À LA RECHERCHE DE L’HUMANITÉ PERDUE – FAHRENHEIT 451
SEARCHING FOR LOST HUMANITY – FAHRENHEIT 451

Summary/Abstract: Searching for lost humanity – Fahrenheit 451. Most of the utopian projects are made round the central ideal of collective and individual happiness. On the other hand, modern capitalist societies are in the pursuit of the same ideal of happiness, as if this were the true and ultimate meaning of human existence. Ray Bradbury’s novel is a dystopia which, by stressing certain tendencies and features of modern society to an extent that renders them grotesque, highlights the possible dangers of focusing the entire activity of a society around this pole of happiness. The wish for a better life is not to be criticized, but the lack of discrimination concerning the idea of happiness is. Pursuing happiness at any cost, especially through technological means, may lead to disastrous consequences. This is why Bradbury's novel, like other dystopias, may be considered a symbolical alarm call concerning mistakes that humanity can make in the pursuit of a better life.

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