Dedicated Madman: an animated interview with Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury, beloved author of Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles, is the latest subject in Blank-on-Blank’s series of animated interview. Recorded in 1972 by Lisa Potts and Chadd Coates, the interview features Bradbury discussing his fear of driving, friendship, writing advice, and the joy he gets from his craft. Here’s a few choices quotes:

Realism:

I don’t like realism because we already know the real facts about life, most of the real facts. I’m not interested in repeating what we already know. We know about sex, about violence, about murder, about war, all these things…We need interpreters, we need poets, we need philosophers, we need theologians who take the same basic facts and work with them and help us make due with those facts. Facts alone are not enough.

Writing:

You write to please yourself. You write for the joy of writing. Then your public reads you and it begins to gather around your selling a potato peeler in an alley, you know. The enthusiasm, the joy itself draws me. So that means every day of my life I’ve written. When the joy stops, I’ll stop writing.

Friendship:

Friendship is an island that you retreat to and you all fall on the floor and laugh at all the other ninnies that don’t have enough brains to have your good taste, right?

Watch the video above or head to Blank-on-Blank for a transcript.