

    Cido Rossi is graduated in Language and Literature (major in Portuguese and English), master and PhD in Literary Studies by UNESP - Araraquara/SP - Brazil. He is professor of British Literature at UNESP - Araraquara, where he works in the undergraduation course of Language and Literature and in the Post-graduation program in Literary Studies. He also works in the Post-graduation program in Literature Studies at UFSCar - São Carlos/SP - Brazil. He develops researches on the Gothic, Fantastic, and Fantasy manifestations in fiction through the lenses of Derridean Deconstruction and Freudian-Jungian Psichoanalysis. He is leader of the research group Dimensions of the Fantastic in Literature, and member of the research groups Gothic Studies and We from Uncanny.

References

BORGES, Jorge L. Apresentação. In: BRADBURY, Ray. As Crônicas Marcianas. 1.ed. São Paulo: Biblioteca Azul, 2013, p. 09-11.

BRADBURY, Ray. There Will Come Soft Rains. In: BRADBURY, Ray. The Martian Chronicles. 10.ed. New York: Bantam Books, 1979, p. 242-249.

CARRERA, Francisco J.F. Mundos en desaparición, distopías posibles. Una aproximación al relato There Will Come Soft Rains de Ray Bradbury desde la didáctica de la lengua y la literatura inglesa y desde la didáctica de la contención y de la creatividad. In: Nudos, Valladolid: 2 (1), 36-54, 2018.

CLEANLINESS IS NEXT TO GODLINESS. In: Collins Online Dictionary. Glasgow: Harper Collins, 2022. Disponível em: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/cleanliness-is-next-to-godliness. Acesso em: 02 mar. 2022.

CORTÁZAR, Julio. Alguns Aspectos do Conto. In: CORTÁZAR, Julio. Valise de cronópio. 2.ed. São Paulo: Perspectiva, 2006a, p. 147-163.

CORTÁZAR, Julio. Do Conto Breve e seus Arredores. In: CORTÁZAR, Julio. Valise de cronópio. 2.ed. São Paulo: Perspectiva, 2006b, p. 227-237.

ENNS, Anthony. The Poet of the Pulps: Ray Bradbury and the Struggle for Prestige in Postwar Science Fiction. In: Belphégor, Online: 1 (13-1): 154-181, jun. 2015.

GREGERSEN, Erik. Ray Bradbury. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2020. Disponível em: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ray-Bradbury. Acesso em 23 nov. 2020.

O'LEARY, Devin D. An Interview with Ray Bradbury. Weekly Alibi, Albuquerque, 1999. Seção Books. Disponível em: http://weeklywire.com/ww/09-27-99/alibi_feat1.html. Acesso em: 23 nov. 2020.

POE, Edgar A. A Filosofia da Composição. In: POE, Edgar A. Ficção Completa, Poesia e Ensaios. 2.ed. Rio de Janeiro: Nova Aguilar, 2001, p. 911-920.

TODOROV, Tzvetan. A narrativa fantástica. In: TODOROV, Tzvetan. As estruturas narrativas. 4.ed. São Paulo: Perspectiva, 1979, p. 147-166.

WELLER, Sam. Ray Bradbury, The Art of Fiction No. 203. The Paris Review. Nova Iorque, 2020. Disponível em: https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/6012/the-art-of-fiction-no-203-ray-bradbury. Acesso em: 23 nov. 2020.

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Published

2022-12-30

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 17 (2022): Ficção científica: literatura da transgressão e do estranhamento

Section

Artigos

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Copyright (c) 2022 William F.S. Alves, Aparecido Rossi

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How to Cite

ALVES, William Fernando de Souza; ROSSI, Aparecido Donizete. There will come nuclear winters: chaos and ruin in the eternal future of the cold war. Literartes, São Paulo, Brasil, v. 1, n. 17, p. 219–237, 2022. DOI: 10.11606/issn.2316-9826.literartes.2022.195825. Disponível em: https://journals.usp.br/literartes/article/view/195825.. Acesso em: 20 may. 2024.