The Playful Antiquarian

In which A. A. Milne has a birthday and links and a brief bibliography are compiled

January 18th, 2004

A. A. (Alan Alexander) Milne was born on this day in 1882 in London. I had originally planned to put this in the “about this page” module at the top of this page, but then I decided that this author’s birthday deserved a proper post. Milne, after all, is one of my favorite authors and his children’s books (and C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia) have long been my literary comfort food.Less comforting but terribly interesting are the many biographies written on Milne. Milne’s Autobiography (titled It’s Too Late Now in the UK) was published in 1939. Over thirty years later, Christopher Milne, A. A. Milne’s son and the inspiration for the Christopher Robin character, published his first autobiography, The Enchanted Places, a volume offering his perspective on his childhood and his father’s writings.

I have not read much of the other works written about Milne and his life, but there are two that I have read and recommend. Ann Thwaite’s A. A. Milne: His Life (sadly, out of print, I believe) is a very detailed and useful account of Milne’s life and work. Jackie Wullschlager’s Inventing Wonderland: The Lives and Fantasies of Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear, J. M. Barrie, Kenneth Grahame, and A. A. Milne, a book I read last summer, is an interesting study of British literature and its obsession with childhood, in which Milne’s story seems happy among the disturbingly troubled lives of authors like Carroll and Barrie.

On a happier and more cheerful note, more fitting for this day, I have gathered a few random but related links for you to enjoy:

• Visit the “real” Winnie-the-Pooh at the New York Public Library
• Drink tea and play poohsticks with the Winnie-the-Pooh Society (PoohSoc) at the University of Cambridge.
• Explore Ashdown Forest, home of Poohsticks Bridge and Cotchford Farm.
• Although it is most famous for its Winnie-the-Pooh connection, it has a very interesting history separate from that literary link. I, particularly, like this 1822 comment by William Cobbett, after his visit to the forest: “verily the most villainously ugly spot I ever saw in England.” Not a good tourism bureau slogan, but really funny.
  
• Hear A. A. Milne read from the 1926 classic Winnie-the-Pooh
• Last year the British Library Sound Archive produced a CD of children’s book authors reading their own works, including Milne reading from his classic book. Unfortunately, a sample clip is not available for the Milne reading.

Entry Filed under: Book People, Bookmarks, Playful Reading