Monday, October 06, 2003
IF YOU'RE BUMMED BY THE LONG DELAY about everything, you should've woken me up over the weekend. I'm always good about meeting everybody's deadlines except the ones I set for myself. More later today, but for now, MOVING ON...
RECENTLY FINISHED (last Wednesday, in fact): If I May by A.A. Milne. I've mentioned this book at least once before, but now that I've actually made my way through the entire thing, I just have a few words to add.
Although he's best known today as the author of the Winnie-the-Pooh books, the bulk of A(lan) A(lexander) Milne's work was actually for adults. Apart from the two Pooh books and two books of children's poetry, he wrote over twenty five plays, as well as several novels and essays. This collection, which was originally published in 1921, collects a few of the essays. While most of the topics are necessarily tied to the mundane real world (there are a few bits on the topic of gardening, for instance), they're carried off with a light touch that a even a modern reader should find pleasant enough.
Although he served in France during World War I, Milne was a noted pacifist, and a few pieces in this collection reflect that conviction. The idea of universal peace, which many in the western world felt was attainable between the wars, isn't quite as distant as the Victorian idea of the perfectability of the human race (we'll get to that eventually unless you stop me now), but it's an idea that we seem to move further away from. Peace as an idea, though, is something that's very much on everyone's minds right now, which makes Milne's thoughts on the subject that much more interesting. Especially considering the perpetual motion machine that is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, "The Honour of Your Country" is an especially interesting read, even if the "solutions" put forward don't track as well with an internal conflict.
This one is hopelessly out of print, so the Project Gutenberg version is the only game in town.
RECENTLY FINISHED (last Wednesday, in fact): If I May by A.A. Milne. I've mentioned this book at least once before, but now that I've actually made my way through the entire thing, I just have a few words to add.
Although he's best known today as the author of the Winnie-the-Pooh books, the bulk of A(lan) A(lexander) Milne's work was actually for adults. Apart from the two Pooh books and two books of children's poetry, he wrote over twenty five plays, as well as several novels and essays. This collection, which was originally published in 1921, collects a few of the essays. While most of the topics are necessarily tied to the mundane real world (there are a few bits on the topic of gardening, for instance), they're carried off with a light touch that a even a modern reader should find pleasant enough.
Although he served in France during World War I, Milne was a noted pacifist, and a few pieces in this collection reflect that conviction. The idea of universal peace, which many in the western world felt was attainable between the wars, isn't quite as distant as the Victorian idea of the perfectability of the human race (we'll get to that eventually unless you stop me now), but it's an idea that we seem to move further away from. Peace as an idea, though, is something that's very much on everyone's minds right now, which makes Milne's thoughts on the subject that much more interesting. Especially considering the perpetual motion machine that is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, "The Honour of Your Country" is an especially interesting read, even if the "solutions" put forward don't track as well with an internal conflict.
This one is hopelessly out of print, so the Project Gutenberg version is the only game in town.
|| Eric 7:22 AM#
