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January 18, 2011
A Source of Nonsense
Topics: Political News and commentariesAs we begin this legislative session, we wonder -- will the new Republican majority be strong, focused, and committed? Or will they go native?
On A.A. Milne's birthday, a timeless message from his first play posits a question for the ages... will this group matter, will they do what's needed?
We hope, and we pray...
John F. Di Leo offers his thoughts on the matter in his Illinois Review column today: A Source of Nonsense:
One quiet night, across the Pond ...Read more ...In London, England, on January 18, 1882, A.D., an author was born. A humorist for Punch, then a playwright, then a screenwriter, this talented gentleman was a man of many genres, but you and I know him best for the children's stories he wrote in the 1920s.
He wrote about the Hundred-Acre Wood, about his son, and his son's playmates -- a spirited bear, a spiritless donkey, a wise owl and a brave young piglet. These books were a gold mine, and live on nearly a century later in books, DVDs, television series, and shelves full of licensed characters in every toy store in the western world.
Much less famous than Winnie the Pooh, but of note to us today, is his first play, "Wurzel-Flummery", which he wrote in 1917, while serving in The Great War. This one begat no cartoons, no lucrative licensing deals ... you'll find no branded sweatshirts, pajamas, and lunchboxes emblazoned with its characters. But it posed a timeless question for students of government, in a way that only A.A. Milne could imagine.
The tale concerns two Members of Britain.s Parliament: the first, a middle-aged conservative, the other, his friend and rival from across the aisle, a young liberal who just happens to be seeking the hand of the former's daughter, Viola.
Posted by Richard at January 18, 2011 11:40 AM
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