This article aims to reflect on the role of myth in science fiction narrative, namely on the specific forms it may take in utopian/dystopian fiction, such as Fahrenheit 451 (1953) by Ray Bradbury. The personal development of the main character, Guy Montag, constitutes the focus of this analysis, by which we aim to shed some light on the relation between the meaning of the novel and the Promethean features he evinces in the context of a dystopian novel. The symbolic power of fire and of books is also of core relevance to this study, not only because they highlight the hero's inheritance of the Promethean myth, but also because they provide a deeper insight into the exegetic possibilities of dystopian fiction.

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