Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Book world slowly grasping value of sequels to classic tales
With the new Winnie-the-Pooh book arriving in bookstores on Monday, the ghost of Lt. Harry Colebourn is grinning sheepishly.
Perhaps even bearishly.
Colebourn, as every real Winnipegger knows, is the First World War soldier responsible for inadvertently providing the inspiration for the cuddliest ursus of children's literature.
A veterinarian by profession, Colebourn named the orphaned bear cub he bought in 1914, from a hunter in White River, Ont., after the city in which he had been living.
He took Winnie with him to England. The bear ended up in the London Zoo, where author A. A. Milne took his son Christopher for outings.
In 1926, Milne released his charming book of stories, Winnie-the-Pooh, illustrated by E.H. Shepard, about the "silly old bear" and his animal friends Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore.
The second and final story book, The House at Pooh Corner, came out in 1928. But it wasn't until the late '80s that a Winnipeg Free Press reporter Heidi Graham unearthed the Winnipeg connection.
Her spadework resulted in a million articles and TV reports, a TV movie, the local purchase at auction of a $200,000-plus sign painted by Shepard and a failed attempt to erect a Pooh museum in Assiniboine Park. (Graham herself went on to become the spokeswoman for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.)
Thus Winnipeg has as big a stake as any place in the English-speaking world in Pooh's latest literary chapter, The Return to Hundred Acre Wood.
Its publishers, Egmont in Britain and the Penguin children's imprint Dutton in North America, have released the first chapter to whet our appetites.
The author, a Pooh devotee named David Benedictus, and the artist, greeting card illustrator Mark Burgess, have approached their task with reverent fidelity to the original.
Still, they have introduced a new character, Lottie the Otter. As we speak, reporters with visions of a Graham-like scoop are scouring Whiteshell biological records to see if Lottie belongs to the northern river otter species Lontra canadensis, known to swim around Otter Falls, Man.
Even though this sequel has the blessing of the so-called Trustees of Pooh Properties -- and therefore the Disney Corporation, which owns the rights to all things Poohy -- not everyone thinks a new book is necessary 80 years after the fact.
An Associated Press story out of London this week quoted a Cambridge Pooh scholar as saying Milne had closed the second Pooh book exactly as he should have, with Christopher Robin leaving childhood behind him.
"This is an absolutely perfect ending," Maria Nikolajeva said, "and doing anything beyond this is pointless."
Pointlessness, mind you, has never been a stumbling block for sequels -- witness the hundreds that Hollywood churns out each year.
In book publishing, where a quick score is harder to come by, it has taken executives longer to grasp the value of milking the tried and true. There have been exceptions, most notably the sequels to Margaret Mitchell's 1937 Civil War classic Gone With the Wind.
Earlier this year, the recluse J.D. Salinger succeeded in blocking the American publication of a novel by a Swedish writer who had imagined Catcher in the Rye's teenaged protagonist, Holden Caulfield, as a 76-year-old nursing home escapee.
Here in Canada, the estate of L.M. Montgomery has got into the act. On Oct. 27, Penguin will release The Blythes are Quoted, an unabridged version of the stories Montgomery intended as the ninth volume in her Anne of Green Gables series.
Montgomery supposedly submitted the manuscript to her publisher the day she died in 1942.
So, north of the border, at least, the fall is shaping up to be a battle between the pigtailed Prince Edward Islander and the bear named Winnie.
Winnipeg-based McNally Robinson Booksellers are holding a Thanksgiving Party with Winnie Oct. 10 in their Toronto store.
Why not in Winnipeg? Who knows? But the Thin Air Winnipeg International Writers Festival has booked the Canwest Performing Arts Centre for a Pooh party of its own on Nov. 8.
Since Penguin is publishing both The Return to Hundred Acre Wood and The Blythes Are Quoted, Anne Shirley could very well muscle in.
And if not her, expect the ghost of Lt. Colebourn, who will be grinning bearishly.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 3, 2009 C7
History
Updated on Wednesday, October 7, 2009 at 12:18 PM CDT:
Correction: L.M. Montgomery died in 1942. Incorrect information appeared in a previous version of this story.
The comment period for this story has ended.
-
Breaking News Alerts
Sign up for our new Breaking News Alerts
-
Editor's Bulletin
Sign up for daily bulletins
-
Winnipeg road closures
Check if your commute is affected
-
Blogs to Watch
We pick our favourite local blogs for you to follow
-
Breaking News Widget
Create and embed a Winnipeg Free Press breaking news widget on your site or blog
-
Twitter
Follow our reporters and news feeds on Twitter
Ads by Google
- Back to Top
- Return to Columnists
Poll
Most Popular
- New complaint against judge
- Driver dies in two-vehicle collision near Anola
- No deal on Coyotes, talks continue
- Bargain hunters take note
- Woman went for walk, hasn’t returned home
- Pierce not throwing in towel yet
- Former RCMP officer facing jail time
- Teen robbed at bus stop
- Shunned after fling with daughters' friend
- Do you think Mayor Katz' pledge to add 58 police officers will make a difference?
- Shunned after fling with daughters' friend
- New complaint against judge
- 'Nothing short of a miracle' at how well missing woman fared
- Woman went for walk, hasn’t returned home
- Expanded weather warnings issued ahead of hurricane Earl
- Streaks of light in night sky pose mystery
- Dirty secret not so secret in city's legal community
- Bar association slams CBC over judge sex scandal coverage
- Five hurt in head-on crash
- Search on for woman missing in Belair Provincial Forest
- Boyfriend's porno secret discovered
- Shunned after fling with daughters' friend
- Major downpour floods streets, knocks out power
- Judge embroiled in sex scandal removes self from bench
- Woman dead after apparent fall from downtown high-rise
- Pedestrian dies after collision with truck
- Jennifer's body
- Illegal channel irks cottagers
- New complaint against judge
- 'Nothing short of a miracle' at how well missing woman fared
- Sex offender has sentence reduced
- No deal on Coyotes, talks continue
- Two thongs don't make a right
- Transit advocates plan Katz protest today
- Katz pledges more cops
- Detractors say Ottawa should steer clear of Quebec City hockey arena project
- Bombers ready to give Lumsden a test drive
- Bargain hunters take note
- Driver dies in two-vehicle collision near Anola
- Katz pledges to add 58 police officers
- Katz pledges to add 58 police officers
- Enough for a passport, but not MPI
- Shunned after fling with daughters' friend
- Bombers fall 27-23 to Roughriders
- Man hurt after truck slams into bridge
- Wasylycia-Leis alleges Katz interference in info requests
- Streaks of light in night sky pose mystery
- Sex offender has sentence reduced
- Bombers in talks with Lumsden
- Five hurt in head-on crash
- Care denied after fee not paid
- RM denies permission for group home
- Katz pledges to add 58 police officers
- Just a sec, say traffic activists
- Band threatens to block access to Whiteshell
- Canopy opens can of worms
- Brian really was lyin'
- Wasylycia-Leis pledges to launch two new crime-fighting programs
- Toews says ship carrying migrants a 'test boat'
- RM wrong to run New Directions out of town
- CT, nuclear imaging tests in pregnancy don't raise risk of cancer in kids: study
- New complaint against judge
- Bargain hunters take note
- Israelis convinced new peace initiative has a chance
- Facebook a big hit with narcissists and people with low self-esteem: study
- Psst! Campaign a-paws to lure Dog Whisperer
- No men in the pews? Could be church's fault
- Bottom OF THE CLASS
- Streaks of light in night sky pose mystery
- Garden park for wee ones
- No men in the pews? Could be church's fault
- Oh, Zsuzsanna
- Bottom OF THE CLASS
- Streaks of light in night sky pose mystery
- Airport plan grounded
- Spin on the river turns adventurous
- Judge disclosed 'problem'
- History BY THE SLICE
- CT, nuclear imaging tests in pregnancy don't raise risk of cancer in kids: study
- Cute Alert! Zoo unveils panda cubs
- Judge embroiled in sex scandal removes self from bench
- Dashcam video shows car flying into overpass, being reduced to parts; driver critical
- No men in the pews? Could be church's fault
- Families find Manitoba's first jellyfish
- Tiny 10-year-old stuns judges, audience with huge voice
- STEINKOPF ROCKED
- Oh, Zsuzsanna
- N.D. clinic to offer controversial MS screening
- Green slime can be toxic, experts say
- Best films in Hollywood history to be shown on big screen
Events
September 9, 2010
Life in the Spirit Seminar
Seven weekly sessions of teaching and sharing on the gifts of the holy spirit, an invitation to youth and adults of all faiths, at Holy Family Ukrainian Catholic church, 1001 Grant Avenue, call Marianne ...
1 Comments
You can comment on most stories on winnipegfreepress.com. All you need to do is register and/or login and you can join the conversation and give your feedback.
Posted by: Vanessa
October 7, 2009 at 10:51 AM
Montgomery died in 1942 and if you had simply Googled her you would have found that out. I find your error totally stupid. She is one of Canada's most important writers, definitely our best selling, and she deserves to have reporters at list print the facts. She did drop off the manuscript the day you died, a correct fact, which you ironically called "supposed." You would have been more correct to say she "supposedly" died in 1947. Bah humbug!