The Wilderness (short story)
Encyclopedia
"The Wilderness" is a science fiction
short story
by Ray Bradbury
first published in 1952 in his collection The Golden Apples of the Sun
.
The year is 2003, and Janice and Leonora are spending their last days on Earth before leaving for Mars to join Janice's husband Will. While having mixed feelings at first, Janice slowly reveals throughout the story that she is more and more willing to join her husband on Mars while still lamenting about leaving behind all that is on earth. Janice and Leonora also lament on the second-hand role played by women in exploration and similar situations (i.e. conquest of Western America).
and McComas
described the story as one Bradbury's best works, a "heartwarming picture of the girls we can never leave behind us, whatever far boundaries we reach."
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
by Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
first published in 1952 in his collection The Golden Apples of the Sun
The Golden Apples of the Sun
The Golden Apples of the Sun is an anthology of 22 short stories by Ray Bradbury; it was first published in 1953.The book's namesake is one of the short stories in the collection. Bradbury drew the title for the story from the last line of the final stanza to W. B...
.
The year is 2003, and Janice and Leonora are spending their last days on Earth before leaving for Mars to join Janice's husband Will. While having mixed feelings at first, Janice slowly reveals throughout the story that she is more and more willing to join her husband on Mars while still lamenting about leaving behind all that is on earth. Janice and Leonora also lament on the second-hand role played by women in exploration and similar situations (i.e. conquest of Western America).
Reception
BoucherAnthony Boucher
Anthony Boucher was an American science fiction editor and author of mystery novels and short stories. He was particularly influential as an editor. Between 1942 and 1947 he acted as reviewer of mostly mystery fiction for the San Francisco Chronicle...
and McComas
J. Francis McComas
Jesse Francis McComas was an American science fiction editor. McComas wrote several stories on his own in the 1950s using both his own name and the pseudonym Webb Marlowe....
described the story as one Bradbury's best works, a "heartwarming picture of the girls we can never leave behind us, whatever far boundaries we reach."