Kaethe

03/18/16

My brother owned a copy of This is London as a child (perhaps he still does). Along with his copy of Anatole, these were highly coveted objects. In the London book there is a picture of a man, in a park, up a tree, and he's sawing off a tree branch: the one that he's sitting on!

How quaint that seems now. I'd love to have all the original books, or reprints of same, in theory. I'm worried that the judicious choice of snippets for this book might have some possible basis in the idea of excising images or text that would be broadly offensive now. There is an emphasis here on Anglophone interests, and nothing, I think, on the native people of any location. Really, it can't deserve the word "world" without anything from Africa, Asia, or South America, just to name a few glaring omissions.

Anyway, I loved it. The art is so sixties, and so cool, even now it remains distinctive and attractive. It may be a safe nostalgia, but it was good.

***

11/14/17

Culture: You're soaking in it

“Platypus looks as if he were forever unable to decide what he wants to be: he has a beak like a bird, he swims under water like a fish, he has fur like a kangaroo, and he lays eggs but suckles his young.”

Library copy