“The Veldt,” by Ray Bradbury
In the Saturday Evening Post, September 23rd, 1950, under the rather inferior title “The World the Children Made”; collected in The Illustrated Man (1951); I first read it in American Gothic Tales, edited by Joyce Carol Oates (Plume, 1996); reprinted in Sensitive Skin here; read by Stephen Colbert for Selected Shorts, Episode 44, in 2010; read very effectively by Scott Miller for The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, Episode 176, January 30th, 2024; also adapted into multiple movies and plays and things
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I find it interesting how the hysterical-sounding Lydia is the quickest to perceive, intuitively, the badness of the nursery and the house—though of course she’s also the one who weakens in the face of the children’s tantrum. It’s a male psychologist who explains what’s going on with the kids, and George who makes the big decisions.
A fine tale, even if some aspects come across as quaint and dated now. As in “There Will Come Soft Rains,” Bradbury anticipates smart houses that do everything for you.
The original title probably says too much about the subject of the story; “The Veldt” is starker and less obvious.
The names of the children are…a little on the nose? Maybe? J. M. Barrie, in his famous novel, described children as “gay and innocent and heartless.”
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