The Mars Chronicles

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The Martian Chronicles (in English original: The Martian Chronicles ) is a book by the American writer Ray Bradbury . It was published by Doubleday in 1950. The book is a novel-based compilation of short stories, some of which had already appeared in various SF magazines between 1946 and 1950 . The German first edition appeared in 1972 in a translation by Thomas Schlück by Marion von Schröder Verlag . The Mars chronicles are considered classics of science fiction .

content

The Mars Chronicles describe a fictitious colonization of the planet Mars from 1999 to 2026 . Three phases can be distinguished: First, the space travelers come on exploration missions. Then the first pioneers try to gain a foothold until Mars has been prepared to such an extent that outsiders will later emigrate to Mars and seniors want to spend their old age there. Ultimately, the chaos of war on Earth causes the Martians to leave the planet until the last survivors of a nuclear war later seek refuge on Mars. The colonization of Mars is told with strong parallels to the conquest of America after the discovery by Columbus.

January 1999 to April 2000: Various space missions make their way to Mars. Their crews disappear without a trace. You meet Martians who get rid of the Earthlings in a sometimes strange way.

The Martian Yll shoots two spacemen from the first mission out of jealousy: his wife Ylla had seen the mission approach with her telepathic abilities and Yll told how the mission commander kissed her.

There is a mental illness on Mars that manifests itself in the sick person creating illusions. The commander of the second mission is admitted to a mental hospital as a supposedly ill person, where the attending doctor congratulates him on his madness, since the commander can "create" both a spaceship and a crew. The doctor kills the apparently incurable patient, when the crew does not disappear, he also shoots them and then himself, believing that he is also infected.

The third Mars mission is actively fought by the Martians. The 16 men land in an area that corresponds to a small American town from 1926. First they have to find their way around and clarify whether they have landed back on earth by mistake, whether they have made a journey through time or whether there have been secret missions to Mars in the past, whose crew created a second earth here. Before they can draw any further conclusions, each of the crew members in the small town meets a long-dead relative or acquaintance who invites them over and stays with them. The small town, however, is a hallucination created by the Martians from the memories and desires of the Earthlings. Nobody survives the overnight stay.

June 2001: The 20 men of the fourth expedition find a collapsed Mars civilization. The cities are deserted, with thousands of Martians dead in some. The accompanying doctor determines the cause of death: chickenpox . One of the past three expeditions must have introduced this childhood disease. Archaeologist Jeff Spender does not like the behavior of his colleagues: The Martian civilization must have been very peaceful, and his colleagues behave like barbarians. He fears that although people want to start a new life on the planet Mars, they still bring all the problems with them, including violence and war. Spender delves into the legacies of the Martians: their art, music, literature. He wants to delay the arrival of the people. There is a confrontation with the crew. Spender shoots some crew members, including Cherokee, a man of Indian descent. He hoped in vain to understand his fears from him: that people would be preparing to conquer Mars as they did when America was colonized. Commandant Wilder, who understands donors, shoots him in the end.

August 2001 to February 2002: The first settlers advance on Mars. They transform the Martian soil into green meadows and forests - they brought saplings and seeds with them from the earth. The first mining towns emerge. The people set themselves up at home: 90,000 people inhabit the Martian colonies.

August 2002: The person Tomas Gomez and the Martian Muhe Ca meet with their vehicles on a lonely route. They can communicate in English, but they do not understand each other: When greeting with a handshake, their hands reach through the other as if through fog. Each of the two sees their own civilization still alive and that of the other destroyed or nonexistent. It is a meeting of two civilizations from different times. They want to get to know each other better, but they know that this is beyond their experience.

October 2002 to June 2003: After the settlers, all kinds of other people, mostly US Americans, come to Mars while wars threaten or break out on Earth. Americans are copying their homeland: some cities on Mars look like they're in Iowa. Then the marginalized and humiliated on earth come to Mars: the blacks emigrate from the USA. What remains are white people who now have to do the services and handwork of the previously humiliated themselves.

2004 to 2005: Mars becomes a travel destination for the wealthy. Laws and bureaucracy are taking hold.

William Stendahl is a fan of fantastic literature, which has been banned on earth since 1975. He has a haunted castle built on Mars , where fantastic dreams can be lived out. But he's just waiting for the officials to tear down the lock again. During a masked ball, all opponents of freedom of expression, censors and book burners, as well as representatives of the authorities, are killed by him. The lock then collapses. The book burning is a reference to Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451 . There are other allusions to Edgar Allan Poe .

Mars is now so life-friendly that old people are also moving. The old LaFarge couple spends their twilight years on Mars and thinks they recognize their son Tom, who died on earth, in a Martian. The Martian takes the form that humans wish to see in him. When the couple go into town with Tom, the drama takes its course: everyone sees the Martian as someone else, everyone wants to keep him to themselves. In the end, the Martian dies exhausted.

The people of Mars hear rumors of an impending nuclear war on Earth. Some are preparing to return to their homeland to help those who have stayed behind. Sam Parkhill from the crew of the fourth Mars mission runs the first sausage stand on Mars. He made the acquaintance of Martians who bequeathed him the land rights of half of Mars. He feels like Croesus, but realizes that the land is of no use to him: With others he observes a burning earth in the firmament. The nuclear war has broken out. The countries of the world call for help, the Mars colonists follow. Mars is depopulating. Only a handful of people who have not noticed the wave of return trips stay behind.

2026: Mr. Hathaway, the doctor on the fourth mission to Mars, performs the daily ritual of staring at the sky with his wife and three children to see whether a spaceship is coming from Earth. He missed the wave of return trips. But first, Captain Wilder comes back from a 20-year mission to Jupiter - he too without news from Earth. Wilder is irritated because, unlike Hathaway, the wife and children have not aged. Hathaway dies of heart failure and Wilder is confirmed that the other four family members are androids . Hathaway built this after his loved ones died of a virus in 2007. Wilder leaves the androids on Mars, who have continued the daily ritual ever since.

The earth's civilization was wiped out by nuclear war. But few families were able to save themselves to Mars with their space shuttles. William Thomas disguised the escape to Mars as a family outing. On the red planet, he declares himself to the family: They will never return to earth. He destroys the space shuttle. Now they hope that the other families will also arrive. When the children wanted their father to show them the promised Martians, the father pointed to the reflections of their heads in the water. The earth is no longer habitable. The people on Mars are now Martians.

intention

The Mars Chronicles draw attention to dangers that can and have occurred when different cultures meet. Bradbury shows this in his book using an extreme case, the confrontation of an alien species with the human. The work can be seen as a dystopia .

Beyond the representational level, the work shows numerous allegorical and symbolic references and ultimately depicts the abysses of human behavior, the hopelessness of the longing and will of the "earth citizens" in sometimes bizarre, sometimes oppressive images. The Martians seem more like mirror images of people than to be a substantially different species altogether. They do not emerge as independently thinking beings and are rather marginalized by the problematic human characters as protagonists. So the novel is a novel about people. The earth man Hathaway, who lives on Mars and who after the death of his family in the form of robots, embodies the loneliness of modern humans, who surround themselves with more and more technology, but experience less and less closeness.

Mars as a projection surface for human eruption fantasies falls into a trap, especially at the beginning of the "Mars Chronicles", later more and more into a metaphor of the hopelessness of human utopia .

criticism

Even if everything else he wrote disappeared, Bradbury would be an important figure in the history of science fiction just because of the "Mars Chronicles".

Isaac Asimov

I think I've read everything Ray Bradbury ever wrote. I've wanted to film the "Mars Chronicles" ever since I read the book. I am a science fiction fan. Actually, I'm only interested in supernatural and fantastic stories. This is my religion.

Federico Fellini

Both quoted from Ray Bradbury: The Christmas Present and Other Christmas Stories. Selected by Daniel Keel and Daniel Kampa , Zurich (Diogenes) 2008, p. 73.

filming

The book was filmed in 1979 as a three-part mini-series. Rock Hudson was seen in one of the leading roles . The series was broadcast on April 3, 1983 (Part 1: The Expeditions - The Expeditions), April 4, 1983 (Part 2: The Settlers - The Settlers) and April 6, 1983 (Part 3: The Martians - The Martians) in ZDF . The German first broadcast was severely shortened. In 1992 a heavily abridged compilation of the mini-series was released on video under the title Die Reise zum Mars .

During the breaks in the early afternoon in the 1980s, ZDF broadcast a short English and German-language excerpt from this series as a trailer for the newly introduced two-channel sound: A scene with Maria Schell and the recurring words ("You are not David - You are not David "). On February 25, 2011, the series was released in full in Germany on DVD by Koch Media .

Since it deviated considerably from the original literature and was artistically unsatisfactory, there was clear criticism in the lexicon of science fiction films : " The film, which is supposedly produced with great effort, also suffers from extreme sloppiness: the tricks are childish and transparent at first glance, the decoration unimaginative and ridiculous. The behavior of the characters ... is naive and implausible: when they are not reciting flat dialogues, they walk around like sleepwalkers, throwing puzzled looks around them and pretending that tailoring faces can replace facial expressions. The production, which was rewarded with great advance praise, turned out to be a huge blow: Ray Bradbury described it as an insult to the thinking person. "

additional

In an English edition from 1997, the period of colonization has been postponed by 31 years to 2030-2057.

In June 2008, Diogenes Verlag published a revised translation of the 1997 Mars Chronicles reviewed and updated by Ray Bradbury. This issue contains several new short stories.

In 2015, the theater and radio writer Christoph Tiemann wrote a stage version that was staged by Alban Renz in Münster and performed with " Cactus Young Theater ".

bibliography

expenditure

  • US first edition: The Martian Chronicles. Doubleday, 1950
  • UK first edition: The Silver Locusts. Hart-Davis, 1951 (text differs from the US edition; contains The Fire Balloons ; Carnival of Madness / Usher II is missing)
  • The Martian Chronicles. Bantam Books, 1951 (from this edition title of the stories with dates).
  • The Martian Chronicles. Book-of-the-Month Club, 2001, ISBN 0-9650174-6-X (in this edition the times have been put forward 31 years).
  • The Martian Chronicles: The Complete Edition. Subterranean Press & PS Publishing, 2009, 978-1-59606-286-3 (limited luxury edition with additional material).
German editions
  • Mars Chronicles. Translated by Thomas Schlück . Marion von Schröder (Science Fiction & Fantastica), 1972, ISBN 3-547-71505-9 .
  • The Mars Chronicles. Translated by Thomas Schlück. Heyne Science Fiction & Fantasy # 3410, 1974, ISBN 3-453-30280-X .
  • The Mars Chronicles. Translated by Thomas Schlück and Alfons Barth. Diogenes (detebe # 20863), 1981, ISBN 3-257-20863-4 .
  • The Mars Chronicles. Translated by Thomas Schlück u. a. Diogenes, 2008, ISBN 978-3-257-06653-1 .

Single stories

  • The Watchers (in: Weird Tales, May 1945 ; also: November 2005: The Watchers , 1951; also: November 2036: The Watchers , 2001)
    • German: The Observer. In: Kurt Singer and Robert Bloch (eds.): The visitor from the dark. Heyne General Series # 935, 1972. Also as: November 2005: The audience. In: Ray Bradbury: Mars Chronicles. 1972. Also as: November 2036: The audience. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 2008.
  • The Million Year Picnic (in: Planet Stories, Summer 1946 ; also: October 2026: The Million-Year Picnic , 1951; also: October 2057: The Million-Year Picnic , 2001)
    • German: October 2026: The Eternal Picnic. In: Ray Bradbury: Mars Chronicles. 1972. Also as: October 2026: The Millions of Years Picnic. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 1981. Also as: October 2057: The Infinite Picnic. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 2008. Also called: The Million Years Picnic. In: Ray Bradbury: S is for Space: Masterful Stories. 2017.
  • Interim (1947, in: Ray Bradbury: Dark Carnival ; also: February 2003: Interim , 1951; also: The Interim , 2009; also: February 2034: Interim , 2001)
    • German: February 2003: Interim. In: Ray Bradbury: Mars Chronicles. 1972. Also as: February 2034: Interim. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 2008.
  • Rocket Summer (in: Planet Stories, Spring 1947 ; also: January 1999: Rocket Summer , 1951; also: January 2030: Rocket Summer , 2001)
    • German: January 1999: Rocket Summer. In: Ray Bradbury: Mars Chronicles. 1972. Also called: January 2030: Rocket Summer. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 2008.
  • … And the Moon Be Still As Bright (in: Thrilling Wonder Stories, June 1948 ; also: June 2001: And the Moon Be Still As Bright , 2003; also: June 2032: —And the Moon Be Still As Bright , 2001)
    • German: June 2001: And the moon shone with all splendor. In: Ray Bradbury: Mars Chronicles. 1972. Also as: June 2001: The moon shines in bright splendor. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 1974. Also as: June 2001:… so bright the splendor of the moon. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 1981. Also as: June 2032:… so bright the splendor of the moon. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 2008.
  • The Earth Men (in: Thrilling Wonder Stories, August 1948 ; also: August 1999: The Earth Men , 1951; also: August 2030: The Earth Men , 2001)
    • German: August 1999: The Men from Earth. In: Ray Bradbury: Mars Chronicles. 1972. Also as: August 2030: The Men from Earth. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 2008.
  • Mars is Heaven! (in: Planet Stories, Fall 1948 ; also: The Third Expedition , 1950; also: April 2000: The Third Expedition , 1951; also: The Third Expedition: April 2000 , 2000; also: April 2031: The Third Expedition , 2001)
    • German: April 2000: The Third Expedition. In: Ray Bradbury: Mars Chronicles. 1972. Also as: April 2031: The Third Expedition. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 2008. Also called: Heaven on Mars. In: Robert Silverberg (Ed.): Science Fiction Hall of Fame 2: The best stories 1948-1963. Golkonda (General Series # 156), 2018, ISBN 978-3-944720-56-2 .
  • The Off Season (in: Thrilling Wonder Stories, December 1948 ; also: November 2005: The Off Season , 1951; also: November 2036: The Off Season , 2001)
    • German: November 2005: Bad season. In: Ray Bradbury: Mars Chronicles. 1972. Also as: November 2036: Bad season. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 2008.
  • Dwellers in Silence (in: Planet Stories, Spring 1949 ; also: The Long Years , 1950; also: April 2026: The Long Years , 1951; also: April 2057: The Long Years , 2001)
    • German: April 2026: The Long Years. In: Ray Bradbury: Mars Chronicles. 1972. Also as: April 2057: The Long Years. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 2008.
  • Impossible (in: Super Science Stories, November 1949 ; also: The Martian , 1951; also: September 2005: The Martian , 1951; also: September 2036: The Martian , 2001)
    • German: September 2005: The Martian. In: Ray Bradbury: Mars Chronicles. 1972. Also as: September 2036: The Martian. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 2008.
  • The Spring Night (in: The Arkham Sampler, Winter 1949 ; also: The Summer Night , 1951; also: August 1999: The Summer Night , 1951; also: August 2030: Summer Night , 2001)
    • German: August 1999: The summer night. In: Ray Bradbury: Mars Chronicles. 1972. Also as: August 2030: The Summer Night. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 2008.
  • The Green Morning (1950, in: Ray Bradbury: The Martian Chronicles ; also: December 2001: The Green Morning , 1951; also: December 2032: The Green Morning , 2001)
    • German: December 2001: The green morning. In: Ray Bradbury: Mars Chronicles. 1972. Also as: December 2032: The green morning. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 2008.
  • The Locusts (1950, in: Ray Bradbury: The Martian Chronicles ; also: February 2002: The Locusts , 1951; also: February 2033: The Locusts , 2001)
    • German: February 2002: The Locusts. In: Ray Bradbury: Mars Chronicles. 1972. Also as: February 2033: The Locusts. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 2008.
  • The Luggage Store (1950, in: Ray Bradbury: The Martian Chronicles ; also: November 2005: The Luggage Store , 1951; also: November 2036: The Luggage Store , 2001)
    • German: November 2005: The luggage shop. In: Ray Bradbury: Mars Chronicles. 1972. Also as: November 2036: The suitcase shop. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 2008.
  • The Musicians (1950, in: Ray Bradbury: The Martian Chronicles ; also: April 2003: The Musicians , 1951; also: April 2034: The Musicians , 2001)
    • German: April 2003: The Musicians. In: Ray Bradbury: Mars Chronicles. 1972. Also as: April 2034: The Musicians. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 2008.
  • The Naming of Names (1950, in: Ray Bradbury: The Martian Chronicles ; also: 2004-05: The Naming of Names , 1951; also: 2035-2036: The Naming of Names , 2001)
    • German: 2004-2005: the names. In: Ray Bradbury: Mars Chronicles. 1972. Also as: 2004-2005: The naming of names. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 1981. Also as: 2035 - 2036: The naming of names. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 2008.
  • Night Meeting (1950, in: Ray Bradbury: The Martian Chronicles ; also: August 2002: Night Meeting , 1951; also: August 2033: Night Meeting , 2001)
    • German: August 2002: Nocturnal Encounters. In: Ray Bradbury: Mars Chronicles. 1972. Also as: August 2033: Nocturnal Encounters. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 2008.
  • The Old Ones (1950, in: Ray Bradbury: The Martian Chronicles ; also: August 2005: The Old Ones , 1951; also: August 2036: The Old Ones , 2001)
    • German: August 2005: The Old. In: Ray Bradbury: Mars Chronicles. 1972. Also as: August 2036: Die Alten. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 2008.
  • The Settlers (1950, in: Ray Bradbury: The Martian Chronicles ; also: August 2001: The Settlers , 1951; also: August 2032: The Settlers , 2001)
    • German: August 2001: The Settlers. In: Ray Bradbury: Mars Chronicles. 1972. Also as: August 2032: Die Siedler. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 2008.
  • The Shore (1950, in: Ray Bradbury: The Martian Chronicles ; also: October 2002: The Shore , 1951; also: October 2033: The Shore , 2001)
    • German: October 2002: The shore. In: Ray Bradbury: Mars Chronicles. 1972. Also as: October 2033: Das Ufer. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 2008.
  • The Silent Towns (1950, in: Ray Bradbury: The Martian Chronicles ; also: December 2005: The Silent Towns , 1951; also: December 2036: The Silent Towns , 2001)
    • German: December 2005: The Empty Cities. In: Ray Bradbury: Mars Chronicles. 1972. Also as: December 2005: The silent cities. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 1981. Also as: December 2036: The silent cities. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 2008.
  • The Taxpayer (1950, in: Ray Bradbury: The Martian Chronicles ; also: March 2000: The Taxpayer , 1951; also: March 2031: The Taxpayer , 2001)
    • German: March 2000: The Taxpayer. In: Ray Bradbury: Mars Chronicles. 1972. Also called: March 2031: The Taxpayer. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 2008.
  • There Will Come Soft Rains (in: Collier's, May 6, 1950 ; also: August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains , 1951; also: August 2057: There Will Come Soft Rains , 2001)
    • German: There will be light rain. In: Utopia Science Fiction Magazine, # 6. Pabel, 1957. Also as: August 2026: There will be light rain. In: Ray Bradbury: Mars Chronicles. 1972. Also as: August 2026: Gentle rain will come. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 1981. Also called: Gentle rain will fall. In: Josh Pachter (ed.): Top Science Fiction: Third Part. Heyne Science Fiction & Fantasy # 4654, 1990, ISBN 3-453-03918-1 . Also as: August 2057: Gentle rains will come. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 2008.
  • Carnival of Madness (in: Thrilling Wonder Stories, April 1950 ; also: Usher II , 1952; also: April 2005: Usher II , 1951; also: April 2036: Usher II , 2001)
    • German: April 2005: Usher II. In: Ray Bradbury: Mars Chronicles. 1972. Also as: April 2005: Ascher II. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 1974. Also as: April 2036: Usher II. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 2008.
  • Way in the Middle of the Air (1950, in: Ray Bradbury: The Martian Chronicles ; also: June 2003: Way in the Middle of the Air , 1951; also: Way Up in the Middle of the Air , 1985)
    • German: June 2003: With your head in the clouds. In: Ray Bradbury: Mars Chronicles. 1972. Also as: June 2003: Up there, in the middle of the air. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 1981. Also as: June 2034: Up there, in the middle of the air. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 2008.
  • I'll Not Look for Wine (in: Maclean's, January 1950 ; also: Ylla , 1966; also: The Martian Chronicles , 1996; also: February 1999: Ylla , 1951; also: February 2030: Ylla , 2001)
    • German: February 1999: Ylla. In: Ray Bradbury: Mars Chronicles. 1972. Also as: Ylla. In: Wolfgang Jeschke (Ed.): Fernes Licht. Heyne Science Fiction & Fantasy # 2100, 2000, ISBN 3-453-17117-9 . Also as: February 2030: Ylla. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 2008.
  • The Fire Balloons (1951, in: Ray Bradbury: The Illustrated Man ; also: In This Sign , 1953; also: "In This Sign ..." ; also: November 2002: The Fire Balloons , 1956; also: November 2033: The Fire Balloons , 2001)
    • German: Die Feuerballons. In: Ray Bradbury: The Illustrated Man. 1962. Also as: November 2033: The fire balloons. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 2008.
  • The Wilderness (in: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, November 1952 ; also: May 2003: The Wilderness , 1979; also: May 2034: The Wilderness , 2001)
    • German: The wilderness. In: Ray Bradbury: Don't walk through quiet streets. 1970. Also as: May 2034: The Wilderness. In: Ray Bradbury: The Mars Chronicles. 2008.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b OFDb entry
  2. ^ Ronald M. Hahn / Volker Jansen: Lexicon of Science Fiction Films. 720 films from 1902 to 1983 , Munich (Heyne) 1983, p. 344.
  3. ^ The Mars Chronicles after Ray Bradbury . Website by Christoph Tiemann. Retrieved December 29, 2019.