Once again, in the interests of cheering us all up, I have dragged something up from the unknown depths of this blog (post 128 actually) ..... at the time it was an important breakthrough in the field of " Fictional Birds and their Orwellian Undertones " Issues concerning bird identification are, I suspect, rare in works of fiction. So, when they do occur, we must examine them critically. Obviously. Well, I say "obviously", but it is seldom dealt with in academic circles. One of the most gripping ( no pun intended) issues crops up in A.A. Milne's most famous book, Winnie-the-Pooh. It is an integral feature of the plot-line in " Kanga and Baby Roo" which is really a story about entrenched xenophobic attitudes in a closed and overprivileged claustrophobic society crammed with lazy, pleasure-seeking inhabitants . Kanga is a newcomer to "The Wood" ... a thinly-disguised dictatorship in the steely grip of Rabbit and Owl. So ...they hatch a plan to get rid of Kanga via the kidnapping of her (presumably bastard) offspring, namely "Roo". This seems a bit much,but it's true .... here's exactly what gets said ... " We'll tell you where Baby Roo is, if you promise to go away from the Forest and never come back." I bet you never saw this story in its true light ! But now you know. Their dastardly plan is to distract Kanga, then steal Roo, replacing him with Piglet in Kanga's pouch. But how will they distract Kanga's attention from her beloved Roo? Here's how .... they try poetry first, but it doesn't do the trick ... so they have to try Plan B..... here we go " Talking of Poetry," said Pooh quickly, " have you noticed that tree* right over there ?" "Where" " said Kanga. " Now, Roo .... " "Right over there", said Pooh, pointing behind Kanga's back. " No" said Kanga." Now jump in , Roo dear, and we'll go home." " You ought to look at that tree right over there" said Rabbit. And he picked up Roo in his paws. " I can see a bird in it from here," said Pooh. "Or is it a fish ?" " You ought to see that bird from here," said Rabbit. " Unless it's a fish." " It isn't a fish, it's a bird." said Piglet. " So it is." said Rabbit. " Is it a Starling or a blackbird?" said Pooh. "That's the whole question," said Rabbit. " Is it a blackbird or a Starling?" And then at last Kanga did turn her head to look. And the moment that her head was turned, Rabbit said in a loud voice " In you go, Roo!" and in jumped Piglet into Kanga's pocket, and off scampered Rabbit, with Roo in his paws, as fast as he could. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It's not often that a crucial ID issue has such tumultuous consequences. Literary critics have also commented on the fact that "blackbird" has no capital b but the Starling is capitalised. Are they such beginners that they can't tell whether it's a Crow or a Rook or a Blackbird ? Is there a hidden meaning. And on top of that, why choose those two. Surely Kanga would have been far more likely to turn round, and looked for longer, if they'd "seen" a Jay, or an Eagle, or a Hoopoe. We'll never know what Milne's intentions were I suppose. Maybe, in this mysteriously unworldy "100-acre-wood" all birds are equally common ... or, equally rare. There's much more ground to be broken in the neglected depths of Fictional Birds ..... and I'm determined to get to the bottom of it. Which is probably the right place to start in such murky waters. BUT ...there are literary critics ( Wavely Newt to name but one) who are determined to trivialise the importance of fictional bird studies. BUT ... I should be allowed to think. If you have come across any "crucial ID issues" in your no doubt extensive reading of fictional works, let me know..... and I'll coax all the subtle undercurrents out of it for you . You can send it in the comments thingy,or to my email ...... [email protected] Meantime, music ..... Sweet Bird of Mystery If you don't know about Wavely Newt .... here's your thingy ... 77-more-bird-poetry-from-wavely-newt.html ... and here's another famous and inscrutable fictional bird .... 226-another-undefined-fictional-bird-laverdure.html * Milne can't be bothered to tell us what sort of tree it was .... a huge setback for us lot who are trying to promote a serious, critical approach to the fictional depiction of our living environment.
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AuthorThat's the author up there ... I was young and sprightly then. Archives
October 2022
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