SOURCE: "The Dangers of Being Earnest: Ray Bradbury and the Martian Chronicles," in The Journal of General Education, Vol. XXVIII, No. 1, Spring, 1976, pp. 50-4.

In the following essay, Forrester cites a number of literary flaws in the stories collected in The Martian Chronicles, chief among which is Bradbury's tendency to lecture the reader at the expense of his narrative. Even so, the critic lauds Bradbury's more imaginative prose, asserting that it is "superior to any other prose in science fiction."

I read my first Ray Bradbury story when I was about ten, and it was love at first sight: prose as rich as the cream filling of the Twinkies I loved, creatures bizarre enough to please a ten year old palate, machinery and rockets abundant enough to satisfy a boy living in those pre-Romantic 1950s.

I drifted away from science fiction and Bradbury about fifteen years ago. But...