The Society for the Preservation of Literature, the Arts, Numinosity, Culture, Humor, Nerdiness, Inspiration, Creativity & Storytelling
Clare and Hannah continue to dive down the rabbit hole and talk about Richard Adam’s 1972 adventure novel Watership Down. In Part 2 of this discussion, we talk about the qualities of a great leader: trusting your followers, offering peace to hostile neighbors, and saving the lives of random mice.
After a bit of a break, Clare and Hannah return to talk about Clare’s favorite childhood book: Watership Down! We talked briefly about it in Season 1, Episode 3, “Hobbits and Rabbits and Gnomes (Oh my!)” but on today’s episode and in next week’s episode we dive deeply–down the rabbit hole, if you will–into this classic 1972 novel by Richard Adams. It’s much more than a fun adventure story about talking rabbits!
The title is confusing to many potential readers. It is not a nautical book about a sinking ship. A “down” is in fact, a hill. And Watership Down is a specific hill in the North Wessex Downs area in the south of England. The story begins in the county of Berkshire and moves south into Hampshire, where most of the story takes place. Hampshire is on the southern coast of England. Portsmouth and Southampton are two well-known cities in the county. From the coast, southward across at strait called The Solent, is the Isle of Wight.
Richard Adams was born and raised in the area, and except for a brief stint in the army during World War II, lived his whole life in this scenic region of England. (For more on the setting, check out Clare’s review of Watership Down, linked below.)
Click “Read More” to enjoy part 1 of the episode and find additional resources!
Clare and Hannah dive down the rabbit/hobbit hole to discuss their favorite childhood books, and marvel at how trippy old cartoons are.
Our favorite childhood books are:
Watership Down by Richard Adams
Gnomes by Will Huygen and Rien Poortvliet
The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
Interesting: Hobbits, rabbits, and gnomes all live in holes in the ground. Why do all of our childhood favorites revolve around subterranean creatures? We’ll have to mention this to our therapist.