"Imagination, not intelligence.made us human" -- Terry Pratchett
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Journeys of the Imagination
As a young reader, I saw the illustration of the man tied to the ground and surrounded by little armed people; my curiosity was aroused, and I was immediately drawn in to the reading of Gulliver's Travels.
It was many years later that I learned that this extraordinary book -- an adventure story and a wonderful journey of the imagination -- which has captivated children since its publication in 1726, was also a political and cultural satire, written under a pseudonym during turbulent times, by the Anglo-Irish writer Jonathan Swift.
..."when I awaked, it was just day-light. I attempted to rise, but was not able to stir: for, as I happened to lie on my back, I found my arms and legs were strongly fastened on each side to the ground; and my hair, which was long and thick, tied down in the same manner...I heard a confused noise about me; but in the posture I lay, could see nothing except the sky. In a little time I felt something alive moving on my left leg..." Jonathan Swift
Gulliver's Travels was one of many books that took me to other worlds. Like so many other books, especially in those early years, it was recommended by a thoughtful librarian. As a result, I have long regarded librarians as unsung guides to the great wonders of reading.
Storytellers have always been a gateway to the imagination.
Here is a link to an excellent Project Gutenberg version of Gulliver's Travels adpapted from the D.C. Heath illustrated edition(2005)
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"Everything you can imagine is real" -- Pablo Picasso
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Rowling and Pullman...remarkable storytellers of today
Two of the most imaginative and creative writers of children's literature in today's world are very different in the stories they create and in their writing style. Yet the completeness of their vision and their attention to details is boundless and quite remarkable. And they continue to bring us new wonders.
Each of them creates full blown worlds of wonder and magic that resonate with their very large, passionate following of readers.
They both have huge numbers of older as well as younger readers; and have had their work transposed to other creative mediums, from theater and dance, to movies and TV, to comic books and games.
And both are also deeply concerned with the humanitarian and political events of our contemporary world.
The illustration is by Pawlel Kuczynski
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J.K. Rowling...The Promise of Another World
What would it be like to be Harry Potter's son? What conflicts were taking place in the world of wizardry before Harry Potter's time? J. K. Rowling's creative responses to these questions have resulted in a magical prize winning London play, Harry potter and the Cursed Child and a new series of delightful films, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (the first film in the series was reviewed here in January, 2017 ). Books of both the play and the film are best sellers.
The play -- it is in two parts and runs on consecutive nights -- has proved to be popular with adults and children. It has also brought large numbers of people to the theater for whom attending the theater is a new experience. It is coming to the USA in April, 2018.
There will be five films in the Fantastic Beasts series with the next one scheduled for release in November, 2018. In this sequel, we will meet Newt Salamander's older brother, Theseus (Callum Turner) and see Albus Dumbledore in his younger days as portrayed by Jude Law.
Insights Into J.K. Rowling
Sarah Crompton, in the Guardian, conducted an interview, prior to the opening of the play (after two years of pre-production collaboration), with Rowling, writer Jack Thorne, and director John Tiffany. Here are two very personal insights by Rowling that came from the Crompton interview:
“It has been almost a decade since she put pen to paper for the final book in the sequence. ‘But I carry that world around in my head all the time, she acknowledges. ‘I am never going to hate that world. I love that world. But there are other worlds I want to live in too'..."
"People came inside the world with me...The big reason why people loved Potter was that it felt like it could be. That sense that there is more to the world. Just on the other side. Even within touching distance. There’s more. It is the promise of another world and it doesn’t have to be a magical world but to a lonely child or an insecure person or anyone who feels different or isolated, the idea of having a place where you do belong is everything.”
Here is a link to the Sarah Crompton interview in the Guardian.
Here is a link to Rowling's lively and imaginative website: Pottermore .
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"The power of imagination makes us infinite"-- John Muir
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Phillip Pullman...Lyra Lives On
"Philip Pullman has ended years of speculation by announcing that The Book of Dust, an epic fantasy trilogy that will stand alongside his bestselling series, His Dark Materials, will be published in October around the world.
The as-yet-untitled first volume of The Book of Dust, due out on 19 October, will be set in London and Oxford, with the action running parallel to the His Dark Materials trilogy. A global bestseller since the first volume, Northern Lights, was published in 1995, Pullman’s series has sold more than 17.5m copies and been translated into 40 languages."
Excerpted from an article in the Guardian by Danuta Kean. Here is a link: Danuta Kean in the Guardian
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Pullman...Why Retu
rn to Lyra's World?
"Why return to Lyra’s world? Dust. Questions about that mysterious and troubling substance were already causing strife 10 years before His Dark Materials, and at the centre of The Book of Dust is the struggle between a despotic and totalitarian organisation, which wants to stifle speculation and enquiry, and those who believe thought and speech should be free. The idea of Dust suffused His Dark Materials. Little by little through that story the idea of what Dust was became clearer and clearer, but I always wanted to return to it and discover more. Questions about our existence are infinitely interesting to me. There’s always more to explore..."
excerpted from Pullman's website
Illustrations from His Dark Materials by Peter Bailey, Folio Society
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The Adventures of John Blake: Mystery of the Ghost Ship
It seems that Phillip Pullman, like Neil Gaiman, has also written a comic strip, now a book, that has great appeal to adults as well as younger people. Here is an excerpt from a rave review in the Guardian by Rachel Cooke
"This column doesn’t usually include comics that were written mostly with children or teenagers ... But I’m making an exception for The Adventures of John Blake: Mystery of the Ghost Ship, first because its author is Philip Pullman, Carnegie medal winner and bestselling author of His Dark Materials, and second – by far the more important reason – because it’s fantastic...
Beautifully drawn by Fred Fordham, The Adventures of John Blake first appeared in The Phoenix, the weekly comic published by David Fickling Books
Fickling will also publish Pullman's Daemon Voices – Essays on Storytelling in Autumn 2017.
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Trump's Alternate Reality
I learned that President Trump has found a portal to an alternate reality of his own. No glaciers are melting there. Twitter is a beacon of enlightenment. He can do whatever comes into his mind and he is always right. He can keep his tax returns a secret forever. And the NRA is everybody's friend. Except maybe non-whites and refugees. The problem with Trump's alternate reality is that it comes from the Dark Side.
Illustration of the Blind Leading the Blind is by Pieter Bruegel
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Imagine
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world... You...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one...John Lennon
The photo, taken in Killarney, is by David Sedlmayer
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Loyalty, Dogs and Kids...the Planet Of The Dogs Series
How do you explain loyalty to children? Does loyalty have a place in the world outside? Is it a virtue? Does it bring trouble or problems? Or Is it rewarding? Does loyalty have a beginning and an end?
Where can a child find examples of loyalty that they can experience and understand?
Dogs offer a wonderful way for a child to understand loyalty. Dogs are the embodiment of loyalty and a story with dogs can illustrate loyalty.
Suppose it is long, long ago.
Invaders are coming, but they have never seen dogs...
Here is a link to sample chapters of all books in the Planet Of The Dogs series.
The illustration from Castle In The Mist is by Stella Mustanoja McCarty
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Rowling and Pullman...Humanitarian and Political Involvement
Named after the light-giving spell in the Harry Potter books, Lumos is an international non-governmental, non-profit organisation founded by J.K. Rowling to help the eight million disadvantaged children in orphanages around the world to be returned to their family or placed in a loving family environment...Lumos’ mission is to end the use of orphanages and institutions for vulnerable children around the world by 2050.
In Addition...
J.K. Rowling is no longer a billionaire—because she donated so much money to charity. In 2011, she gave away about 16% of her net worth, or $160 million dollars.
Over the years, she has continued to donate millions to charities including AIDS & HIV, Cancer, Children, Creative Arts, Education, Family/Parent Support, Health, Homelessness, Human Rights, Hunger, Literacy, Mental Challenges, Miscellaneous, Physical Challenges, Poverty, Refugees, Women
Her efforts on the part of orphans and homeless children are ongoing.
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The Thousand Causes for Brexit
Phillip Pullman is a commendable activist in cultural and political affairs. Here is an excerpt from a powerful article he wrote for the Guardian on Brexit ...
"This catastrophe has had a thousand causes. Here are some. There is our country’s post-imperial reluctance to let go of the idea that we are a great nation, combined with our post-second-world-war delusion that we were still a great power..."
Children's Books -- Let the Readers Decide for Themselves
"In 2008, Pullman led a campaign against the introduction of age bands on the covers of children’s books, saying: 'It's based on a one-dimensional view of growth, which regards growing older as moving along a line like a monkey climbing a stick: now you're seven, so you read these books; and now you're nine so you read these' ...
In 2014, Pullman supported the Let Books Be Books campaign to stop children’s books being labelled as ‘for girls’ or ‘for boys’, saying:'I'm against anything, from age-ranging to pinking and blueing, whose effect is to shut the door in the face of children who might enjoy coming in. No publisher should announce on the cover of any book the sort of readers the book would prefer. Let the readers decide for themselves' ". Excerpted from Wikipedia
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"Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it, we go nowhere." -- Carl Sagan
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Imagination Made Tangible
Imagination comes alive --often initiated by myth and fairy tales -- in all the arts.
The European tradition of street festivals and outdoor celebrations has produced extraordinary results in the creative work of Jerzy Zon and the KTO Theater of Krakow. Some of their productions, dealing with the human condition, allegories of war and survival, take place at night in large open spaces and are intended for adults. Others, however, are meant for both children and adults. Both can be seen among the spectators reacting with wonder to this KTO production entitled Peregrinus: Teatr KTO "Peregrinus"
Footnote: There is a myth that a dragon once lived in a cave under Krakow. There are several versions of how a young shoemaker was able to kill the dragon after many knights failed to do so and had been killed. Here is a link to the story; Once Upon a Time In Poland
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Hours of Laughter and Joy
C.A. Wulff is an author of dog books and a passionate animal advocate. She is an expert on using the Internet for dog rescue and all related matters. Wulff is also an expert on the benefits of dog rescue. This is an excerpt from her blog: Up On The Woof.
"And what about that dog you saved? There is nothing more joyous and grateful than a dog who has been saved. Dogs don’t keep those sorts of feelings to themselves, they want to share them. That dog becomes the most loving, faithful companion you can imagine. He will protect his new family in times of danger and comfort them in times of sadness. He will teach the children in the family to love and respect animals... The dog will bring hours of laughter and joy to his people." ...
How to Change the World in Thirty Seconds can be found on Amazon.
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Intuition and Imagination Amidst Form Follows Function
The architecture and design that emanated from the Bauhaus personifies the underlying idea that form follows function. Clean, often austere, highly functional designs became a hallmark of the buildings, tools, machines, and artifacts created by a multitude of top architects and designers worldwide.
Johannes Itten, who developed the initial course that taught students the basics of material characteristics, composition, and color, was also an advocate of developing intuitive creative powers. Itten believed that intuition was a principal source of artistic inspiration and practice. However, this led to substantial conflicts with Walter Gropius (founder of the Bauhaus in 1919) and ultimately, the departure of Itten in 1922.
Here is a quote from Itten that is clearly at odds with the austere Bauhaus philosophy..."Play becomes joy, joy becomes work, work becomes play.
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Return to Gun Nation -- Home of the NRA
In the 18 years since Zed Nelson’s seminal photography book Gun Nation was published, 500,000 Americans have been killed by firearms in the US.
Half a million people dead and many more injured; Nelson returns to the people he met, re-photographs and videos them, and asks why America is a nation still with an insatiable appetite for firearms. 40% of all gun sales in the USA are "private" -- no background check required.
Here is a link to this incredible Guardian documentary: Return to Gun Nation
I wrote about Nelson's original film -- Gun Nation, a journey -- in this Barking Planet blog in October 2016.
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Assisting Refugees
I first read this story by Dan Barry before the inauguration of Donald Trump. Months have passed, and the compassionate and practical work of CWS (Church World Service) is even more vital today...
"A dull gray house on a hillside has to become a home. Another Syrian family of refugees will be arriving soon, and this empty, echoing old place needs to be readied in welcome...In Lancaster, Pa., where resettlement work dates back decades, volunteers and staff members from the Church World Service prepared a home for a family of new arrivals..." Here is a link to read all of this story; NYTimes A Joyful Bustle story
CWS helps refugees around the world and supports legislation for immigration reform that will provide a permanent solution and a path to citizenship..."Church World Service was born in 1946, in the aftermath of World War II. Seventeen denominations came together to form an agency “to do in partnership what none of us could hope to do as well alone.” The mission: Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick, comfort the aged, shelter the homeless."
Here is a link to read more about the wonderful work of CWS The photo is by Sergey Ponomarev, NYT
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Sharing the World of Myth and Imagination
Writing this blog is an ongoing learning experience. My reading varies, from fairy tales to writings about children's literature, past and present. When I want to immerse myself in informed ideas, art work, and information -- as well as the spirit of "folklore, fairy tales, fantasy, mythic arts & mythic living" -- I visit the world of Terri Windling in her Dartmoor studio. In my experience, there is nothing else quite like Terri Windling's Myth and Moor blog.
Here is an excerpt from the opening of a Myth and Moor post on Dark Beauty:
"Having grown up amidst violence and ugliness, I have long dedicated my life to kindness, compassion and beauty: three old-fashioned ideals that I truly believe keep the globe spinning in its right orbit. William Morris, artist and socialist, considered beauty to be as essential as bread in everyone's life, rich and poor alike. It is one of the truths that I live by. Beauty in this context, of course, is not the shallow glamour peddled by Madison Avenue; it's a quality of harmony, balance and interrelationship: physical, emotional, and spiritual all at once...We are living through a time when dark, violent forces have been released, encouraged, and amplified, on both sides of the Atlantic...
The world of Myth and Moor is the work of a committed, gifted, and relevant artist, always reaching for higher self, and always generous in the ways she shares her journey.
The photo is of Terri, in Dartmoor, with her dog, Tilly.
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The Fairy Tale Tradition
"From the very beginning, thousands of years ago, when tales were told to create communal bonds in face of the inexplicable forces of nature, to the present, when fairy tales are written and told to provide hope in a world seemingly on the brink of catastrophe, mature men and women have been the creators and cultivators of the fairy tale tradition..."
Jack Zipes, Spells of Enchantment: The Wondrous Fairy Tales of Western Culture
The illustration and book cover is by Arthur Rackham.
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“Myths are made for the imagination to breathe life into them,” Albert Camus
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MOVIES
Arthur...The story has traveled through the centuries as legends and myth, in oral tales and written stories...and now, a new film version for the CGI era.
Here is Rotten Tomatoes' Critics Consensus (based on 189 critic's reviews): "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword piles mounds of modern action flash on an age-old tale -- and wipes out much of what made it a classic story in the first place."
On the other hand, here is an excerpt from a rather positive review by Manohla Dargis in the New York Times:
"The Arthur story has played out differently across the centuries, from the Middle Ages to T. H. White’s novel “The Sword in the Stone” to Disney’s 20th-century cartoon take, and each moment in time shapes the way it’s told. In this case, that means something old, something blockbustery and that Guy Ritchie je ne sais quoi.
Put differently, this variation on the Arthurian legend fleetingly brings to mind “Game of Thrones” but mostly plays out according to the Ritchie template: a self-amused, endlessly resourceful laddish hero gets in and out of trouble with winks, smarts and brute force, sometimes in the company of Jude Law. This time the resident rogue is Arthur, played with easy, low-wattage charisma by Charlie Hunnam, who has a gift for delivering nonsense without seeming embarrassed.
Here is a link to the entire review: ManohlaDargis
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This is a searing and very touching documentary about the White Helmet volunteers who risk their lives, after a bombing or shelling, to try and save people trapped in the ruins. The focus is on three men and their families, and their struggle to save lives and protect their families amidst the chaos...winner of the Grand Jury Documentary prize at the Sundance Film Festival.
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False News: While researching the White Helmets on You Tube, I found false videos and fake documentaries apparently posted by Russian or Syrian Government Sources. I also found what appear to be ISIS sponsored videos. Very disturbing.
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Buena Vista Social Club, Adios
Several years ago, Wim Wenders made an excellent documentary about the Buena Vista Social Club, their captivating music, and their new found success.
I watched the trailer for a new documentary that appears to be an affectionate follow-up. I hope it succeeds in opening the doors to this wonderful music for a new generation.
Here is a link to the trailer of the Buena Vista Social Club, Adios
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"Reality leaves a lot to the imagination" -- John Lennon
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A Dog's Prayer
Dear God: We Dogs can understand human
verbal instructions, hand signals, whistles,
horns, clickers, beepers, scent IDs,
electromagnetic energy fields, and Frisbee
flight paths. What do humans understand?
The illustration from Planet Of The Dogs is by Stella Mustanoja McCarty
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Harvey
Harvey makes me smile. Harvey, the media dog, works for a living with some very imaginative people. If you like dogs, click here for a link: Harvey
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The Yelodoggie Search
Why Am I ? is a joyous Yelodoggie book that helps children recognize and appreciate differences and to embrace that which is unique in each of us.
We believe that Why Am I ?, C.A. Wulff's wonderful new Yelodoggie book should have a big marketing push and wide distribution. Kids 4-8 love it and we are hoping it will be the beginning of a series. We are now actively searching for a publisher who will also love the book, embrace its potential, and launch it into the world.
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The Planet Of The Dogs Series
To read sample chapters of any book in the series, visit PlanetOfTheDogs
The Planet Of The Dogs series (including Castle In The Mist and Snow Valley Heroes, A Christmas Tale) is available on the Internet through independent book stores, as well as : Barnes&Noble, Amazon, Powell's, Walmart, Kobo, Inktera, Scribd, and Tolino.
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