Re: Wind in the Willows (Top 20 Children's Books)


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Posted by Magnus on April 07, 2010 at 03:12:44 user Magnus.

In Reply to: Re: Top 20 Children's Books posted by Mike Dennis on April 05, 2010 at 22:41:53:

I picked up a copy of Wind in the Willows the other day, meaning to re-read it. As a child I was blissfully unaware of the double-meaning/subtext that is supposedly in that book. I thought I'd try it again.

I'd like to know whether Ransome counted it amongst his own favourites. Was it in Coot Club where Dorothea meantions how Mr Toad disguises himself as a washerwoman? You'd expect a mention like that to spring from fond memories of a book.

However, I was then confused by the link below, where I read that:
"writing for The Bookman, Arthur Ransome called it 'a failure, like a speech to Hottentots made in Chinese'."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/mar/24/wind-in-the-willows-bonhams
This was 1907, when he was 23...is it the same AR?

There is greater detail in this link:
http://www.bookride.com/2008_01_01_archive.html
"Arthur Ransome gave the book a studied review in The Bookman in which he claims the book 'is an attempt to write for children instead of about them. But Mr. Grahame's past has been too strong for him. Instead of writing about children for grown-up people, he has written about animals for children.' He went on to claim that the book, written for the nursery, is full of wistfulness and that it is a failure - for children will not understand the dual nature of the animals."


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