Book Burning Subject of Redland's 2009

Big Read

Sponsored by the University of Redlands and the A. K. Smiley Public Library, the book for the 2009 Big Read is Ray Bradbury’s definitive work Fahrenheit 451.  Funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the Big Read promotes Redlanders to read and analyze Bradbury’s seminal book.   According to NEA Chairperson Dana Gioia, the program is a “call to action to get our country reading again.” An apropos but often misinterpreted choice for the Big Read, Bradbury adamantly claims Fahrenheit 451 is about how television erodes people’s desire for literature ultimately culminating in a society completely ignorant of facts. Contrary to many high school English teachers and Bradbury’s official biographer, Bradbury says the book is not about censorship or McCarthyism.  The book revolves around the protagonist, Guy Montag, who Bradbury employs as a firefighter, a euphemism for a book burner.  Over the course of the novel, the reader follows Montag’s metamorphosis from acceptance of his surroundings, to questioning, to struggling against them.  Coming in under 200 pages, the book is a quick read that has sparked debate in readers for decades.  The Big Read supplants the city’s One City, One Book for 2009 and will run from February to the end of March 2009 with events including lectures, film discussions, and more.