Messageboard
The Village Hall聽 permalink
December Book of the Month Club
This discussion has been closed.
-
Message 1.聽
Posted by Herb Robert (U14072548) on Wednesday, 15th December 2010
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame is this month's book. First published in 1908, it has lost none of its appeal over the years, either for adults or for children. It tells the story of the intertwined adventures of The Badger, The Rat, The Mole and of course Mr Toad. It is completely anthropomorphic (differing in that respect from later "animal" classics such as Watership Down or Tarka the Otter) and the characters may as well be human for all intents and purposes. For example, one of the most famous quotations from the book, which occurs only a few pages in, is when The Rat says "Believe me, my young friend, there is /nothing/ - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."
While each of the characters is interesting and vividly drawn, it is the huge figure of Mr Toad who dominates everything. He is a man (yes, let's use the human terms) who is full of life and is captivated by any passing whim. He is incredibly conceited: "The clever men at Oxford / Know all that there is to be knowed. / But they none of them know one half as much / As intelligent Mr Toad!" he sings to himself. Yet this is all presented with such good humour (and in the certain knowledge that a fall is bound to follow such pride) that we never take offence at him. The author's detached voice helps us here, and most clearly gives us a feeling of what Toad is really like right at the end of the book: "Then he bowed, coughed twice, and, letting himself go, with uplifted voice he sang, to the enraptured audience that his imagination so clearly saw." What a beautiful sentence!
This book brings back such strong memories for me. My own copy is a now much-battered hardback printed in 1954 with the illustrations of Ernest H. Shepard. It is the book, I think, from which I probably learned to read, following the pages as I snuggled into my mother's arms as she read the story out loud. I later found out that she really didn't like reading loud in this way, but even now I can feel the warmth (emotional and physical) of cuddling up and drifting off into this strange world.
And make no mistake, some of this book is very strange. Chapter 7 (The Piper at the Gates of Dawn) during which the Rat and the Mole paddle out into the night is truly magical. The Rat hears a sound "so beautiful and strange and new. Since it was to end so soon, I almost wish I had never heard it. For it has roused a longing in me that is pain, and nothing seems worth while but just to hear that sound once more and then go on listening to it for ever." This strikes me as a very adult passage, but is so poetic that it speaks of a timeless facet of existence that must strike also the consciousness of a young child. Then later, the Mole experiences his own epiphany: "[he] felt a great Awe fall upon him, an awe that turned his muscles to water, bowed his head, and rooted his feet to the ground. It was no panic terror - indeed he felt wonderfully at peace and happy ..." They have stumbled across Pan, and it is a quasi-religious experience for them both: "Afraid? murmured the Rat, his eyes shining with unutterable love ... "O never, never! And yet - and yet - O, Mole, I am afraid!"
Looking again at the book, I am struck by the classical tone of much of the writing (Chapter 5 is called "Dulce Domum," and chapter 12 "The Return of Ulysses"), which must have been rather odd for a young boy to have to deal with. I think it just shows that as a child you accept all sorts of things you don't understand but are led by the poetry of words and events to experience something in them which is beyond yourself.
For the moment, I leave the last word with a sentence from chapter 3 (The Wild Wood): "Such a rich chapter it had been, when one came to look back on it all!" Indeed. -
Message 2
Posted by Herb Robert (U14072548) on Wednesday, 15th December 2010
The rota for 2011 can be found here:
-
Message 3
Posted by Bette (U2222559) on Wednesday, 15th December 2010
That's a lovely introduction, Herb! I'm so glad you chose this book. Having read it, I suspect that what I read when I was young was actually an edited version, as there was so much of the book that I didn't recognise. Of course, when I read it back then, it was Toad that left the lasting impression on me - especially racing around in the car and then dressing up as the washerwoman.
I managed to get a second-hand copy in a book sale here, with illustrations by Harry Hargreaves (who I absolutely loved as cartoonist when was was young ('The Bird' and 'Strictly for the Bird' etc). I like very much his introduction to the book. He explained how hard it was for an illustrator to represent the animals both as animal-size, yet conversing with humans.
I was very sad to read, also in this introduction:
'His adored son (for whom he wrote the stories) progressed to Eton, Wellington and Oxford. In his second year at university he was killed on a level crossing after going for a walk. ... Alastair was buried on his twentieth birthday in May 1920, and Kenneth Grahame's desire to write dissolved.' -
Message 4
Posted by Nemo399 (U14258777) on Wednesday, 15th December 2010
A fan of 'Wind in the Willows' signing in here!
A lovely book, with its mixture of comedy and poignancy. There was a wonderful stage production, scripted by Alan Bennett at the National, years ago.
And Bette--yes, the story of Kenneth Grahame's son is very sad---I remember hearing the play about him on the radio, probably twenty years ago. Here's a link:--
-
Message 5
Posted by Nemo399 (U14258777) on Wednesday, 15th December 2010
Tagging on further, Herb, your first experience of the book sounds very similar to mine! I've got a Methuen hardback edition, circa 1958, with the E.H.Shepard illustrations, that was read to me by my mother. I remember that she didn't like the 'Piper at the Gates of Dawn' chapter, although she loved the rest of the book---in fact, I think she may have left it out and I discovered it for myself later.
I think there was something very Edwardian in the preoccupation with Pan--other writers of the period touched on the theme of this pagan god, although it is unusual in a children's book.
It's definitely a book you can return to and enjoy as an adult, and the Wild Wood remains an unsettling experience. -
Message 6
Posted by Rwth of the Cornovii (U2570790) on Wednesday, 15th December 2010
I just love "The Wind in the Willows!". Indeed I was in "Toad of Toad Hall" playing the part of Marigold who introduces the story. Favourite bits, perhaps too many to mention all, but Mole throwing down his paintbrush seduced by Spring. Hearing Ratty announce the contents of the picnic basket, Mole following Ratty to his hole after the visit to Badger's home and getting very homesick then taking Ratty there and having a good time after all. The four animals working together to reclaim Toad Hall from the Wild wooders. The planning session beforehand and the overwhelming while they are having a celebration of their cleverness in squatting there. Then Ratty having a yearn about travelling far away.
This isn't to say I don't love and warm to all the other bits, it's just thatthe one's I have mentioned are the bits that mean most to me. Without wanting to hog any of the limelight, may I refer you also to the Genres thread about William Horwood who wrote 4 sequels to this wonderful book and didn't spoil it IMHO
-
Message 7
Posted by Rusters (U11225963) on Friday, 17th December 2010
Thank you for introducing this much loved classic, HR. I鈥檝e read the book several times over the years, and had it read to me when I was very little too. In fact, it was probably one of the only children鈥檚 books that my parents actually enjoyed reading to me, as there it can be read on so many levels.
There was a time when I didn鈥檛 enjoy it so much: probably when I was about ten, when I was aware that there was humour and irony which I didn鈥檛 always quite grasp. I must confess, too, that I have always been a bit ambivalent about anthropomorphic characters. This probably says more about me than the book, though: I am not generally keen on non-human animals being 鈥渢ainted鈥 with human!
However, on later reading I came to appreciate how acutely observed the characters were. I do wonder on whom they were based 鈥 I see now that Toad was partly based on KG鈥檚 son Alistair, who later killed himself before his 20th birthday.
Frustratingly, I cannot find my own Wind in the Willows, but the people at my local library have recklessly promised that their copy (they have only one??) should be back with them by the 18th. Weather permitting, I鈥檒l be able to get it straight away.
I鈥檇 forgotten the passage you quoted about Toad : "Then he bowed, coughed twice, and, letting himself go, with uplifted voice he sang, to the enraptured audience that his imagination so clearly saw." Wonderful.
Rusty P.S. I can think of quite a few people, many of them politicians, who remind me of Toad but without his more endearing traits. -
Message 8
Posted by Herb Robert (U14072548) on Saturday, 18th December 2010
Thanks Bette, Nemo, Rwth and Rusters for all you comments. It is lovely to see how fondly this book is remembered.
Since my original post I find that I've been rather haunted by the Piper at the Gates of Dawn chapter and keep peeking back at to to relive the animals' experience of approaching what appears to be the ineffable. It really is almost like the description of a religious experience: "I feel as if I had been through something very exciting and rather terrible, and it was just over; and yet nothing particular has happened" [said the Mole] "Or something very surprising and splendid and beautiful," murmured the Rat ...
Like all (?) religious experience, it appears to be about finding the extraordinary in the ordinary.
Herb -
Message 9
Posted by Bette (U2222559) on Tuesday, 21st December 2010
Hi Herb. I meant to come back earlier on this, but travel woes seemed to get in the way
tbh, the Piper at the Gate of Dawn chapter stuck out like a sore thumb, to me. I know we have very different approaches to spirituality, so I can undestand that others could read that chapter in quite a different way. -
Message 10
Posted by Rusters (U11225963) on Thursday, 30th December 2010
I've just read 'The Wind in the Willows' again (thanks to the library - better late than never) after a longish gap. I'd forgotten that Toad doesn't feature that much in the first half of the book; I'd also forgotten how much I disliked him, though obviously KG means us to look on him with affection. I have to admit that the book does come very much to life when he is around.
Something that amused me was the blurring of the lines between human and non-human animals: for instance, Toad convincing himself that the gaoler's daughter fancied him. I laughed out loud at this:
Toad, of course, in his vanity, thought that her interest in him proceeded from a growing tenderness; and he could not help half regretting that the social gulf between them was so very wide, for she was a comely lass, and evidently admired him very much.
It was probably par for the course for the time in which the book was written but, apart from the gaoler's daughter, the very few females featured at all were unsympathetic human ones.
What came over very clearly was KG's deep love for the countryside, especially the woodland; not so sure about the creatures in it, but hey ho.
Rusty -
Message 11
Posted by Elnora Cornstalk (U5646495) on Thursday, 30th December 2010
A very belated thank you, Herb Robert, for such an interesting introduction. As soon as you quoted Mr Toad's song, the tune came into my head. I'd forgotten (or forgotten to remember) that I was an ancillary rat in a musical adaptation in primary school.
I'm just bookmarking this for after New Year, when I hope our heating will have returned to normal. It's all been very difficult to concentrate over Christmas, and I'm looking forward to settling down with pipe and slippers to re-read this book and think about all your comments.
Happy New Year to everyone x
Elnora -
Message 12
Posted by oldbloke2 (U2285767) on Friday, 31st December 2010
Probably superfluous, but it ought to be mentioned that the Piper at the Gates of Dawn chapter was immortalised, for the second time, by Pink Floyd - their first album.
Another unusual aspect of the book is that, apart from the goaler's daughter, there are no female characters, IIRC? There is something very suggestive about Pan, isn't there? We all know the image of Pan teaching Daphnis to play the pipes I'm sure.
Ages since I read it but I always saw as a funeral eulogy for Edwardian England - Toad the likeable but hopelessly out of touch aristocracy and egocentric , Mole and Rat the invaluable but unassuming upper middle classes, the squirrels and rabbits the middle and lower middle classes, and the folk of the Wild Woods the proletariat, the great unwashed whose menace somehow lingers. -
Message 13
Posted by posh_scouse_pinnedwithpride (U2514024) on Friday, 31st December 2010
My favourite bit is when Mole goes home... and Ratty is so kind.
-
Message 14
Posted by Rusters (U11225963) on Friday, 31st December 2010
"apart from the goaler's daughter, there are no female characters, IIRC?"
Yep, I noticed that, too, OB.
I like your take on the book as being a funeral eulogy for Edwardian England. The only thing I might quibble with is that I see Toad more as the vulgar, nouveau-riche type - second generation, not the one wot got his hands dirty in trade, of course.
The chapter about Pan was strange. I know he was the god of of nature: meadows, forests, beasts, and even human nature (according to one quote I found). He was also a randy old - er - goat-god too but not surprisingly, KG didn't allude to that.
Posh, my heart belongs to Ratty, though I recognise a lot of Badger in myself.
Rusty -
Message 15
Posted by Herb Robert (U14072548) on Friday, 31st December 2010
I'm a really old fogey. Pink Floyd passed me by - is there a good link to this?
-
Message 16
Posted by oldbloke2 (U2285767) on Friday, 31st December 2010
Well, I'm an old fogey too, Herb. That's why I remember the album. (;
About this Board
Welcome to the Archers Messageboard.
or 聽to take part in a discussion.
The message board is currently closed for posting.
This messageboard is now closed.
This messageboard is .
Find out more about this board's
Search this Board
主播大秀 iD
主播大秀 navigation
主播大秀 links
主播大秀 漏 2014 The 主播大秀 is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.
This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.