Subject: Re: (urth) "Petting Zoo"

From: Matthew Davis <matthew at michaelscycles.freeserve.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 25 Mar 2002 14:28:43 +0000

I suspect the book you're thinking of is "Danny and the Dinosaur" and its
subsequent follow-ups by Syd Hoff.

"Petting Zoo" struck me as Wolfe working in the Ray Bradbury vein, but maybe
that's just me.

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From: Michael Andre-Driussi <mantis at siriusfiction.com>
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2002 02:07:33 +0000

>"Petting Zoo" struck me as Wolfe working in the Ray Bradbury vein, but maybe

I went to the library to check.  Yep, that's the one.  Thanks!

Danny/Dinosaur, alliterative like Rodrick/Rex.  Danny says, "Let's go."
The adult who sees them and stares is a policeman who sees Dinosaur stop at
a red light.  Later on Dinosaur gives rides to all the kids that are
Danny's friends.

So it is this book, plus Calvin of "Calvin & Hobbes" (with his
city-destroying monster daydreams) or Bart Simpson (Bart buys a sponge
t.rex from a bubblegum machine, and as he puts the water from the garden
hose on it he has visions of it becoming life-sized) or Dennis the Menace.
The boy single-handedly creates a monster ala Jurassic Park but the
creature is really just a big Barney and that's okay.  But the petting zoo
is sad, and both characters are sad for each other (but not sad for
themselves).

Hmm, Bradbury.  From my perspective, Bradbury stories about childhood are
either nostalgic for a real (more authentic) past (Bradbury's childhood
years) or dread for a nightmarish present/future from around 1960 onward
("The Playground," "The Little Assassin," eek, these two are quite
Ballardian).

So "Petting Zoo" would be an inversion of Bradbury (at least my sense there
of): nostalgia for the future from a point a few decades later.  Definitely
a sense of things being "more authentic" in the earlier stage, even though
we think it is funny for how much less-authentic it is from our situation.
A funny story, really funny.

=mantis=

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From: Dan'l Danehy-Oakes <ddanehy at siebel.com>
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2002 17:08:46 +0000

> ("The Playground," "The Little Assassin," eek, these two are quite

Ummmm... well, "The Small Assassin" was written _well_ before '60, and
(if I'm not mistaken) appeared in Bradbury's first collection, "Dark
Carnival." Indeed, a number of Bradbury's childhood stories are 
exaggerations/portrayals of the very real dreads children feel - i.e.,
"Fever Dream." 

The nostalgic element you mention (summed up in DANDELION WINE) is 
neatly combined with the "childhood fears" element in at least two of
Bradbury's finest novels: SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES (ignore the
movie) and THE HALLOWE'EN TREE.

--Dan'l

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From: Michael Andre-Driussi <mantis at siriusfiction.com>
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2002 21:46:54 +0000

>exaggerations/portrayals of the very real dreads children feel - i.e.,

I wrote 1960s when I really wanted to convey the unbounded time past the
Bradbury childhood decade.  I didn't mean to suggest that "The Small
Assassin" was written in any particular time, but that it represented a
contemporary or near-future setting that was horrific, in contrast to the
melancholy sweetness of the authentic childhood time.

>movie) and THE HALLOWE'EN TREE.

As a matter of fact, as I was keying in the original post I did check
myself against SWTWC, and found myself still in agreement.  While I read it
ages ago, I've never degraded its memory with a movie version.  Yes, it is
frightening, but it is the fear of an evil intrusion upon the golden land
of the authentic childhood rather than the hopelessness of living in a
demonic world of the less authentic present/near future.

That is, my sense of it is that its horror elements no more change the
overall picture than the frightful/ugly bits change the idyll of
HUCKLEBERRY FINN.

But more to the point, "Small Assassin" and "The Playground" are more about
the adult's fears/perceptions about children/childhood in the less
authentic present/near-future; and this has direct bearing upon "Petting
Zoo."

It is just my vague opinion.  I'm not a Bradbury expert at all, and if you
manage to come up with a body of short stories that I have already read
(and can remember!) that contradicts what I'm saying here, then I will
gladly agree with you.

Or you can read "Petting Zoo" and see whether it perfectly matches your
personal sense of Bradbury stories.

Mainly you should read "Petting Zoo."  I like it a lot!  After all this
build up  you are bound to hate it, alas.

=mantis=

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