Ray Bradbury As A Dystopian Writer

downloadDownload
  • Words 576
  • Page 1
Download PDF

In the global world, where human interaction and cross-cultural communication are inevitable, it is of crucial importance to have an idea of how language transformation occurs. So as to possess a better understanding of the conceptual frame of translation, we can portray it as a “bridge” between culturally divergent languages. A good translation must be written in a way that serves the same function, evokes the exact equivalent effect as the source text, and is culturally coherent between the source and target languages. The intention of the author should be represented in a way so that the reader should not feel the cultural barriers existing between the two languages. Thus, so as to reach the opposite side of the river, the translator should consider the factors and constituents of the original situation, that surround the text to be translated (extra-textual information), as well as the subject matter the source text deals with, non-linguistic or paralinguistic elements accompanying it, syntactic structures, pragmatic impact and the lexical characteristics of the text (intra-textual information).

Ray Bradbury is a dystopian writer, wհo makes use of a form of speculative fiction tհat began as a response to utopian literature. “Dystopian” world involved an imagined community or society tհat is deհumanizing and frigհtening, as opposed to “Utopia”, wհich is tհe perfect society with all its beauties.

Click to get a unique essay

Our writers can write you a new plagiarism-free essay on any topic

Ray Bradbury is well known for his articulate and descriptive literature since he often portrays thorough coherency, huge amounts of mysterious feelings and emotions throughout his stories. In this way, he not only connects his writings to real-life events, but he also engages the readers by posing rhetorical questions, which are never actually answered. These can challenge readers to think differently about current social and political climates, and in some instances can even inspire action.

“The Last Night of the World” is a dystopian short story written by Ray Bradbury in 1951. The story takes place in a city of the USA in the early years of the Cold War and the beginning of the arms race between the USSR and the USA, at a time of fear over the new threats like “the hydrogen or atom bombs” and “germ warfare.”

The story commences with a rather rhetorical and disturbing question; “What would you do, if you knew that this was the last night of the world?” (Ray Bradbury, p1). This question was posed by the husband to his wife, the addressee could have been any of us. That question has far more reaching effects in human life in reality, as every human being would be torn between the things they would want to do if they realized the night they had was going to be the last one.

The message of the story is that people are often preoccupied with their own lives and comforts, and consequently, they fail to do their parts as global citizens. However, “the last night of the world” and the strange dream they had along with seemingly everyone on Earth was going to be the same for each of them. As the overall story is full of rhetorical questions, which create a unique mood for the reader, it is of the highest importance to convey the same effect on the target language readers, so that they could get into the story and be “the invisible character” together with the wife and the husband, because the reader himself/herself is left with a lot of suspense and wonder of how he/she would retort to such a situation.  

image

We use cookies to give you the best experience possible. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy.