 Fantasy: April 27, 2022 Issue [#11329] |
This week: Happy 50th Watership Down Edited by: eyestar~*  
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  Hey magical people! I am here as a guest editor this week and after Easter had rabbits on the brain so down memory lane I go again!
 Happy 50th Anniversary "Watership Down" 
First line of the book: “The primroses were over.”
"Men will never rest till they've spoiled the earth and destroyed the animals."
-Holly, Richard Adams, 'Watership Down'.
"Some say that the Black Rabbit hates us and wants our destruction. But the truth is — or so they taught me — that he, too, serves Lord Frith and does no more than his appointed task."
— From 'The Story Of El Ahrairah And The Black Rabbit Of Inlé" in Richard Adams, 'Watership Down'.
“Dandelion: If we meet again, Hazel-rah, we'll have the making of the best story ever!
Hazel: And you'll be the one to tell it!”
Last line of Watership Down: where a very aged hero, Hazel, is called home and joins The Black Rabbit.
“He reached the top of the bank in a single, powerful leap. Hazel followed; and together they slipped away, running easily down through the wood, where the first primroses were beginning to bloom.” 
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Did you know that the fantastical novel "Watership Down" was published in 1972? 50 years ago!
 I enjoyed the story and the first animated version when I read the book years ago. With its theme of Home and Belonging, rabbits seeking to be in harmony with each other and nature, who would not enjoy that dream and risk for it? A wonderful quest for the place called Watership Down.
I didn't know much about its history so I went on my own adventure and looked at it again in honour of its 50th anniversary.
The book is a fantasy survival tale by English author Richard Adams. It was his very first one and was published by Rex Collings in 1972, after being rejected by several firms. With world wide success, it won the 1972 Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Prize in the UK. The novel was so popular at the time and eventually was adapted into an animated film in 1978 and ran as a children's tv series from 1999 to 2001. Again in 2018 a drama was made airing in the UK and available on Netflix.
 I had no idea about the bit of controversy around the adapted film...which the UK dubbed as for all audiences at the time. It is not really a movie for little ones. Nature is tough. Scenes of rabbits fighting and one being caught in a noose caused a stir as people with young children left the film as it was too horrific. It was based on real nature not a cute bunny tale. The posters apparently said it was not a children's movie but I guess folks missed this. The director said his kids saw it and were not negatively affected. Adults and older children made it popular. I suppose when one sees bunnies, one did not expect to see the natural world events. Plus a visual representation is more stirring than hearing the story of a rabbit fight or animals devouring them. It can be shocking to young children, as was seeing Bambi's Mother shot in the Disney movie Bambi, also classed as a children's film. Admittedly, there was more blood shown in Watership Down.
Nowadays children see a lot more than this! 
Originally titled, "Hazel and Fiver", Watership Down is based on a real place in southern England near Hampshire, which apparently was a boring hilly spot in England near where Adams lived. Adams made up the several short tales for his two daughters during long road trips. They thought they was so wonderful that they urged him to write them down.
It is a story about rabbits who live in a wild natural environment, (burrows) but they have their own mythology, poetry, language and culture. I enjoy the myth of creation and how they were made to be fertile yet quick moving as they would always be hunted by others and the notion of the black rabbit, as death. The book deals with epic themes as they try to escape the destruction of their warren and seek a new home. They are warned by a psychic rabbit named Fiver as he feels the coming of danger, which turns out to be man destroying the land. He has a vision of a new home and his brother Hazel tries to lead the others on the quest. They deal with the perils of dog attacks, man traps, and even the hostility and authoritarianism of another warren where free movement of those who want to leave is not allowed. The concept of life and death is prevalent too.
Richard Adams began writing in 1966 and it took two years to write the book. He consulted Ron Lockley's natural history of "The Private Life of Rabbits" for details about rabbits that fill his tales. While the creatures are anthropomorphised, they also are shown in their natural behaviours. He showed the reality of the cycle of nature and that death is part of it, not to be feared.
He created a whole rabbit society with its own mythology, culture, and even language called Lapine! He included a glossary of the words the end of the book.  The book includes tales of the origin of rabbits and the connection to the sun Frith, which they worship. The original folk hero Prince of Rabbits, EL-ahrairah, is like a trickster with arrogance and doesn't listen so that Lord Frith has to create predators but does give rabbit kind its own gifts to survive.
"“El-ahrairah, your people cannot rule the world, for I will not have it so. All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies, and whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you, digger, listener, runner, prince with the swift warning. Be cunning and full of tricks and your people shall never be destroyed.” from Watership Down.
The characters include heroes Like Hazel and BigWig, allies like Kehaar, the Gull, and villains like dogs and controlling rabbit commander WoundWart. The story reminds me of a epic tale and evokes deep light and dark themes as good fantasy does.
While he himself says it is about rabbits, there are nuances relating to his own experiences with war, comrades, loss and government, rebellion, etc.
Adams completed a sequel in 1996, "Tales from Watership Down", 19 short stories about El-ahrairah and the rabbits of the Watership Down warren.
Fantasy Elements:
Anthropomorphosism: the attribution of human characteristics or behavior to a god, animal, or object. In this case, Rabbits.
Mythological beliefs: the tale includes early origins from the perspective of rabbits
Themes of a quest, "exile, survival, heroism, leadership, political responsibility, and the "making of a hero and a community"" reflect the journeys of Greek epics.
A created world: natural elements, culture, language called Lapine, proverbs, challenges/dangers, an environment where creatures do what they do.
Language is Lapine. eg. Elil means enemy. Hrududu means anything motorized like the things that kill animals on the roads. Cool stuff!
 The Author
Richard Adams was born in Berkshire in May 1920. He grew up in the country hear the hill named Watership Down and attended Oxford until his tour in WW 2 in the Royal Army service in the airborne core. He toured many countries and when he returned to Oxford, completed a BA in Modern History in 1948. It was when he returned he learned that his best friends had all died in the war. He worked in the civil service in Environmental Department.
He married Barbara in 1949 and had two daughters, Juliet and Rosamund and only began writing in 1966. His daughters were instrumental in urging him to write the tales he told them and were his biggest fans! It took two years to write the book. In 1974 he turned to full time writing as Watership Down became so popular. "Shardik" is second novel was published the same year. He went on to write other books including "Plague Dogs" and articles.
In 1975, he was given a fellowship in the Royal Society of Literature.
As a animal lover, from 1980 to 1982, he served as President of the Royal Society for the Protection of Animals. 
He campaigned against furs and wrote "Plague Dogs" to satirize animal experimentation. He even made a voyage through the Antarctic in the company of the ornithologist Ronald Lockley and helped write a book about their adventures.
Before his 90th birthday, he wrote a new story, "Gentle Footprints", to raise funds for the Born Free Foundation.
He was active through his life until he died at age 92 in December 2016 of blood complications.
The works he leaves behind are iconic and still well loved and enduring today
So, there you have it! Have you read the book? Seen the adaptations? What did you think?
Thanks for reading.
eyestar
PS. Did you know there are at least 305 breeds of Rabbit, 7 types of cottontail? 
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watership_Down
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Adams
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXbkLFZKbjA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYfgg_ebvC4 Watership Down Animated version
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 Hiya~ So Have you read Watership Down? What is your opinion about it?
Thanks for responding to my last Fantasy newsletter a while ago!! "Fantasy Newsletter (January 5, 2022)" on Rick Riordan.
Osirantinous 
"My study background in Classical History so I was naturally drawn to his Percy Jackson Series and then the spin-offs (including Kane Chronicles and Magnus Chase). I enjoyed them all and am appreciative of how they've brought people back to studying those mythologies and histories. But... I found with the Percy Jackson/Olympian Heroes/Trials of Apollo books that they started reading much the same. Basically you could swap out a baddie for another baddie and have another book. Also, he made some of the baddies really dumbed-down, which was funny first up but irritating thereafter. Still... good reads and I do love how real-life and mythology can be blended; I think that's a great 'genre'--adding magic to real-life and pretending it's oh so normal."
Yep. I studied Classical History too and found it cool to see books like these now. LOL I have not read them all but could imagine there are only so many ways to do god battles! Thanks for the commentary. I think kids enjoy them anyway. 
brom21 
"Hey, eyestar! Great NL. I know that having someone believe in you as a writer makes a big difference. I've received the kindest, most sincere words from fellow writers here at WdC. Rick Riordan sounds like a well-rounded character and very talented. Thanks for the NL once again!"
Thanks Brom. Good to hear from you!
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