Fahrenheit 451, Illustrated

Still on vacation, but wanted to post a link to Sarah Boxer's weird little review of the graphic novel adaptation of Ray Bradbury's classic novel Fahrenheit 451. I can't decide whether Boxer is in favor of a graphic novel adaptation or against it:

It turns out that Bradbury has another alter ego in Fahrenheit 451—a scholar named Faber, who helps the fireman Montag leave the book-burning business. And here is his take on printed books: "Books were only one type of receptacle where we stored a lot of things we were afraid we might forget. There is nothing magical in them at all." Pow! Take that, books! If we want to hold onto books in some form, we have to let go of the idea that there is an ideal form for books.

It's tempting to say that Bradbury, speaking through Faber, was foreseeing the great shift from print to pixel 56 years ago. Maybe, maybe not. But I'm guessing that Bradbury might not mind seeing a nonprint, totally digital edition of Fahrenheit 451. If and when Fahrenheit 451 does come out in a Kindle edition, then the progression from printed book to condensed script to comic book to kindling will, at last, be complete. Beatty and Faber will both be right.