Postmodern Pooh
3 journalers for this copy...
I thought these books should travel together, so it's coming with the Pooh Perplex as a surprise RABCK for crazy-book-lady!
What a surprise to receive this book along with The Pooh Perplex! Thank you so much tnkbl!!
A quick read and a good laugh!
Like its predecessor, The Pooh Perplex, this book is a collection of "lectures" given at a fictional symposium dedicated to the study and analysis of A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh books. While I think I enjoyed Perplex more, this book is, once again, a hilarious sendup of academia. I am not an academic, and I am sure that I missed many of the inside jokes, but even I could pick out some (okay, only one) of the academics being skewered.
Some examples:
"We've shown that works such as Pooh don't drift toward a banal meaninglessness; they become active historical players in their own right, shaping the public's illusions about the important issues of the day, such as conquistadorial predation, witch trials, ius promae noctis, and the castration of preadolescent countertenors."
- Victor S. Fassell (who holds the coveted Exxon Valdez Chair in the Humanities at Rice University)
"Milne would not have repeatedly called Pooh's forest 'enchanted' if he hadn't wanted us to compare it to the paradise of Scripture. Just think: the author/God of Pooh sends his only begotten son, Christopher, into a world where no fall has occurred, no sin requires atonement, and no apocalyptic end to history is contemplated...Surely this is sacreligious satire, a cunning intversion of Judeo-Christian belief in a Messiah who will settle all accounts with sinners (bad) and obedient cowards (good). If so, Milne deserves to be ranked not with Beatrix Potter and Dr. Seuss, but with our finest heretics..."
- Orpheus Bruno (Harvard University's Hasty Pudding Theatricals Professor of World Literature, whose books include What You Don't Know Hurts Me, and Just Read These Books.) I am pretty sure that this is a poke at Harold Bloom.
Another of my favorites is Carla Gulag, the Joe Camel Professor of Child Development at Duke University.
The scary thing is, there just might be a Joe Camel Professor of Child Development. Let's hope not.
Thanks for another good read tnkbl!
Like its predecessor, The Pooh Perplex, this book is a collection of "lectures" given at a fictional symposium dedicated to the study and analysis of A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh books. While I think I enjoyed Perplex more, this book is, once again, a hilarious sendup of academia. I am not an academic, and I am sure that I missed many of the inside jokes, but even I could pick out some (okay, only one) of the academics being skewered.
Some examples:
"We've shown that works such as Pooh don't drift toward a banal meaninglessness; they become active historical players in their own right, shaping the public's illusions about the important issues of the day, such as conquistadorial predation, witch trials, ius promae noctis, and the castration of preadolescent countertenors."
- Victor S. Fassell (who holds the coveted Exxon Valdez Chair in the Humanities at Rice University)
"Milne would not have repeatedly called Pooh's forest 'enchanted' if he hadn't wanted us to compare it to the paradise of Scripture. Just think: the author/God of Pooh sends his only begotten son, Christopher, into a world where no fall has occurred, no sin requires atonement, and no apocalyptic end to history is contemplated...Surely this is sacreligious satire, a cunning intversion of Judeo-Christian belief in a Messiah who will settle all accounts with sinners (bad) and obedient cowards (good). If so, Milne deserves to be ranked not with Beatrix Potter and Dr. Seuss, but with our finest heretics..."
- Orpheus Bruno (Harvard University's Hasty Pudding Theatricals Professor of World Literature, whose books include What You Don't Know Hurts Me, and Just Read These Books.) I am pretty sure that this is a poke at Harold Bloom.
Another of my favorites is Carla Gulag, the Joe Camel Professor of Child Development at Duke University.
The scary thing is, there just might be a Joe Camel Professor of Child Development. Let's hope not.
Thanks for another good read tnkbl!
Requested by Brookeworm, so I am taking it to the meetup tonight. Happy travels!
Greatfully received at the meeting tonight from crazy-book-lady. Thanks!
