Episode 342: Watership Down by Richard Adams, Ch. 21-30

On The Literary Life Podcast this week, Angelina and Thomas continue their series on Richard Adams’ Watership Down, covering chapters 21-30 in this episode. Angelina opens the discussion with some thoughts on the importance of the structure of a story in view of the literary tradition inspired by her commonplace quote for today. Once again, in these chapters we see echoes from mythology and beast fables, including references to the “and-then” story structure, the Sabine women, the rabbit as trickster, testing of the leader, and so much more!

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Commonplace Quotes:

The lower sort of man must be indulged the consolation of finding fault with those above them.

Lord Halifax, from “Thoughts and Reflections”

“Well in our country,” said Alice, still panting a little, “you’d generally get to somewhere else–if you ran very fast for a long time, as we’ve been doing.”

“A slow sort of country!” said the Queen. “Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!”

“If I wasn’t real,” Alice said–half-laughing through her tears, it all seemed so ridiculous–“I shouldn’t be able to cry.”

“I hope you don’t suppose those are real tears?” Teweedledum interrupted in a tone of great contempt.

Lewis Carroll, from Through the Looking Glass

“The Trees”

by Philip Larkin

The trees are coming into leaf
Like something almost being said;
The recent buds relax and spread,
Their greenness is a kind of grief.

Is it that they are born again
And we grow old? No, they die too.
Their yearly trick of looking new
Is written down in rings of grain.

Yet still the unresting castles thresh
In fullgrown thickness every May.
Last year is dead, they seem to say,
Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.

Book List:

Amazon affiliate links below

Watership Down by Richard Adams

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh

Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh

The Aeneid by Virgil

The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

Lilith by George MacDonald

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