Conversation:

Great book. DNA hates getting confused with RA, I've heard...

This may have something to do with the fact that Richard Adams' political stance is somewhere to the right of Genghis Khan.

How does that work out then?

In interview after interview, Richard Adams has expressed ferociously reactionary views, particularly on matters relating to sex and the family. I remember reading one a few month back in which he was ranting on about how important it was for women to be "chaste" and how he believed and desperately hoped that his daughters were "chaste". In other words, he's terrified of female sexuality. Ironic that a bloke like that should be best known for a book about rabbits, given that the rabbit is not an animal noted for its "chastity" - but there it is.

Re-reading the above, I realise I should have added that the Adams daughters are adults, so it's not a case of the great bunny-chronicler wanting to protect children or adolescents.

Seriously not what I expect from that old man. I suppose I wouldn't want to be confused with him. He's not pro-nazi or that, just slightly backwards.

What I didn't get is that after WD was published and fans were demanding a sequel he seemed to want to put the whole thing to pot. Like as if he wasn't proud of it .

I found out that he didn't get the title he wantedd for the book. He wanted it to be called Hazel And Fiver, but the publisher chose Watership Down. The people on the WD mailing list said "so his title sucked, but there must have been a reason for him wanting it".
(my words not theirs)

Watership Down is an amazing book!! And the film's pretty good too. Are you fellow fans or were you just discussing it?

I did enjoy the book, which is why I was so dismayed to find out what a Victorian throwback Richard Adams actually is. I know that his outlook shouldn't colour my feelings about the book, but I have to admit that it does.

I used to be a massive fan of the film and book, before I discovered The Secret Of NIMH. This new revelation hasn't clouded my opinions of anything.
The cartoon series was very disappointing, in my eyes. Yeah it's aimed at children, but why oh why couldn't they have stuck to the original plot a bit more?
But as I've always said, it had a great cast too. I just didn't watch too much of it as it made me cringe.

They've done a new series of it, so it must be popular.

Something I never said here - the WD listers pretty much thought that Ormy's comments were slightly unfounded (I posted what he said to them word for word), but even they grudgingly agreed.

Smallfish - the Mike A is still a WD fan

Wow! Someone else remembers The Secret of Nimh! If you liked that, you'll also like Redwall, by Brian Jacques. Or you should do.

You should see how much I've written about NIMH *^_^*

I keep meaning to check out Redwall. It's something of a cult thing, isn't it? Suppose I should start with the first book, which is called 'Redwall', right?

yeah. I didn't know it had a cult following, maybe I should check it out...

There are others in the series but personally i think they are as good as Redwall. The later ones are definately a bit pants, except possibly Mossflower and Mariel of Redwall. But read them anyway.

I think Redwall's got a pretty massive following

And I think it would make sense to start with the first book, and work my way through. It would take yonks to read the whole lot, but I can dream eh?

You wouldn't judge a peace of music by Beethoven on the basis of his personality,

I think if you like the work of any artist ,expecting them to have a perfect personality as well is asking a bit much.

I totally agree with you. Nobody's perfect, and I appreciate the work of many creative people whose company I don't think I'd enjoy very much. But having enjoyed 'Watership Down', it was a shock and a disappointment to discover that Richard Adams held such drastically reactionary right-wing views. Those views don't seem to be manifested in the book, so I agree that Adams' outlook doesn't make 'Watership Down' a bad book.

I must admit these days I might well agree with the man just a tad

Is Richard Adams even still alive?!