German soldiers and civilians give the Nazi salute, thousands of books smolder during a bookburning, May 1933. (Courtesy of Ray Bradbury) |
At the end of Fahrenheit 451 Montag meets a group of people who have each committed one book to memoriy to save it from extinction. When asked the question, Ray Bradbury said he'd have memorized Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol because it "has influenced my life more than almost any other book, because it's a book about life, it's a book about death. It's a book about triumph."* If you had to memorize a single book or risk its extinction, which book would you choose?
*(On January 5, 2005, Dana Gioia, former Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, interviewed Ray Bradbury in Los Angeles; this information comes from that interview)
