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MMD > Archives > December 2002 > 2002.12.29 > 01Prev  Next


Fair Organ Plays Backwards in Ray Bradbury Story
By Philippe Rouillé

A Limonaire seen by Ray Bradbury

Dear MMDs, Ray Bradbury, the famous author of "The Martian Chronicles"
and "Fahrenheit 451", published in 1962 a curious book entitled
"Something Wicked This Way Comes".  Into a small city comes a strange
fair, with a very strange carrousel and its Limonaire organ.

Without telling you the very complicated plot, this carrousel is really
a devilish one, able to make you older or younger (one year per turn!)
if it carries you turning the right way or the reverse way...

And the Limonaire, too, plays forward (normally) or backwards (really
awfully devilish tunes).  It never appears as a joyful instrument,
always a very disquieting one.

I read the story in a French translation, "La foire des tenebres
[The fair of darkness]", in which the translator calls the carrousel
organ a "Limonaire".

In French, Limonaire (with a capital L) is both a trade mark and a
generic common word for all fairground organs (then written with small
letter : limonaire), like Frigidaire and frigidaire.

I just wonder what word used Ray Bradbury in the English text: also
Limonaire?

A subsidiary question: how is that book considered?  Although its theme
is very interesting, it looks to me as a second-rate production by a
major author.  Thanks for your answer,

Best regards,

Philippe Rouille  (Paris, France)
http://www.musicamecanica.org/

 [ From James Seidmans' review at http://www.sfsite.com/05a/some32.htm :
 [
 [ "Trouble comes in the form of Cooger & Dark's 'Pandemonium Shadow
 [ Show'.  The show looks on the surface like a regular carnival, but
 [ it has a particularly special attraction.  The carrousel, functional
 [ despite the "out of order" sign, can change a person's age.  Ride
 [ the carrousel forward, and with each revolution you age one year.
 [ Ride it in reverse, and the years melt away. ... Bradbury uses an
 [ unusual style of prose that reinforces the darkness of the book."
 [
 [ -- Robbie


(Message sent Sat 28 Dec 2002, 21:52:08 GMT, from time zone GMT+0100.)

Key Words in Subject:  Backwards, Bradbury, Fair, Organ, Plays, Ray, Story

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