Ray Bradbury gained critical acclaim early in his career, with the publication of The Martian Chronicles. This was an unusual situation because Bradbury was writing in the science fiction genre, a genre not usually very well-respected among the literary elite. Despite this, he was able to break through the prejudice and win many admirers. As Willis E. McNelly states in Voices for the Future,

Ray Bradbury, hailed as a stylist and a visionary by critics such as Gilbert Highet and authors such as Aldous Huxley and Christopher Isherwood, remained for years the darling, almost the house pet, of a literary establishment other wise (sic) unwilling to admit any quality in the technological and scientific projections known as science fiction.

In fact, it was Isherwood's praise of The Martian Chronicles that first propelled Bradbury into the limelight and helped him find a wider audience of dedicated fans...