Revisiting Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451: A Critique of the Culture Industry

Abstract

Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 is a text of sempiternal pertinence for myriad reasons. Some of them are beyond our ken while some are ineffable. Bradbury’s prescient and trenchant critique of the culture industry has often been neglected or overlooked for no fault of his. The consensus of the critics’ opinion for instance, attests to this fact. Although many critics and literary scholars have classified this novel under the rubric of dystopian fiction, it’s far from the truth. Brecht’s poem about burning books/censorship was premonitory in many ways. However, the landscape isn’t Germany but America, a land that has always been identified as a beacon of hope for writers and artists from across the globe. This short review in spite of its shortcomings will focus on the text and its perennial relevance in a world that has always shown a predilection for conspicuous consumption and dilettantism.