Farewell Summer ~ Ray Bradbury - Marimarister

primitive version The Blue Remembered Hills . The original title for what would become
Dandelion Wine was Summer Morning, Summer Night . Even all those years ago, I had a title
ready for this unborn book: Farewell Summer .
So, it has taken all these years for the second part of Dandelion Wine to evolve to a point
where I felt it was correct to send it out into the world. During the ensuing years, I waited for
those parts of the novel to attract further ideas and further metaphors to add richness to the text.
Surprise is everything with me. When I go to bed at night I give myself instructions to
startle myself when I wake in the morning. That was one of the great adventures in letting this
novel evolve: my instructions at night and my being startled in the morning by revelations.
The influence of my grandparents and my aunt, Neva Bradbury, is in evidence all through
the narrative. My grandfather was a very wise and patient man, who knew the importance of
showing, not simply telling. My grandmother was a wonderful woman who had an innate
understanding of what made boys tick. And my aunt Neva was the guardian and gardener of the
metaphors that became me. She saw to it that I was fed all the best fairy tales, poetry, cinema,
and theater, so that I was continually in a fever about life and eager to write it all down. Today,
all these years later, I still feel in the writing process that she is looking over my shoulder and
beaming with pride.
Beyond that there is very little to add except that I‘m glad that the long haul of writing
this novel is finished and I hope that there is pleasure in it for everyone. It has been a great
pleasure for me, to revisit my beloved Green Town—to gaze up at the haunted house, to hear the
deep gongs of the courthouse clock, to run through the ravine, to be kissed by a girl for the first
time, and to listen to and learn from the wisdom of those who have gone before.
The End