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The Wind in the Willows
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The Wind in the Willows - Ch 1-3
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Linda2
(last edited Jul 07, 2016 02:12PM)
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Jul 07, 2016 02:00PM
Moore uses a style that's long-since outdated, and it goes with the old-fashioned story. I inspected it up close and it looks like oil painting on canvas. She must have spent many hours doing all the fine details in each room. I love the bed in the cupboard and the hearth.
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Rochelle wrote: "I love the bed in the cupboard and the hearth."I would love to sleep in that little bed nook. So cozy.
Those Moore illos are lovely—I’d never seen them before! Thanks for sharing.
Linda wrote: "Rochelle wrote: "I love the bed in the cupboard and the hearth."I would love to sleep in that little bed nook. So cozy."
Ah, so romanticized! He lives in a huge old house before central heating, and the water in his ewer will have ice in the morning. And no indoor plumbing. Think Downton Abbey without the servants, 1908. Maybe servants will show up in Chapter 4.
About 100 more illustrators here, plus 2 additional pix from Moore. Maybe we should seek out her other books.http://www.kennethgrahamesociety.net/...
http://www.kennethgrahamesociety.net/...
On this last page, I caught the dragon with the year 1501 (coat of arms?) above his door, and in the parlor scene, a huge fish trophy over the fireplace. Toad is a Brit bachelor aristocrat, a little naive, maybe living a sheltered life in a huge house, bored and looking for new ways to entertain himself. Moore really captures this.
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”
Linda wrote: "Rochelle wrote: "Much easier than in the past. Do you have a good printer and photo paper?"Yes, I really should do that. I remember I was admiring my sister-in-law's prints of Don Quixote hanging..."
My printer is ancient, with a poor resolution, but my operating system is elderly too, Win XP. I would love to make prints.
Rochelle wrote: "my operating system is elderly too, Win XP. I would love to make prints. "
I'll bet you could take them to Staples or someplace similar and have them do it. I don't know, but I can't imagine it would cost much.
I look for old children's books at yard sales, etc. for the pictures. I would never cut up a book that's in good condition, but often times you can find some with broken bindings, stains, whatever. When they're in poor shape, I have no problem cutting out the illustrations. I have no grandchildren yet, but when I do they'll be surrounded by much-loved characters from stories like these!
Sara wrote: "Just googled illustrations for Wind in the Willows and got some stupendous ones. I am so in awe of Inga Moore!https://www.google.com/search?q=illus......"
Sara, I agree with you! Inga Moore's illustrations are amazing! That said, I am enjoying Arthur Rackham's artistry in my edition and I love the Edwardian dress. I laughed out loud when Grahame used "poop-poop" to describe the noises coming from the motor-car. This book is confirming my belief that I am still a child at heart and I am enjoying my suspension of disbelief immensely!
Rochelle wrote: "Ah, so romanticized! He lives in a huge old house before central heating, and the water in his ewer will have ice in the morning. And no indoor plumbing. Think Downton Abbey without the servants, 1908. Maybe servants will show up in Chapter 4."Oh, that's totally OK. I would get some warm stones from the evening's fire, wrap them in flannel, and put them down inside the bed with me. I would be as cozy as cozy could be! :)
There's another one I love. This must be where Toad stores his food for the winter. No sacks of flies in sight.http://chuchena.users.photofile.ru/ph...
Rochelle wrote: "There's another one I love. This must be where Toad stores his food for the winter. No sacks of flies in sight."To me it looks like when Rat and Mole crash at Badger house in winter cause they got lost in the forest.
Thanks. I'm not up to that yet.
Anyone notice that the animals don't have names? In a more traditional book, they'd be Benjamin Badger, Ricky Rat or Mike Mole. Rat is sometimes called Ratty, but the others have no human names.
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Good observances Rochelle and Frances. It seems adding a diminutive is as close as it gets to giving them names: Ratty, Toady.
The no-name thing seems to serve to make them more archetypal. I wonder if the personalities would have been recognizable to Grahame’s son as human characters living in their neighborhood?
Lynnm wrote: "I think that kids today would like it - it's really about exploring, and adventures, and getting out from your safety zone.."I would love to think that they would like it. I agree about the themes that they should like.
But when it's competing with Harry Potter, with Lego stories, and the other books that my grandchildren are devouring, I do wonder whether they will appreciate the gentleness of the story. I hope so. But ...
Linda wrote: "One thing that stuck out at me this time reading was that Mole apparently now lives with Rat? From the way I read it, unless I'm mistaken, it doesn't sound like Mole ever went back to his own home after his first introduction with Rat. It sounds like he lives there now, instead of visiting.."That struck me, too. Of course, we're still only in the early chapters, and things may change down the road, but it did seem that way.
Frances wrote: I found the child-like aspect most poignant in this passage from ch. 3, when Rat has come to find Mole in the Wild Wood, and says..." Besides, there are a hundred things one has to know, which we understand all about and you don't, as yet. "This reminded me of all those little things one does and says as a child to be safe from all the unknown dangers we imagine around us-
I like that point a lot. Very true. We parents (and grandparents) are always trying to instill in our children those hundred things (the stove is hot! don't try to pet strange dogs. wait for the light to turn green. Only cross the road at crosswalks and look both ways .. all things that are not intuitively obvious but need to be learned to keep safe. The rat here is serving the role of parent to the wide world, isn't he? The mole knows the rules in his own home, but going out into the world, not so. king through the creepy part of the forest.
Grahame also uses short sentences three times in ch 3 to heighten the tension in the Wild Wood.
Another really nice point.
Lynnm wrote: "Sara - I feel the same way. I really thought I had read WITW a long time ago, but I don't remember a thing. I don't think I have ever read it."I've had friends who have heard about toad and rat and mole so often from others or reading that they vaguely know enough things about the story (whether accurate or not) that they think they must have read it, or had it read to them, as children.
Not saying that's the case with anybody here, of course, I have no idea, but I do think the characters and some of the incidents have almost become part of our underlying folklore even if we haven't actually read the story.
I think that is absolutely what has happened to me. I have certainly been aware of this book all of my life and it might be that it was read to me when I was very young, but it could just as easily be that it has been discussed and I have read things about it and came to believe that I had read it myself. What seems apparent to me is that this is a first time read for me.
We are told that in reading literature we must suspend disbelief. In reading TWITW we must totally abandon any semblance of disbelief. It goes far beyond talking animals in houses; those are pretty mundane in literature. But we must go much further. We must not wonder how a rat and mole could possibly harness a horse. We must not wonder where a toad gets the money to finance all his adventures, even to buying a motor-car, which in 1908 was a major investment.
Perhaps this is why it's truly a children's book. Children wouldn't even think of wondering about these things. To a child, almost everything in the world is magical, so what's to wonder about a badger having a boot scraper.
Everyman wrote: "We are told that in reading literature we must suspend disbelief. In reading TWITW we must totally abandon any semblance of disbelief. It goes far beyond talking animals in houses; those are pret..."
We learn in the next 3-chapter segment where Toad got his money.
I have no problem suspending my disbelief when reading this kind of book. It is almost like becoming a child again. I am a person who wants the world to have hobbits and fairies, though.
Sara wrote: "I have no problem suspending my disbelief when reading this kind of book. It is almost like becoming a child again. I am a person who wants the world to have hobbits and fairies, though."The problem with a world with hobbits and fairies, though, is that it also has orcs and goblins. :)
I don't think anyone's mentioned this - forgive me if I'm wrong. But I just came across this book while looking at different WitW illustrations online and thought some of you might be interested. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-i...
Mary Lou wrote: "I don't think anyone's mentioned this - forgive me if I'm wrong. But I just came across this book while looking at different WitW illustrations online and thought some of you might be interested. ..."
Thank you, Mary Lou! I would love to take a glance at that! I will look for it at the library.
Mary Lou wrote: "I don't think anyone's mentioned this - forgive me if I'm wrong. But I just came across this book while looking at different WitW illustrations online and thought some of you might be interested. ..."
The blurb says the photos are in black and white. I'd rather pay more and have color photos too. It would be my Christmas gift to myself.
I love this book and it's wonderful language. I am reading it to my 18 year old daughter who is not as enthralled as myself but I persist. I wish I had read it to her when she was younger. The old fashinoned language and length of sentences is the issue. My son, who I did more reading with, can appreciate literature. My daughter less so. The animals in the book seem to focus on the day in hand because no one knows when someone will 'disappear' presumably by the fact of their position on the food chain. Darkness is in the book but what I love is that Grahame managed to bring out the light that was worth living every day to the full. Seize the day. Wonders and beauty abounds and the darkness is a fact of life but not to be troubling unless it has to be faced. A good attitude to take.
I am putting my name down for, 'a bijou riverside residence' that is a 'snug dwelling place for an animal of few wants and remote from noise and dust.'This is the beauty of TWITW. Grahame reaches to the heart of human needs and expresses them poetically. Even the title, The Wind in the Willows, when said out loud makes my heart beat slow and my thoughts are of isolated countryside filled with the joy of spring. For the wind is only heard in the willows by those who take time out from the continual clamour of the world (the noise and the dust) and return to simpler natural pleasures...simply messing about in boats, picnicking with friends, chatting by a welcoming hearth, true friends and the peace and soul sustenance of nature.
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Lori wrote: "I think my daughter is probably too young, but I think I'll get her an illustrated copy after we move back home and give it a try. I don't really want to read it to her from a Kindle."Amen! If anything cries out for a traditional book, this story does!
I agree that this is one book that needs to be read in print, and with lovely illustrations all the better. I will keep my eye out for a copy for my own library (and I sadly no longer have any small children about to read to). If your daughter is too young, Lori, she will grow into it!
I finished reading it last night and I was sad to see these characters go. I think this is a tale about the true quality of friendship, loving your friends, helping them, telling them in a non-hurtful way when they are over-the-top, and just sharing with them all the true pleasures in life: a fire, good food, a float down a river and a secure night's rest. I thought about my best friend and how she has seen me through all the travails of life and shared so many brilliant moments and how we have turned fright into laughter and a lack of funds into a celebration just by being together.
I think I just wrote my review.
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Mary Lou wrote: "I don't think anyone's mentioned this - forgive me if I'm wrong. But I just came across this book while looking at different WitW illustrations online and thought some of you might be interested. ..."
Wow, I would love to have a peek at that book! It says there are over 90 artists profiled - that's impressive.
Tracey wrote: "The animals in the book seem to focus on the day in hand because no one knows when someone will 'disappear' presumably by the fact of their position on the food chain. Darkness is in the book but what I love is that Grahame managed to bring out the light that was worth living every day to the full. Seize the day."That's a great observation, Tracey. It had not occurred to me until you pointed it out. Thank you.
Tracey wrote: "...I am reading it to my 18 year old daughter ..."How do you achieve that?, I would never succeed in reading outloud anything to my 18 year old nephews, they would lost interest and check their phones in 3 minutes.
Rosemarie wrote: "One of the reasons I like Wind in the Willows is the author's use of language. I read the book aloud to my two girls when they were small, and I think they were too young to appreciate it then. I a..."For me it is too hard to read old english, I understand only half of it. That´s why I love the ilustrated spanish copy I got from the library =)
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Rosemarie wrote: "I wonder how many languages Wind in the Willows has been translated into, and if they were to keep the alliteration and rhythm of the title."Well, the translation isnt plain spanish, it uses the old spanish style, which is distinctive from the common spanish. It is more decorative. And the title is "El viento en los Sauces", which actually sounds like fluid and soft =)
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Karel wrote: "Rosemarie wrote: "I wonder how many languages Wind in the Willows has been translated into, and if they were to keep the alliteration and rhythm of the title."Well, the translation isnt plain spa..."
"Willows" is "sauces?" How very interesting!
Rochelle wrote: ""Willows" is "sauces?" How very interesting! ..."Well, the word for the willows of chairs is "mimbre" and the willows trees is "sauces", we have a word for each one. Funny fact: we have only one word for fingers and toes: "dedos" ;)
Karel wrote: "Tracey wrote: "...I am reading it to my 18 year old daughter ..."How do you achieve that?, I would never succeed in reading outloud anything to my 18 year old nephews, they would lost interest and..."
I have read to both my children from being babies and my son, who is a good reader, stopped wanting me to read to him at 12. However, my daughter still loves the night-time routine of 'story time' with mum and will allow me to share a good book with her from time to time. She enjoyed The Little White Horse: Collector's Edition recently and I am hoping she will get into TWITW
Karel wrote: "Rochelle wrote: ""Willows" is "sauces?" How very interesting! ..."Well, the word for the willows of chairs is "mimbre" and the willows trees is "sauces", we have a word for each one. Funny fact: ..."
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Rosemarie wrote: "Last night I looked at the Goodreads site for versions of WITW in languages I know.."What did you find in Urdu? :)
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The Readers Review: Literature from 1714 to 1910
Books mentioned in this topic
The Mill on the Floss (other topics)Our Mutual Friend (other topics)
The Wind Among the Reeds (other topics)
The Little White Horse: Collector's Edition (other topics)
The Wind in the Willows (other topics)
