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Publication history

The concept started with Bradbury's short story "FireMan," written in 1947 but first published in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1963.^[4] The original short story was reworked into the novella The Fireman, and published in the February 1951 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction. The novel was also serialized in the March, April, and May 1954 issues of Playboy magazine.^[5] Bradbury wrote the entire novel on a pay typewriter in the basement of UCLA's Powell Library. His original intention in writing Fahrenheit 451 was to show his great love for books and libraries.^[6] He has often referred to Montag as an allusion to himself.^{[citation needed]}

Over the years, the novel has been subject to various interpretations, primarily focusing on the historical role of book burning in suppressing dissenting ideas. Bradbury has stated that the novel is not about censorship, but is a story of how television destroys interest in reading literature, leading to a replacement of knowledge with "factoids", partial information devoid of context, such as Napoleon's birth date with no explanation of who he was.^[7][8]

A movie version of the novel was released in 1966. At least two BBC Radio 4 dramatizations have also been aired, both of which follow the book very closely. A new movie version is in pre-production, and is scheduled for release in 2012.