Volume 42, Number 14 · September 21, 1995
The Big Cake
By Keith Thomas
Landscape and Memory
by Simon Schama
Knopf, 652 pp., $40.00
In the first paragraph of this extraordinary book, Simon Schama reveals that his favorite childhood reading was Kipling's Puck of Pook's Hill. Fellow-enthusiasts of this enchanting idyll will not be surprised to learn that it fired his historical imagination. Kipling's story tells how, through the magic of Oak, Ash, and Thorn, the fairy Puck provides the two children, Dan and Una, with a series of enthralling brief encounters with Roman centurions, Norman knights, and other historical figures. Each of these reminisces about the past and then tantalizingly fades away to turn back into one of the children's present-day neighbors, like old Hobden, the hedger, or his son, the Bee Boy, 'who is not quite right in his head, though he can do anything with bees.' Punctuated by memorable verse, Kipling's tale is a poetic celebration of the deep historical continuities of the Sussex countryside.
Review, 3853 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |