The Week in Meep: British Literature to Lighten the Spirit, plus.... SUMO!
Congrats to Hoshoryu!
I’ve been having a rough time recently, but I’ve had two joys to fall back on: British literature and SUMO!!!!
The Road Goes Ever Ever On
First, a few fantasy classics, somewhat intended for children, but enjoyable for adults as well.
Last weekend, I had to deal with trying to dodge the snow as I and my son took my middle child back to college way upstate. We did manage to avoid all the snow there and back… and we had some audiobooks to accompany us: the first three books of the Narnia series: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; Prince Caspian; and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
The audiobook series we listened to was from HarperAudio, and they have a great series for narrators for all 7 of the books:
Michael York for The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Lynn Redgrave for Prince Caspian
Derek Jacobi for Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Jeremy Northam for The Silver Chair
Alex Jennings for The Horse and His Boy
Kenneth Branagh for The Magician’s Nephew
Patrick Stewart for The Last Battle
Of all of C.S. Lewis’s children’s classic Narnia series, my favorite book is The Horse and His Boy, because the characters are so great, especially the horse, Bree.
But of the audiobooks above, my favorite is The Last Battle, due to Patrick Stewart’s performance. All of the performers were well-chosen — one nice detail is Lynn Redgrave’s Reepicheep. He is truly dashing.
Hrum Hoom
Of course, the above was the audiobook listening as I drove, but I also had a book to read while we were at the University Inn — and that’s the connection to the prior section heading: a special digital edition of The Hobbit.
On the off-chance that you were unaware, Tolkien (the author of The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy) and C.S. Lewis (the author of the Narnia books, and many others) were close friends and had based aspects of each other in their books. Tolkien used Lewis’s booming, oratorical voice for the Ent, Treebeard, in the Lord of the Rings books. Lewis based the character Dr. Elwin Ransom from his Space Trilogy books on Tolkien.
I’ve read The Hobbit several times since I was a kid, but the bonus for this enhanced edition is the extra links to recordings of Tolkien himself reading parts of the book. Yes, especially the part where Bilbo and Gollum trade riddles. Check it out.
Messing About in Boats
Let’s have some video!
The Wind in the Willows
This 1995 animated version has Vanessa Redgrave (oh, those Redgraves) narrating, with Michael Palin supplying the voice of Ratty, Rik Mayall as Toad, Michael Gambon as Badger, and Alan Bennett as Mole. Rik Mayall as Toad going crazy over cars… now that’s just good casting.
Three Men in a Boat (to say nothing of the dog)
Once again, we get Michael Palin, with Tim Curry and Stephen Moore as the central trio of this story of floating down the river in late 19th century England.
Well, not simply floating.
The screenplay was written by Tom Stoppard, based on the book by Jerome K. Jerome. The book can be read at Project Gutenberg: Project Gutenberg page for Three Men in a Boat. It is hilarious, and an influence for so many British comic novels to come later. I found much of the humor of Douglas Adams’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy linked to Jerome’s core humor.
Additionally, the sci-fi time-traveling comedy book, To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis refers to Jerome’s classic comedy… but has only a little to do with it. I generally don’t like time-traveling plots, but I give this one a pass — it has compelling characters, and it is quite funny. It has a Jeeves & Wooster vibe, though set in Victorian England (quite the wrong period, doncha know… which the future characters going back to the Victorian period note.)
SUMO! Congrats to Hoshoryu!
The January 2025 Grand Sumo Tournament ended today, with the champion being decided by a three-way play-off. The way the Japan Sumo Association does these playoffs requires the winner to defeat the two other combatants, consecutively. Theoretically, the play-off could continue indefinitely if each winner immediately loses to the next opponent to battle.
But that didn’t happen today — Hoshoryu won both his matches in the play-off and clinched the championship.
It looks like Hoshoryu will be the next Yokozuna, but I don’t know if/when that happens.
The prior sole Yokozuna, Terunofuji, bowed out on day 4 of the tournament and announced his retirement. Yokozunas (the very top level) are not required in the pro sumo hierarchy, and there have been several periods without Yokozunas, but people do like having good wrestlers to watch.
Hakkeyoi!
A fun Tom Stoppard story:
Years ago, about six years out of college (MIT), I was working in Dallas, and my old roommate D called me up. He and his wife were finishing up their respective Masters' at Texas A&M, him in Industrial Engineering, her in teaching.
The problem: D was getting job offers, mostly in TX, mostly Dallas. His wife could get a teaching job anywhere in the country. He was not so "Green Acres" that he felt comfortable saying, "Woman, we are moving to Dallas!". But, they were moving to Dallas. So he asked, they were coming up there for a second interview, could I help sell Michelle on Dallas?
I had some money at the time, so I took them out to Star Canyon (best restaurant in Dallas), then to a local theater production of "Arcadia".
Little did I know that Michelle (whom I had met maybe twice other than the wedding, a lovely blonde girl from North Dakota) had double-majored at Brandeis in English and Math, and had written her thesis on LORD BYRON. Nontheless, she did not know the play "Arcadia".
You might say I hit that OUT OF THE PARK. D took the job, they settled in Plano, TX and had five kids and asfaik are still happy as people can be.
Huge back pat for yours truly.
Thank you for the link to "Three Men in a Boat (to Say Nothing of the Dog)" That is maybe the most completely British title of the most British thing ever this side of "Brideshead Revisited"
My roommate, who is VERY into Dr. Who and the "Hitchhiker's" universe -- as in he co-writes and performs original skits at fan conventions -- is HOWLING with laughter right now!
I college, my theater troupe had the "Baron Howard Memorial Freshman Award". It went to the person, "most like Baron Howard, most like a freshman, and most like Baron Howard AS A FRESHMAN." (We had some disturbing roots in Gilbert & Sullivan, yes, and of course nobody remembered the namesake B.H..)
That film is "Most like the British, most like Tom Stoppard, and most like the British PLAYING TOM STOPPARD"