Ray Bradbury
The Martian
Chronicles
The Martians discovered the secret of life among animals. The animal does
not question life. It lives.
Its very reason
for living is
life; it enjoys
and relishes life. ...
... the men of Mars realized that in order to survive they would have to
forgo asking that one question any longer: Why live? Life was its
own answer. Life was the propagation of more life and the living of as
good a life as possible.
June 2001: -- AND THE MOON BE STILL AS BRIGHT
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Descent
Cover art by
Michael
Whelan
See the
entire
image.
This painting was commissioned for the cover of Ray
Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles. What moved me the most about the novel
was the sense of inevitable tragedy that permeates the first half of the book
and the weirdness of the Martian culture. At some point in the narrative,
the cities are said to be like bones; and though the phrase may have been
intended as metaphor, I liked the suggestion enough to use bone-like and
coral-like forms in the painting. The chief symbolic
element is the trail of the descending craft from Earth, harkening back to
legends of comets as harbingers of doom.
It hangs like a scimitar of death over the heads of the Martians.
The Art of Michael Whelan © 1989
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"... See the broken pillars?"
"Broken? Why, I see them perfectly. The moonlight helps. And the
pillars are
upright."
"There's dust in the streets," said Tomas.
"The streets are clean!"
"The canals are empty right there."
"The canals are full of lavender wine!"
"It's dead."
"It's alive!" protested the Martian...
...
"There are the rockets." Tomas walked him to the the edge of the hill and
pointed down.
"See?"
"No."
"Damn it, there they are! Those long silver things."
"No."
...
...the pillars crumbled, you say? And the sea empty, and the canals
dry, and the
maidens dead,
and the flowers
withered?"
The Martian was
silent, but then
he looked on
ahead. "But
there they
are. I
see them.
Isn't that
enough for me?
They wait for me
now, no matter
what you
say."
And for Tomas the rockets, far away, waiting for him,
and the town and
the women from
Earth.
"We
can never
agree," he said.
"Let us agree to disagree," said the Martian.
August 2002: NIGHT MEETING
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Updated: November 3, 2009
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