In the introduction to Fahrenheit 451, Neil Gaiman makes a remark along the lines of 'fiction is the lie telling us true things'. After finishing Bradbury's famous 1953 dystopian novel, I reflected on those words and found myself appreciating how perfectly they applied to this story.
Is it possible for future governments to use 'firefighters' as a pseudo secret police force, arriving at homes to burn any books reportedly hidden on the premises? Or how about a nuclear war which starts and ends within seconds as fighters zip around the globe to instantly level cities? I guess these things are possible in the way almost anything is technically possible. But in the context of Gaiman's thought, the elements of plot generally represent the lie of fiction.
The truth is in the speech, thoughts, and motivations of the characters. The denizens of Bradbury's future feared intellectuals because their intelligence made their thinking unpredictable. What thoughts could emerge from the well-read mind? For these people, it was better to keep surprises to a minimum by any means necessary. But we all fear the unknown, whether we support book burning or not, and in this truth is the seed Bradbury nurtures throughout.
Gaiman concluded his introductory thoughts by suggesting books allow knowledge to pass '...from one generation to the next...allowing us to build on a shared humanity'. And yet, we rarely heed the information so readily available to us. Why does society consistently fail in this way?
Perhaps the explanation is provided by one of Bradbury's characters. He suggests there is nothing inherently special about a book. It is merely a receptacle for what the author is afraid to forget. But if we all do indeed fear the unknown, perhaps seriously considering the very understandings an author is afraid to forget is a sure path forward in conquering our own fears through achieving a better comprehension of the world around us.
Footnotes / imagined complaints
0. A mini-update to the 'how I read a book' post...
I first read the novel all the way through before returning with a pen in hand. This approach fit Fahrenheit 451 because in some ways the book was a mini-lecture on the philosophy of literature. I think I will put the approach to the test for a couple of novels I intend to read soon because I suspect understanding the work as a whole will enable me to pick out better ideas on the second sweep which I might have dismissed at first glance.
