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Jonathan R. Eller

Born: 1952 in Washington, DC
Pen Name:

Connection to Illinois: Eller is the author of an Illinois subject of interest - Ray Bradbury. He is Ray Bradbury's official biographer and the Director of the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis (UIPUI).

Biography: Jonathan R. Eller is the official Ray Bradbury biographer. He is a Chancellor's Professor of English at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis (UIPUI), the senior textual editor of the Institute for American Thought, and Director of the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies at UIPUI.


Awards:
  • ''Becoming Ray Bradbury'',
  • -- Finalist, Locus Award Best Nonfiction 2011
  • ''Ray Bradbury Unbound'',
  • -- Finalist, Locus Award Best Nonfiction, 2014

Primary Literary Genre(s): Non-Fiction

Primary Audience(s): Adult readers

Web: https://liberalarts.iupui.edu/about/directory/eller-jonathan-r.html
Web: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?27970
Web: http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/eller_jonathan_r
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/J.Eller/
E-Mail: jeller@iupui.edu
WorldCat: http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Jonathan++R.++Eller


Selected Titles

Becoming Ray Bradbury
ISBN: 0252036298 OCLC: 903909121

University of Illinois Press 2011

'Becoming Ray Bradbury' chronicles the making of an iconic American writer. Jonathan R. Eller measures the impact of the authors, artists, illustrators and filmmakers who stimulated Ray Bradbury's imagination throughout his first three decades.

Bradbury Beyond Apollo
ISBN: 0252043413 OCLC: 1142795972

University of Illinois Press 2020

Celebrated storyteller, cultural commentator, friend of astronauts, prophet of the Space Age-by the end of the 1960s, Ray Bradbury had attained a level of fame and success rarely achieved by authors, let alone authors of science fiction and fantasy. He had also embarked on a phase of his career that found him exploring new creative outlets while reinterpreting his classic tales for generations of new fans. Drawing on numerous interviews with Bradbury and privileged access to personal papers and private collections, Jonathan R. Eller examines the often-overlooked second half of Bradbury's working life. As Bradbury's dreams took him into a wider range of nonfiction writing and public lectures, the diminishing time that remained for creative pursuits went toward Hollywood productions like the award-winning series Ray Bradbury Theater. Bradbury developed the Spaceship Earth narration at Disney's EPCOT Center; appeared everywhere from public television to NASA events to comic conventions; published poetry; and mined past triumphs for stage productions that enjoyed mixed success. Distracted from storytelling as he became more famous, Bradbury nonetheless published innovative experiments in autobiography masked as detective novels, the well-received fantasy The Halloween Tree and the masterful time travel story The Toynbee Convector. Yet his embrace of celebrity was often at odds with his passion for writing, and the resulting tension continuously pulled at his sense of self. The revelatory conclusion to the acclaimed three-part biography, Bradbury Beyond Apollo tells the story of an inexhaustible creative force seeking new frontiers--

Ray Bradbury Unbound
ISBN: 025203869X OCLC: 890146454

University of Illinois Press 2014

Fully established in the slick magazines, award-winning, and on the brink of placing Fahrenheit 451 in the American canon, Ray Bradbury entered the autumn of 1953 as a literary figure transcending fantasy and science fiction. Here, author Eller continues the story begun in his acclaimed Becoming Ray Bradbury, following the beloved writer's evolution from a short story master to a multi-media creative force and outspoken visionary. Drawn into screenwriting by the opportunity to adapt Moby Dick for film, Bradbury soon established himself in Hollywood's vast and overlapping film and television empires. The work swallowed up creative energy once devoted to literary pursuits and often left Bradbury frustrated with studio executives. Yet his successes endowed him with the gravitas to emerge as a much-sought-after cultural commentator. His passionate advocacy in Life magazine and other media outlets validated the U.S. space program's mission--a favor repaid when NASA's astronauts gathered to meet Bradbury during his 1967 visit to Houston. Over time, his public addresses and interviews allowed him to assume the role of a dreamer of futures, voicing opinions on technology, the moon landing, and humanity's ultimate destiny. Eller draws on many years of interviews with Bradbury as well as an unprecedented access to personal papers and private collections, to portray the origins and outcomes of Bradbury's countless creative endeavors. The result is the definitive story of how a great American author helped shape his times.--From publisher description.

Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction
ISBN: 0873387791 OCLC: 53131705

Kent State University Press, Kent, Ohio : ©2004.

Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction is the first comprehensive textual, bibliographical, and cultural study of sixty years of Bradbury's fiction. Drawing on correspondence with his publishers, agents, and friends, as well as archival manuscripts, The Life of Fiction examines the story of Bradbury's authorship over more than a half-century, from his earliest writings, which include The Martian Chronicles, to his most recently published novel, Let's All Kill Constance. It shows in detail the often devious and unsuspected interconnections between his unpublished fiction, his story collections, and his most celebrated novels. The Life of Fiction focuses on the nature of Bradbury's authorship, exploring his profound involvement with the life of carnival as a textual process as well as a thematic concern in his writings, and each chapter of this book delves more deeply into how this process of meaning has shaped Bradbury's technique over the years. Bradbury's authorship is finally seen as occupying a unique position in our literary landscape - one that operates on the borders of popular entertainment and serious literature. Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction will be welcomed by Bradbury fans and scholar, adding greatly to the understanding of his work and affecting the way Bradbury is read.--Jacket.

 

 

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