Bradbury's observation about "Pillar of Fire" (1948) begs the questions: What are the social and/or economic forces that caused such a thematic obsession to emerge in Bradbury's work from the period 1948-53? Why are only books of imagination, fantasy, and the macabre and occult threatened in "Pillar of Fire"?
Works by fantasists are also threatened in Bradbury's story "Usher II" (1950), which appears in The Martian Chronicles (1950). "Pillar of Fire" thus becomes a rehearsal for the themes of "Usher II," and the latter story appears to inhabit the same imaginative realm as does "The Firemen" published in 1951. ("The Firemen" was written during the same period as "Usher II" and is copyrighted 1950.) Indeed, the character of William Lantry in "Pillar of Fire" and the character of William Stendahl in "Usher II" are quite similar, as are the authors whose books are threatened — Poe, Bierce, and other American fantasists. Moreover, a Burning Crew is referred to in "Usher II," one that eventually burns Stendahl's beloved library of imaginative literature, and the Burning Crew is obviously a synonym for the firemen in Fahrenheit 451.
The question may be asked in another way: Why is Bradbury sensitive to the popular condemnation of fantasy literature? By extension, this question becomes an issue of the literary merit of works of popular literature. Why is Bradbury particularly sensitive to the critical reception of fantasy literature during the post-World War II period? The question becomes even more problematic when one considers that Bradbury himself was publishing science fiction and fantasy in legitimate magazines, or slicks, such as Colliers and the Saturday Evening Post, not in the pulps, or disreputable magazines. As Peter Nicholls observes, "[Bradbury's] career remains the biggest breakthrough into lush markets made by any genre of writer" (1985).
