Winnie the Pooh is 75 years old.
October 14, 2001 10:19 AM Subscribe
Postmodern Pooh proves that the bear-of-little-brain is still cutting-edge.
"Thirty-eight years ago, a young Berkeley English professor named Frederick Crews published The Pooh Perplex, in which imaginary writers of various persuasions then extant -- Leavisite, Marxist, Freudian -- each provided his (they were all men) interpretation of A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner. It was, and is, a very funny book, and surprisingly barbed for a junior professor, but in the donnish way of a gentler time... Postmodern Pooh, an entirely new collection of lit-crit parodies, pitched as a panel discussion at the MLA, is energized and enriched by the combination of Crews's freedom and his four decades of experience as an English professor. The result is a brilliant and savagely witty skewering of the combatants on all sides of the academic culture wars." [from James Hynes' review in the Washington Post.]
posted by Carol Anne at 10:51 AM on October 14, 2001
"Thirty-eight years ago, a young Berkeley English professor named Frederick Crews published The Pooh Perplex, in which imaginary writers of various persuasions then extant -- Leavisite, Marxist, Freudian -- each provided his (they were all men) interpretation of A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner. It was, and is, a very funny book, and surprisingly barbed for a junior professor, but in the donnish way of a gentler time... Postmodern Pooh, an entirely new collection of lit-crit parodies, pitched as a panel discussion at the MLA, is energized and enriched by the combination of Crews's freedom and his four decades of experience as an English professor. The result is a brilliant and savagely witty skewering of the combatants on all sides of the academic culture wars." [from James Hynes' review in the Washington Post.]
posted by Carol Anne at 10:51 AM on October 14, 2001
You really have to read the tao of Pooh and the te of Piglet. Fabulous books - Pooh and the Philosophers/Psychologists were quite good too :) "For I am a bear of very little brain" indeed... Pooh knows all..
I remember my library at school - Milne went there (one fo the houses is named after him), and so the walls of one of the library rooms is covered in Pooh pics :) It was a nice setting to read in :) Oh, and the school just got like $40 million from Disney as they had the original rights or something - dammit, just as I left, damn..
posted by Mossy at 11:03 AM on October 14, 2001
I remember my library at school - Milne went there (one fo the houses is named after him), and so the walls of one of the library rooms is covered in Pooh pics :) It was a nice setting to read in :) Oh, and the school just got like $40 million from Disney as they had the original rights or something - dammit, just as I left, damn..
posted by Mossy at 11:03 AM on October 14, 2001
Yes. And Real Pooh beats Disneyfied Pooh any day. Keep Disneyfied Pooh away from your children.
posted by holgate at 12:02 PM on October 14, 2001
posted by holgate at 12:02 PM on October 14, 2001
and this is were i chuckle at all the pooh references. and then make a lame sophmoric joke about a bowel movement. then i run off and find a meme to doublepost.
posted by jcterminal at 12:41 PM on October 14, 2001
posted by jcterminal at 12:41 PM on October 14, 2001
Basket-case that I am, I like them both. A.A.Milne and Walt Disney were as unlikeable as Winnie the Pooh was loveable.
Hate that Christopher Robin, though. Still have nightmares about all that "Shhh... Christopher Robin is saying his prayers" twaddle.
On the other hand, the Reverend Dodgson was no better either. Bunch of sickos, if you ask me. Long may they be enjoyed.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 12:45 PM on October 14, 2001
Hate that Christopher Robin, though. Still have nightmares about all that "Shhh... Christopher Robin is saying his prayers" twaddle.
On the other hand, the Reverend Dodgson was no better either. Bunch of sickos, if you ask me. Long may they be enjoyed.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 12:45 PM on October 14, 2001
I grew up with both, and they've felt like different entities to me -- like the 60s camp Batman and the darker version. As a franchise however, the Milne has more validity as an art form. The Disney has slowly degenerated over the years(anyone see the bloody Tigger movie -- aaaaaaaaah!).
I don't think I would the person I am today, if my Gran hadn't given me 'When We Are Six' when I was six.
posted by feelinglistless at 2:21 PM on October 14, 2001
I don't think I would the person I am today, if my Gran hadn't given me 'When We Are Six' when I was six.
posted by feelinglistless at 2:21 PM on October 14, 2001
Of course, you all know about Pooh's dark side, don't you?
posted by davidmsc at 2:43 PM on October 14, 2001
posted by davidmsc at 2:43 PM on October 14, 2001
75 years of an all honey diet?
I'm guessing Poo goes through more insulin in a day than Mary Tyler Moore, Star Jones, and whomever is left from the Fat Boys will, ever.
posted by dong_resin at 3:03 PM on October 14, 2001
I'm guessing Poo goes through more insulin in a day than Mary Tyler Moore, Star Jones, and whomever is left from the Fat Boys will, ever.
posted by dong_resin at 3:03 PM on October 14, 2001
Phancy's "Pooh Fiction." "English-bothersome-thing-can-you-speak-it?"
posted by allaboutgeorge at 3:16 PM on October 14, 2001
posted by allaboutgeorge at 3:16 PM on October 14, 2001
"Anyone else play Pooh Sticks when they were younger?"
What do you mean, "when they were younger"? I still play it, thankyou very much!
posted by eoz at 1:52 AM on October 15, 2001
What do you mean, "when they were younger"? I still play it, thankyou very much!
posted by eoz at 1:52 AM on October 15, 2001
I remember standing on an aquaduct in Wales where a canal went over a river and trying to convince my family to play pooh-sticks...
posted by kerplunk at 5:10 AM on October 15, 2001
posted by kerplunk at 5:10 AM on October 15, 2001
pooh sticks appears to be a uniquely english thing, which is most peculiar.
you'd think that a game of drop the twigs on the upstream side of the bridge, then run across to the other side to see which twig appears first would be universal.
Does anyone know of any other names for this game?
posted by asok at 6:34 AM on October 15, 2001
you'd think that a game of drop the twigs on the upstream side of the bridge, then run across to the other side to see which twig appears first would be universal.
Does anyone know of any other names for this game?
posted by asok at 6:34 AM on October 15, 2001
It's not Pooh Sticks unless you play it here. Sorry.
posted by elliot100 at 9:32 AM on October 15, 2001
posted by elliot100 at 9:32 AM on October 15, 2001
Yes, asok, I believe here in America we call it "Too Poor For Cable."
I was well acquainted with it in my youth.
posted by dong_resin at 2:37 PM on October 15, 2001
I was well acquainted with it in my youth.
posted by dong_resin at 2:37 PM on October 15, 2001
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its really upbeat and happy rock and roll, as well as a complete inside joke on the industry.
Read all about it.
posted by Satapher at 10:29 AM on October 14, 2001