Green Shadows, White Whale

• Main Author: Eller, Jonathan R.
• Format: Book Part
• Language: unknown
• Published: University of Illinois Press 2020
• Subjects: White whale
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.5622/illinois/9780252043413.003.0030

In 1991 Bradbury was able to combine his various stories of Ireland with bridges that told the tale of his Irish adventures writing the Moby Dick screenplay for John Huston in 1953-1954 to form the autobiographical novel Green Shadows, White Whale. Chapter 29 describes how Bradbury was able to merge these complex projects by revisiting the rough winter he spent under Huston’s demanding direction. In the process, Bradbury was able to capture the defining spirit of the Ireland he knew with good humor and only a touch of satire. Bradbury loved the beauty of the countryside and the people, but he would never return. The chapter analyzes this ambivalence through Bradbury’s reflective poem “To Ireland,” and concludes with the comments that Bradbury offered at the 1991 memorial service for his friend Gene Roddenberry.