"The Wilderness" is a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury (; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of modes, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery, and r ...

first published in the November 1952 issue of '' The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction'', and included in Bradbury's 1953 collection ''

The Golden Apples of the Sun ''The Golden Apples of the Sun'' is an anthology of 22 Short story, short stories by American writer Ray Bradbury. It was published by Doubleday & Company in 1953. The book's title is also the title of the final story in the collection. The w ...

''. The year is 2003, and Janice and Leonora are spending their last days on Earth before leaving for Mars to join Janice's husband Will. While having mixed feelings at first, Janice slowly reveals throughout the story that she is more and more willing to join her husband on Mars while still lamenting about leaving behind all that is on Earth. Janice and Leonora also lament on the second-hand role played by women in exploration and similar situations (i.e. conquest of Western America).

Reception

In ''

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Boucher a ...

'' (1953), Anthony Boucher and

J. Francis McComas Jesse Francis McComas (June 9, 1911 – April 19, 1978) was an American science fiction editor. McComas wrote several stories on his own in the 1950s using both his own name and the pseudonym Webb Marlowe. He entered publishing in 1941 as a sale ...

described the story as one Bradbury's best works, a "heartwarming picture of the girls we can never leave behind us, whatever far boundaries we reach"."Recommended Reading", ''

F&SF ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy fiction magazine, fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence E. Spivak, Lawrence Spiva ...

'', June 1953, p.70

References

External links

* 1952 short stories Short stories by Ray Bradbury Science fiction short stories Fiction set in 2003 {{1950s-sf-story-stub