PSYCHOLOGICAL REALISM AND DYSTOPIAN VISION IN RAY BRADBURY’S WORKS

Abstract

This article examines the poetics of artistic psychologism as it manifests in the science fiction of Ray Bradbury, with particular emphasis on Fahrenheit 451 (1953), The Martian Chronicles (1950), and the short story collections Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962). The study argues that Bradbury deploys psychological realism not merely as a stylistic device but as a structural mechanism through which dystopian anxiety, memory, and identity are interrogated. Drawing on Freudian theory, narratological frameworks, and cognitive literary studies, the article demonstrates that Bradbury’s narratives construct psychological landscapes in which the inner life of characters becomes the primary arena of ideological conflict. The analysis further situates Bradbury within the broader tradition of American science fiction, showing how his engagement with artistic psychologism distinguishes his work from the techno-deterministic conventions of the genre.