“It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed.” Fahrenheit 451 opens in a blissful blaze - and before long, we learn what’s going up in flames.
"Bio je užitak paliti. Bio je poseban užitak gledati kako su stvari poždrijete, vidjeti stvari pocrnjene i promijenjene." Fahrenheit 451 počinje u blaženom ognju - a vrlo brzo i saznajemo što gori u plamenu.
Ray Bradbury’s novel imagines a world where books are banned from all areas of life - and possessing, let alone reading them, is forbidden. The protagonist, Montag, is a fireman responsible for destroying what remains. But as his pleasure gives way to doubt, the story raises critical questions of how to preserve one’s mind in a society where free will, self-expression, and curiosity are under fire.
Roman Raya Bradburyja zamišlja svijet u kojem su knjige zabranjene iz svih dijelova života te je njihovo posjedovanje, a kamoli čitanje, zabranjeno. Glavni lik, Montag, vatrogasac je zadužen za uništavanje svega što preostaje. No kako je njegov užitak zamijenjen sumnjom, priča postavlja kritička pitanja o tome kako očuvati svoj um u društvu gdje su slobodna volja, samoizražavanje i znatiželja ugroženi.
In Montag’s world, mass media has a monopoly on information, erasing almost all ability for independent thought. On the subway, ads blast out of the walls. At home, Montag’s wife Mildred listens to the radio around the clock, and three of their parlor walls are plastered with screens. At work, the smell of kerosene hangs over Montag’s colleagues, who smoke and set their mechanical hound after rats to pass the time.
U Montagovom svijetu, masovni mediji imaju monopol nad informacijama kradući skoro svaku mogućnost samostalnih misli. U podzemnoj željeznici reklame iskaču sa zidova. Kod kuće Montagova žena sluša radio bez prestanka, a tri su zida dnevne sobe prekrivena ekranima. Na poslu miris kerozina visi nad Montagovim kolegama koji puše i puštaju svog mehaničkog lovačkog psa na štakore da skrate vrijeme.
When the alarm sounds they surge out in salamander-shaped vehicles, sometimes to burn whole libraries to the ground. But as he sets tomes ablaze day after day like “black butterflies,” Montag’s mind occasionally wanders to the contraband that lies hidden in his home. Gradually, he begins to question the basis of his work. Montag realizes he’s always felt uneasy - but has lacked the descriptive words to express his feelings in a society where even uttering the phrase “once upon a time” can be fatal.
Kad se alarm oglasi, izjure van u gušterolikim vozilima da svako malo spale kompletne knjižnice do temelja. Ali dok pali svitke iz dana u dan poput "Crnih leptira", Montagove misli ponekad odlutaju do prokrijumčarenih materijala skrivenih u njegovu domu. On postupno započinje propitkivati temelje svog posla. Montag shvaća da je oduvijek osjećao nelagodu - ali su mu nedostajale opisne riječi kojima bi izrazio svoje osjećaje u društvu u kojem čak i pomisao na frazu "nekoć davno" može biti kobno.
Fahrenheit 451 depicts a world governed by surveillance, robotics, and virtual reality- a vision that proved remarkably prescient, but also spoke to the concerns of the time. The novel was published in 1953, at the height of the Cold War. This era kindled widespread paranoia and fear throughout Bradbury’s home country of the United States, amplified by the suppression of information and brutal government investigations. In particular, this witch hunt mentality targeted artists and writers who were suspected of Communist sympathies.
Fahrenheit 451 opisuje svijet vođen nadzorom, robotikom i virutalnom stvarnošću - viziju koja se pokazala izuzetno nagovještajnom i svjesnom ondašnjih briga. Roman je objavljen 1953. na vrhuncu Hladnog rata. Ovo je doba poticalo rasprostranjenu paranoju i strah u Bradburyjevoj domovini: Sjedinjenim Američkim Državama, pojačane supresijom informacija i okrutnim državnim istragama. Posebice se isticao mentalitet lova na vještice usmjeren na umjetnike i pisce za koje se sumnjalo da su naklonjeni komunizmu.
Bradbury was alarmed at this cultural crackdown. He believed it set a dangerous precedent for further censorship, and was reminded of the destruction of the Library of Alexandria and the book-burning of Fascist regimes. He explored these chilling connections in Fahrenheit 451, titled after the temperature at which paper burns. The accuracy of that temperature has been called into question, but that doesn’t diminish the novel’s standing as a masterpiece of dystopian fiction. Dystopian fiction as a genre amplifies troubling features of the world around us and imagines the consequences of taking them to an extreme.
Bradbury je bio uznemiren ovim ograničavanjem kulture. Vjerovao je da je ono stvorilo opasne temelje za buduću cenzuru te ga je podsjećalo na uništenje Aleksandrijske knjižnice i spaljivanja knjiga od strane fašističkih režima. Istražio je te zastrašujuće poveznice u Fahrenheitu 451, naslovivši knjigu po temperaturi potrebnoj da papir počne gorjeti. Točnost te temperature je kasnije postala upitna, no to ne umanjuje vrijednost ovog romana kao remek-djela distopijske fikcije. Distopijska fikcija kao žanr pojačava uznemirujuće dijelove svijeta oko nas i zamišlja posljedice njihovog dovođenja do krajnosti.
In many dystopian stories, the government imposes constrictions onto unwilling subjects. But in Fahrenheit 451, Montag learns that it was the apathy of the masses that gave rise to the current regime. The government merely capitalized on short attention spans and the appetite for mindless entertainment, reducing the circulation of ideas to ash.
U mnogim distopijskim pričama vlada nameće ograničenja prema neposlušnim pojedincima. No u Fahrenheitu 451 Montag saznaje da je apatija javnosti bila ta koja je omogućila trenutni režim. Vlada je samo iskoristila kratak raspon pažnje i apetit za bezumnu zabavu, pretvarajući razmjenu ideja u pepeo.
As culture disappears, imagination and self-expression follow. Even the way people talk is short-circuited - such as when Montag’s boss Captain Beatty describes the acceleration of mass culture: "Speed up the film, Montag, quick. Click? Pic? Look, Eye, Now, Flick, Here, There, Swift, Pace, Up, Down, In, Out, Why, How, Who, What, Where, Eh? Uh! Bang! Smack! Wallop, Bing, Bong, Boom! Digest-digests, digest-digest-digests. Politics? One column, two sentences, a headline! Then, in mid-air, all vanishes!" In this barren world, Montag learns how difficult it is to resist when there's nothing left to hold on to. Altogether, Fahrenheit 451 is a portrait of independent thought on the brink of extinction - and a parable about a society which is complicit in its own combustion.
Kako kultura nestaje, mašta i samoizražavanje su sljedeći. Skraćen je čak i način na koji ljudi govore - primjerice kad Montagov šef Kapetan Beatty opisuje ubrzanje masovne kulture: "Ubrzaj film, Montag, smjesta. Klikni? Fotka? Gledaj, Oko, Sad, Flip, Tu, Tamo, Brzo, Tempo, Gore, Dolje, Unutra, Van, Zašto, Kako, Tko, Što, Gdje, Ha? Oh! Bam! Pljus! Slap! Bing, Bong, Bum! Skrati-skraćuje, skrati-skrati-skraćuje, Politika? Jedan stupac, dvije rečenice, naslov! Zatim, u zraku, sve nestaje!" O ovom pustom svijetu, Montag nauči kako je teško pružiti otpor kad ne postoji ništa vrijedno čuvanja. Sve u svemu, Fahrenheit 451 jest portret samostalnih misli na rubu izumiranja - prikaz društva koje je suučesnik svom vlastitom izgaranju.