Leviathan '99

by Ray Bradbury

Un capitaine fou, tel Achab, à la poursuite d'une terrifiante comète. Une locomotive à vapeur qui entre en gare, en tractant de noirs wagons MGM, Warner Brothers aramount, RKO, NBC ; est-ce Hollywood qu'on enterre ? Un romancier hémophile dont les ennemis affûtent les objets de la vie courante... Un homme, M. Smith, qui sombre dans le coma et dont corps se transforme lentement, sa peau devenant si dure qu'on ne peut y enfoncer l'aiguille d'une intraveineuse ; mais quelle peut bien être la destination de cette métamorphose ?

Dans ce recueil rassemblant vingt-cinq textes écrits entre 1946 et 2003, dont " La chrysalide ", récemment porté à l'écran par Tony Baez Milan, Ray Bradbury aborde tous les genres de l'imaginaire : de la chronique estivale, mélancolique, à la science-fiction poétique en passant par le fantastique horrifique.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction

448 pages, Paperback

First published February 28, 2013

About the author

Ray Douglas Bradbury was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of genres, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery, and realistic fiction.

Bradbury is best known for his novel Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and his short-story collections The Martian Chronicles (1950), The Illustrated Man (1951), and The October Country (1955). Other notable works include the coming of age novel Dandelion Wine (1957), the dark fantasy Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962) and the fictionalized memoir Green Shadows, White Whale (1992). He also wrote and consulted on screenplays and television scripts, including Moby Dick and It Came from Outer Space. Many of his works were adapted into television and film productions as well as comic books. Bradbury also wrote poetry which has been published in several collections, such as They Have Not Seen the Stars (2001).

The New York Times called Bradbury "An author whose fanciful imagination, poetic prose, and mature understanding of human character have won him an international reputation" and "the writer most responsible for bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream".

Reviews

[Vika]

i suppose it's not fair to judge this story based on the written format, since, as bradbury explains in the foreword, it was originally intended to be a radio play. but despite how cool and ambitious the idea of a moby dick space au sounds, i feel that, in what he aptly calls his "delusions of shakespeare", bradbury failed to render the spirit of the original in his retelling. without melville's ishmael's trademark unhinged narration, the poetic prose makes the story sound too full of itself instead of elevating it. the frequency at which god, jesus christ and the bible are mentioned in this futuristic tale compared to the 19th century original raises eyebrows as well🤨

[Drew]

Some amazing prose but not as great a story as I expect from Bradbury. Still a fine read!

[Jeffrey Powanda]

After Ray Bradbury completed the screenplay for Moby Dick and returned from Ireland to California, the story of Ahab and the white whale still bounced around in his head like a fever dream. He couldn't shake it. He began to reimagine the story as a one-hour radio drama set in outer space. He hoped to partner with his boyhood hero Norman Corwin, a legendary radio producer from the Thirties and Forties. The radio script first went to NBC and then to the BBC, who produced it with Christopher Lee as the insane captain. Later, Bradbury tinkered with the script and turned it into a full-length play, which was lambasted by critics. Finally, he reworked the material into this novella.

Bradbury substituted a blind, unnamed captain for Captain Ahab, a space ship named Cetus 7 for the whaling ship Pequod, a green telepathic alien spider named Quell for Queequeg, and a white comet named Leviathan for Moby Dick. Ishmael is still Ismael, but he has a full name: Ishmael Hunnicut Jones.

Does it work? Alas, no. It's silly and uninspired. The Shakespearean language, which perhaps worked better on radio, comes off as oddly anachronistic in an outer space setting.

Only Bradbury could have gotten away with publishing this novella. It's a shame, because Leviathan '99 diminishes the admirable work he did on the Moby Dick screenplay.

[Becky Beaman]

This is a stripped-down, Readers' Digest kind of retelling of the story of Moby Dick, and I found myself missing all the details that make such a story engrossing. It's got the essential details -- mad captain maimed by his prey, doomed shipmates far from home... but it was like a stick-figure drawing of what could be a scene full of possibilities... or maybe the comic book version of Little Women. If you want to read it, go ahead -- it won't take long. But I don't recommend it. On second thought, don't read this one -- go find yourself a copy of "Something Wicked This Way Comes," a masterpiece by Bradbury that is worth your time.

[Marco Innamorati]

Curioso omaggio di Bradbury a Melville, cui il libro è dedicato (com’è noto, Bradbury aveva scritto la sceneggiatura del Moby Dick di Huston). Come il romanzo sulla balena bianca, Leviathan ‘99 inizia con le parole “Chiamatemi Ismaele”. Qui si dà la caccia a una cometa, anziché a un cetaceo, ma gli ingredienti sono gli stessi: un capitano pazzo, una profezia sulla fine del viaggio, pronunciata proprio da un Elia, la realizzazione finale della profezia, con sopravvivenza del solo Ismaele. Purtroppo gli esiti letterari non sono dello stesso livello, ma per Bradbury questa novella è solo un tardo divertissement.

[Denise Barney]

No, I did not listen to the German version. LibriVox has the “radio play” version, with Christopher Lee as the captain.

The music often overwhelmed the dialogue when I listened through headphones. But the story is “Moby Dick” in space.

Fun fact: Mr. Bradbury wrote the screenplay for the John Huston film of “Moby Dick.” And this “radio play” remains quite faithful to the main plot of the original.

[Nickleby]

I think I liked the IDEA of this story more than the story itself.

[Alex]

Des nouvelles globalement intéressantes et bien écrites, pas parfaites mais sympa.

[Jake McBride]

Having thoroughly enjoyed many of Bradbury’s works the last 6 months, this one didn’t cut the expectation mustard. Convoluted without the usual payoff.

[Nicolas Mary]

La 4e de couverture présente clairement le best off des nouvelles les plus intéressantes, qui ne parviennent pas à rattraper le caractère très inégal des autres.

[Prim Hardbottle M.E.]

Auf der Jagd nach dem Meteor 😊Moby Dick 2.0

[Collin]

I don't get to read a whole lot during school months. So I try to speed-read during summer. Even books I enjoy can get, I admit, a little rushed through.

I savored this little novelette. I enjoyed "Somewhere a Band Is Playing," but that enjoyment didn't prepare me for "Leviathan '99." I really don't like space except as a setting - space in itself is really boring for me, to be honest - but this story just... wow. There's something about the prose.

I just. Wow. I don't have words. Beautiful.

[Kevin]

Being a fan of both Moby Dick and science fiction I had to read this. It didn't let me down. I enjoyed all of the references to and reworkings of the original. Especially the fact that the roll of Queequeg is filled by an alien.

[Diane]

While not my favorite Bradbury book, this one did have a plethora of memorable quotes. One of my favorites.."Is God dead? No! He's just waiting for us to shut-up."