The Illustrated Man
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The Illustrated Man is a 1951 book of eighteen science fiction short stories by Ray Bradbury that explores the nature of mankind. A recurring theme throughout the eighteen stories is the conflict of the cold mechanics of technology and the psychology of people. It was nominated for the International Fantasy Award in 1952.
The unrelated stories are tied together by the frame device of "the Illustrated Man," a vagrant with a tattooed body whom the unnamed narrator meets. The man's tattoos, allegedly created by a time-traveling woman, are animated and each tell a different tale. All but one of the stories had been published previously elsewhere, although Bradbury revised some of the texts for the book's publication.
The book was made into the 1969 film starring Rod Steiger and Claire Bloom, adapted from the stories "The Veldt," "The Long Rain," and "The Last Night of the World."
A number of the stories, including "The Veldt," "The Fox and the Forest" (as "To the Future"), "Marionettes, Inc.," and "Zero Hour" were dramatized for the 1955-57 radio series X Minus One. "The Veldt," "The Concrete Mixer," "The Long Rain," "Zero Hour," and "Marionettes Inc." were adapted for the TV series The Ray Bradbury Theater.
