Down by the river

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The Watership Down, taken from the northeast (March 2004)

Down at the river ( English original title: Watership Down ) is a novel published in 1972 by Richard Adams . The eponymous hill, Watership Down , in the north of Hampshire , is one of the central locations of the story. All other locations actually existed at least at the time of publication. Down by the river was the first and most successful book of the author ; the total worldwide circulation is estimated at over 50 million pieces.

The adventure novel is about a group of wild rabbits who flee from their old enclosure due to a gloomy prophecy by the young rammer Fiver. In search of a new home , the rabbits led by Fiver's brother Hazel have to endure numerous adventures . Although they have their own culture , the rabbits and other animals in Down at the River are less humanized than the anthropomorphic animals in stories like The Wind in the Willows . Their physique corresponds to that of real animals and they do not use any technology .

action

Part one - the journey

Raft on the banks of the Enborne (March 2004)

The story begins with the skinny young rammer Fiver telling his older brother Hazel about his apocalyptic vision of the imminent destruction of their home, the cozy Sandleford enclosure, and urging him to leave it as soon as possible. At first Hazel hesitates, but after an inconclusive conversation with the head rabbit Threarah, the two set off together with nine other worried or dissatisfied residents of the enclosure to look for a new home. These include Bigwig, a member of the "Owsla" from Sandleford (a mostly military -oriented organization within an enclosure that reports directly to the head rabbit). Other members of the group are Blackberry, Buckthorn, Dandelion, Pipkin, Silver and Acorn, Hawkbit and Speedwell, who have remained inconspicuous in the course of the story.

Numerous dangers emanating from natural enemies and the rigors of nature and the weather constantly present the inexperienced refugees with great challenges. After crossing the river Enborne on a raft and marching through a heather field that offers little protection , they come across an idyllic enclosure of well-fed rabbits, which Hazel and his companions offer to take them in. The rabbits around Cowslip do not show the rough, primeval behavior of wild rabbits and have developed a melancholy culture that is in sharp contrast to the original mythology of the rabbits around their shrewd progenitor, El-ahrairah. Fiver warns his companions that something is wrong, but they don't listen to him at first.

As it turns out later, however, the inhabitants of the enclosure have made a proverbial pact with the devil , which is also thematized in coded form in their poetry : a human being takes care of the rabbits' physical well-being by providing them with food and protecting them from enemies such as foxes protects, but he kills individual rabbits again and again using wire traps . After Bigwig falls into such a trap and is almost killed, the refugees make their way to the south-facing hill Watership Down, which was chosen by Fiver as their new home. Strawberry, whose female Nildrohain was recently killed, joins the group.

Part Two - Watership Down

The Nuthanger Farm (March 2004)

After a hike of more than three kilometers, the heroes finally reach the Watership Down, where they soon begin to build their own building in order to lay the foundation stone for their own enclosure. Meanwhile, they come across Holly, the former captain of the Owsla de Sandleford, who was originally supposed to arrest the renegade Owsla members Bigwig and Silver for mutiny . He is supported by his friend Bluebell, who henceforth tries to cheer up his companions with bad jokes in seemingly hopeless situations . They tell them about the terrible destruction of the local building that had to give way to new houses . Almost all rabbits were killed by construction workers using poison gas . So Fiver's fears have come true. Later, the rabbits make friends with the black-headed gull Kehaar by nursing the animal , which has been injured on the wing .

Only now do the refugees notice that they are exclusively bats and that their enclosure without Zibben will sooner or later be doomed. After a scouting flight, she pointed out a large enclosure a few kilometers south of Watership Down to Kehaar. However, instead of negotiating with the four messengers who were then sent out about the surrender of a few surplus females, the chief rabbit there, General Woundwort, forces them to join the Efrafa enclosure. Holly and the other ambassadors manage to escape, but they return to Watership Down without a female.

In one intermezzo, at least one commando led by Hazel succeeds in kidnapping three house rabbits from the nearby Nuthanger farm , including two cibes. Hazel is shot and initially believed dead by his companions, but Fiver discovered the next day alive in a drainpipe. However, because this is not sufficient to ensure the long-term survival of the enclosure, almost all group members then embark on the dangerous undertaking of kidnapping some females from Efrafa.

Third part - Efrafa

Black-headed gull

General Woundwort, the founder of the Efrafa enclosure, is respected and feared for his legendary fighting power. In order to protect his people from enemies, he has installed a totalitarian social system based on the constant surveillance of all subjects, who are provided with special markings, among other things. Although the rabbit hole is now overcrowded and many of the stressed females can no longer have children of their own, escape attempts are strictly prohibited.

In order to avoid a hopeless fight against the numerically superior opponents, Bigwig, chosen as a spy, poses as a wandering bachelor who is looking for a connection to an enclosure. Because of his fighting strength, he actually got a job in the Owsla of Efrafa and was able to convince some of the females around the leader of the rebels , Hyzenthlay, to try to break out with him. However, Woundwort thwarted the first attempt at escape by accident by speaking to Bigwig at the crucial moment and asking him for a conversation. The cheeky young Zibbe Nelthilta finally reveals the planned request, but at the same time Bigwig manages to escape during a severe thunderstorm together with ten females and Blackavar.

Because he was not accepted into the Owsla of Efrafa despite his skills as a tracker, Blackavar attempted a failed escape a month earlier, whereupon he was tortured to deter other dissatisfied residents . In order not to have to leave the doomed prisoner behind, Bigwig, who felt great pity for him , changed his original plan and even risked the failure of the plan when attacking his guards. In the chase that follows , Bigwig and his companions who have joined him are actively supported by Kehaar in the fight against the pursuers of General Woundwort.

Fourth part - Hazel-rah

Hypothetical location of Watership Down's rabbit warren (March 2004)

After a risky boat trip on the River Test , all group members, with the exception of two females who died on the way, finally reach the rabbit hole in Watership Down. However, they are discovered by a patrol of the revenge- seeking Woundwort, who then launches a devastating attack on the enclosure of Watership Down with more than two dozen of his best fighters. Just in time, its residents are warned by a field mouse , which Hazel rescued from a kestrel in the second part , so that they can collapse the access holes in the building to improve the defense options. In a dramatic duel, Bigwig manages to seriously injure General Woundwort; the remaining attackers are chased away shortly afterwards by the Nuthanger Farm dog , who was led to the rabbit hole by a group of three led by Hazel. Hazel is attacked by a cat , but the farmer's daughter Lucy saves him from their clutches in time and abandons him after an examination by the vet .

Groundsel, Thistle and three other members of the Owsla of Efrafa join the enclosure at Watership Down after the failed attack, of the other attackers only six or seven return alive to Efrafa. Woundwort's whereabouts after the confrontation with the dog remains unclear, but it goes down in rabbit folklore with mothers warning their naughty children from now on that the "general" will take them if they continue to be naughty. After the defenders win, a peace agreement is reached between Watership Down and Efrafa, who is under new leadership. Groundsel later even rises to the first head rabbit of the newly established enclosure halfway between the two main buildings.

In an emotional ending after the last regular chapter of the book, the grown old Hazel, whose adventures themselves have become a legend , is invited by El-ahrairah to enter his Owsla after his death. That this is clearly El-ahrairah and not an Owslam member or even the sun god Frith, as is sometimes claimed, is proven by the following two excerpts: “[Frith in conversation with El-ahrairah:] But since we're talking about gifts speak, I brought you a few little things. A pair of ears, a tail, and whiskers. You may find the ears a little strange at first. I put some starlight in it ”and“ Then he [Hazel] saw that the stranger's ears shone in a faint silver glow in the darkness ”.

main characters

Wild rabbit

With regard to the plot from Bottom by the River, it is worth mentioning that it is not told from the perspective of one or a few heroes, but also goes into detail about the actions and the emotional world of the secondary characters. This shows their different characters very clearly, but this is not necessarily reflected in their very similar way of speaking. Hazel, Fiver and Bigwig can be seen as the three main characters of the plot, General Woundwort also takes on the role of the hero's antagonist .

Hazel

Hazel, later respectfully addressed by his companions as “Hazel-rah” (the suffix “-rah” stands for a lofty position, comparable to that of a prince or prince), as the leader of the Sandleford refugees later also takes on the role of the chief rabbit of the new enclosure from Watership Down. In contrast to most other head rabbits, he is not exactly strong, but exudes natural authority and is decisive. ("Hazel later said there was nothing left but to cross the open pastureland, and they had crossed it under Silver's direction") Furthermore, his ability to think analytically is only surpassed by Blackberry, who, as the smartest member of the group, even has difficult concepts understands that are beyond the mental horizon of a normal rabbit. The fact that he placed Pipkin, a weak but extremely loyal fellow campaigner, under his special protection from the start also contributes to his position as a popular figure . ("Wherever we will settle, Hazel thought, I am determined to see that Pipkin and Fiver are not suppressed and pushed around")

Fiver

Hazel's brother Fiver, also called Hrairoo ("Little Thousand") in rabbit language, is the last of his litter of slight stature. His supernatural gift of vision saves his companion's life several times; for example, he warns them that something is wrong in Cowslip's enclosure. ("Did I say that the roof of this hall was made of bones? No! A great mist of folly covers the whole sky and we will never see Frith's light again.") As the quotation from Aeschylus ' Agamemnon before the first chapter makes clear, his role was largely inspired by that of Cassandra . Because he takes on an important role in the community despite his physical weakness, he is probably the most important figure to identify with alongside Hazel .

Bigwig

Bigwig whose name on a dense tuft of fur between his ears alludes and is in the rabbit language Thlayli ( "skin head"), is a former member of the Owsla of Sandleford the most experienced fighter in the group. It is interesting that he and not Hazel plays the main role in the two highlights of the story, the espionage operation in Efrafa and the fight against General Woundwort. His companions recognized early on how important he would become for the victory over their adversaries. ("Despite Hazel's efforts by the trap, there wasn't one of them who didn't feel miserable at the thought that Bigwig might be dead and wondered, like Blackberry, what would have happened to them then.")

General Woundwort

General Woundwort is the tyrannical ruler of Efrafa. He differs from some other villains in that he does not act out of purely selfish interests, but also stands up for his people. (“General Woundwort watched over them with tireless zeal, who won their loyalty to him, although they feared him.”) This is also how Groundsel's admiration for Woundwort even after his (presumed) death is to be understood. But he loses his last moral integrity at the latest when he turns down Hazel's offer of peace. ("For one heartbeat the idea [...] flashed before him. He understood it and realized what it meant. The next heartbeat he pushed it aside.") For him, violence is the only way to get rid of problems and that makes him a reprehensible subject despite his wisdom and courage .

Anthropomorphic Aspects

Reineke Fuchs , a classic fable

The rabbits and other animals featured in the story are less humanized than in most of the other animal stories. Their physique corresponds to that of real animals, they do not use any technology, their mental horizon is limited to their immediate surroundings and they show instinctive behavior. On the other hand, the animals are shown as intelligent , rationally thinking and acting beings who can talk to each other like humans. In addition, the rabbits have their own culture based on their own mythology and vocabulary of their own language . The author summarized this contrast in such a way that their behavior corresponds to that of rabbits, but at the same time they are guided by human feelings. For this reason, Bottom on the River is not a classic fable like Reineke Fuchs , for example , but only shows elements of this literary genre through the use of intelligent animals as protagonists .

Language of the rabbits

Because it consists of only about 30 fixed terms and phrases , the rabbit language, called Lapine, is not actually a constructed language . Nevertheless, the impression of a believable world is reinforced by the fact that there are separate terms for the most important concepts in a rabbit's life. Natural enemies are called elil , communal eating in the open air is called silflay, and motor vehicles are called hrududil . If the exact meaning of a word is not apparent from the text, the appropriate translation is given in a footnote ; some English editions also have a dictionary attached . The names of the rabbits mostly come from the flora (Hazel - hazelnut bush), less often they refer to a prominent characteristic (silver has a shiny silver fur). Some rabbits are occasionally addressed by the others by their corresponding name in the rabbit language, if one can find out about it at all.

Rabbit mythology

An essential part of the rabbit mythology are legends about the adventures of the ancestral father of the rabbits, El-ahrairah. There are five fully told such stories in the novel, told by Dandelion, the group's most talented storyteller, or Bluebell: "How El-ahrairah Was Blessed" (Chapter 6, Dandelion), "The Tale of the King's Salad" ( Chapter 15, Dandelion), “The Story of El-ahrairah's Trial” (Chapter 22, Bluebell), “The Story of El-ahrairah and the Black Rabbit of Inlé” (Chapter 31, Dandelion) and “The Story of Rowsby Woof and the Magical Wogdog ”(Chapter 41, Dandelion).

The most important plot element of the legends about El-ahrairah, the “prince with a thousandfold enemies”, and his companions Rabscuttle is their tricky procedure to get an advantage for themselves and their people, for example by stealing the lettuce from King Darzin's garden. One of the most important of the other fairytale characters is the sun god Frith, who gives El-ahrairah the promise in the first story that his people will survive even in the face of countless enemies if he is always clever and full of lists. His counterpart is the black rabbit of Inlé, symbolized by the moon , the rabbit grim reaper . The main adversary of El-ahrairah is Frith's subordinate demigod, Prince Regenbogen, who repeatedly tries unsuccessfully to stop El-ahrairah's activities.

These legends are particularly important in times of need, as they remind the rabbits of their common heritage and inspire them to new heroic deeds. In the last chapter, Fiver's wife Vilthuril tells her children a legend about a new adventure by El-ahrairah, which is clearly based on the first two parts of Down by the River . With the difference, however, that the rabbits in Cowslip's enclosure are described by her as follows: “They wore shiny collars around their necks and sang like birds […]. But even though they looked so beautiful, their hearts were dark and tharn . ”As Gregg Levoy stated in Callings with the words“ Myths may not be true in their letter, but in the psyche they will be ”, this is extreme by human standards Fast mythization of the actual events but not to be seen negatively, because only in this way can later generations still benefit from them. (Original quote: "[...] myths may not be literally true, but they are psychologically true.") Even if the metaphysical existence of El-ahrairah is "proven" in the afterword , it is unclear to what extent the other legends about El-ahrairah also refer to such mythized "real" heroic deeds of bygone days are based.

shape

Newbury, the birth town of Richard Adams

The story, written in the past tense , is told from the perspective of an omniscient narrator who detaches himself from the concrete occurrence a few times and familiarizes the reader with the peculiarities of rabbit life in a direct address. ("Rabbits are like human beings in many ways (says Mr. Lockley). [...] They have a certain quality that would not be appropriate to describe with indifference or numbness. It is more of a happy imagination and an intuitive feeling that that Life now is. ”Before each of the 50 chapters, which are divided into four parts, there is a quotation from a famous literary work that has a loose content-related reference to the following section. The chapter in which General Woundwort is introduced in more detail is introduced with a quote from Carl von Clausewitz ' Vom Kriege : “Like an obelisk towards which the main streets of a city converge, the strong will of a proud spirit stands in the midst of the leadership and authority The art of war. ”The individual parts or chapters are intended to clarify a certain content-related closure of the respective section, but sometimes seem arbitrarily chosen; the events of the first chapter of the fourth part seamlessly tie in with the last chapter of the third part.

Most editions contain a map of the area around Watership Down drawn by Richard Adams' then colleague Marilyn Hemmett , in which the most important stops on the journey are marked, as well as a more detailed map of the area around Efrafa. What is striking is the exact description of the landscape around Watership Down and the animal and plant species that occur there . In the course of his work on the book, Richard Adams occasionally carried out on-site research , but mostly relied on his memory. Born on May 9, 1920 in the small town of Newbury , which is in close proximity to the hypothetical location of the Sandleford Enclosure, he also spent part of his childhood in the area. According to some reviews, it is precisely this exact reproduction of the local conditions that contributes significantly to the impression of a credible world.

Themes and motifs

Down by the river Richard Adams was primarily intended to be an exciting adventure story for children and young people , but the plot still allows for a number of further interpretations :

Social systems

Although Richard Adams has often contradicted this, for example with the words “'Is it a parable, Mr. Adams, an allegory?' I always say: 'No, it's a story about rabbits!' "(Original quote:" 'Is it a parable, Mr Adams, an allegory?' I always say: 'No, it's a story about rabbits!' "), Many readers see Down by the River as a political allegory . Similar to the way in which Stalinism is denounced in Animal Farm , Down by the River also deals with dystopian social systems, albeit in a more general form.

In Cowslip's enclosure, the rabbits bought their comfortable lives by being exposed to the constant danger of quick death from one of the traps laid out. In the egalitarian socialist system, in which no one takes responsibility for the gruesome events, the residents of the exhibit have developed unnatural behaviors as a result of the lethargic acceptance of the status quo . They have lost their selves and are only rabbits on the outside, but no longer on the inside. On the other hand, thanks to the totalitarian social system installed by General Woundwort, the rabbits in the Efrafa enclosure are safe from foreign enemies, but they have had to give up all personal freedoms and have thus become their own elil . This internal disintegration system, reminiscent of the communist system of the Soviet Union , is maintained by the constant surveillance of the subjects by the strictly hierarchical military apparatus.

In contrast, the author contrasts the desire for freedom of the refugees in the Sandleford enclosure, who rebelled against the oppressors and honored the old ideals of the rabbit people handed down in the legends of El-ahrairah . Only because they did not allow themselves to be discouraged by setbacks and heroically defied their enemies, the heroes could ultimately live in freedom and security . However, it is disputed whether the social system of the Watership Down enclosure is a democracy or rather a monarchy in which Hazel acts as a wise and just ruler.

guide

Two officers of the British Army , of whom he was subordinate during his service in World War II , according to Richard Adams "[of] importance to the book, since my memory of them provided the idea for Hazel and the other rabbits." (Original quote: " [of] importance to this book, since later, from my memory, they provided the idea for Hazel and his rabbits. ”) He went on to explain that the concept of a group exposed to great dangers, made up of different and yet one another assigned characters, based on his own experience in the army . While some analyzes take the view that Down by the River should not be understood as a political allegory, there is broad agreement that the work depicts what constitutes good and what bad leadership.

While Cowslip's enclosure lacks every organizing hand, a tyrant like General Woundwort is doomed to failure sooner or later. Hazel, on the other hand, exemplifies the ideal of the leader of a military unit based on courage and camaraderie . Although Bigwig is bigger and stronger than Hazel, he never questions Hazel's claim to leadership, but supports him actively. Hazel uses the respective talents of the other group members optimally, so that over time the refugees become a committed community, which together also master seemingly hopeless situations. Hazel himself is ready to put his own life at risk for the well-being of his companions, thereby earning their respect. At the same time, however, he is not portrayed as an infallible Superman and ignores Fiver's warnings in Cowslip's enclosure, for example, which makes him appear human.

homeland

Hazel, the Rabbit Odysseus?

Down by the river shows parallels with the Book of Moses in the Old Testament , which are taken up not least in a short table of contents on the first page of the 25th edition of the German edition published by Ullstein-Verlag: “The world-famous saga of the exodus of the rabbits contains [...] everything that defines the adventures of a wandering people: threats to the old homeland, prophecy of doom, [...], adventures without number in the hostile as well as in the promised land . ”Despite this biblical motif underlying the story , Down by the River unlike The King of Narnia, however, not to be regarded as a Christian- motivated work, since it is not recognizable that an explicitly Christian message is to be spread.

On the other hand , Bottom on the River was often compared to Homer's Odyssey , especially in scientific work ; Both Edward A. Schmoll and Kenneth F. Kitchell, Jr. answered the question in the affirmative as to whether Down by the River is an epic in the tradition of the Odyssey and Aeneid . Although the heroes are looking for a new home and not the old one, there are enough similarities between the adventure stories told in relatively self-contained sections. Hazel's role as the leader of a group that defeats their superior opponents with cunning and cunning is compared to that of Odysseus . Charles McGrath also referred to in his review for the New York Times Down by the River as "the Odyssey and Iliad of rabbits" (original quote: "the Odyssey and Iliad of rabbits"). Gregg Levoy explained that people of every culture and age group would find themselves in such adventure stories, since everyone at some point finds themselves in a situation of homelessness and upheaval, from which one ultimately emerges as a grown personality.

However, “home” should not be equated with a place that only offers protection from the forces of nature, but at the same time does not enable a peaceful life in the circle of the family and the community . Already at the beginning of the second part the heroes finally reached the Watership Down, but only after the final victory over Woundwort will the building they built there become a real home for them. Neither the enclosures of Cowslip and Efrafa in this sense represented a home for the rabbits living there, since they led a life there that was incompatible with their nature as rabbits.

environmental Protection

Dirt road and fenced off area on Watership Down (March 2004)

Occasionally it was found that the natural idyll described in Down at the River did not correspond to the actual state of the area around Watership Down, and that certain human interventions in the landscape by Richard Adams had to be concealed for practical reasons. In fact, however, it could be concluded that the action from Down by the River was not set in the same time as the book was written, but a few decades earlier.

Regardless of this, in Down on the River , as in many other modern animal stories, the destruction of the environment by humans is denounced, which becomes clear not least in the example of the ruthless destruction of the Sandleford enclosure. Again and again, the contrast between the idyllic nature and the reprehensible human actions, which were even one of the decisive triggers for the isolation of Efrafa from the outside world, is the focus of the action. This misanthropic view of the world is turned a little positive again by the fact that Hazel is finally saved by the farmer's daughter Lucy.

It is therefore not surprising that down on the river was able to win many supporters among the members of the environmental movement that emerged in the 1970s . Richard Adams also focused on the unequal struggle between humans and animals in his work The Dogs of the Black Death from 1982. Although he was the president of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals campaigning for animal welfare and the end of fox hunting in England , he stated in interviews that he is not a sentimental environmentalist and that it is justifiable to kill rabbits when themselves these would develop into a plague .

Criticism of the conveyed image of women

Down by the river has been widely criticized for the neglected treatment of the female protagonists. Nicholas Tucker, for example, criticized in an afterword to the 1993 edition of Puffin Modern Classics that female rabbits were "little more than birthing machines." (Original quote: “little more than passive baby factories”) Selma G. Lanes was even of the opinion that the literary value of the work through the showcased “[…] attitude towards women, which is more likely to find its equivalent in Hugh Hefner's Playboy than in RM Lockley's 'The Private Life of the Rabbit' ”. (Original quote: ”[…] attitude toward females that finds more confirmation in Hugh Hefner's 'Playboy' than RM Lockley's 'The Private Life of the Rabbit'”) In fact, no female rabbit has a leading role and one of the eight surviving females Efrafa only the following three are named: Hyzenthlay, Thethuthinnang and Vilthuril.

This feminist criticism was countered that the role of Hyzenthlay, the leader of the rebels of the Efrafa enclosure is often underestimated and that the introduction of Violet in the cartoon adaptation had a negative effect on the course of the plot. Other readers even generally questioned whether it was permissible to apply such moral considerations to purely fictional social systems. On top of that, the whole story would be undermined if male and female rabbits were placed side by side on an equal footing . Occasionally, it was also pointed out that the rabbits' desire for females and the preservation of the enclosure reflected the fact that Richard Adam's own marriage was unwittingly childless for a long time.

Classification as a children's book

It is controversial whether it is actually suitable for younger children to read at Down at the River , as was also claimed by Richard Adams himself. On the one hand, it is stated that the long and symbolically charged story is intellectually overwhelming; on the other hand, it is argued that the degree of violence on display is used. Both the atrocities committed by Woundwort and his subordinates and the numerous fights are not dealt with superficially, but rather explicitly described . The drastic portrayal of the torments that the hero El-ahrairah underwent in the “Tale of El-ahrairah and the Black Rabbit of Inlé” also makes Down by the River unsuitable for younger children.

Creation and publication

In an interview Richard Adams stressed out that he materially from Joseph Campbell's book The Hero with a Thousand Faces : (English title The Hero with a Thousand Faces was inspired to tell stories themselves). The main plot of Down by the River goes back to a story he told his two eight- and nine-year-old daughters Rosamond and Juliet during a three-hour drive from London to Stratford-upon-Avon (and back) and with the words “Once upon a time there were two rabbits called Hazel and Fiver. ”began. During the next three weeks, during the daily trips to school for the two children, the then 47-year-old told other chapters of the plot that differed significantly from the manuscript that was published later , for example the section in Cowslip's enclosure was missing. Only after they asked for the story to be published as a book did he start writing the book, which took 18 months. At that time, Richard Adams was a full-time civil servant for the Ministry of Housing and Local Government in London, a forerunner of what would later become the British Environment Ministry .

Although Richard Adams had more completed than half of the book before the non-fiction book The Secret Life of the rabbit (English title: The Private Life of the Rabbit ) of the British naturalist Ronald M. Lockley was attentive, he picked at a thanksgiving whose Influence on the realistic representation of the behavior of wild rabbits. In his 1965 work, Ronald M. Lockley presented the social behavior of wild rabbits, which he had previously researched in a three-year study . However, he later made it clear that some essential elements of the plot were still unrealistic; So it is unthinkable that a group of eleven young bulls would go looking for a new enclosure.

Completed in 1969, the manuscript was rejected by four book publishers and three literary agents before it was accepted by Rex Collings in 1970 , who did not publish the book until 1972 in Great Britain with an initial print run of 2,000. Watership Down was one of ten suggested titles by Richard Adams after the original title Hazel and Fiver had not found approval with the publisher. The other publishers rejected the manuscript on the grounds, among other things, that young people were not interested in a story about rabbits, while the complex plot overwhelmed younger children.

After sales of the book began sluggishly, not least due to the publisher's lack of financial resources, numerous euphoric reviews led to the fact that Down at the River became a bestseller . While Unter am Fluss , now published by Penguin Books , was mainly marketed as a children's book in Great Britain , advertising in the rest of the world was increasingly aimed at adult readers. After it was published in the United States on March 18, 1974, Bottom on the River was the top-selling book there for twelve weeks from April 15, 1974 to July 22, 1974, according to the Publishers Weekly's Best-Seller List.

After the publication of his next novel Shardik in 1974, Richard Adams gave up his original profession and became a full-time writer .

effect

Due to its great commercial success, Down at the River is considered to be the trailblazer for later animal novels such as the Redwall cycle by Brian Jacques ; especially for those who, due to their rather serious tone, are increasingly turning to adult readers. According to Cathi D. MacRae, Down at the River even had a style-forming effect on the genre, as later stories often took up concepts from Down at the River . On the one hand, the culture of the animal protagonists differs more than it used to be from that of humans, and on the other hand, the stories are often about a visionary leader who has to save his people from a major threat, mostly human.

In the years that followed, reference was made to Unter am Fluss and the concepts introduced there in some books, films and television series . References can be found in three works by the writer Stephen King , for example, in the novel Schwarz, some rabbits are addressed who are currently at the silflay . Despite the long period since its publication, there are still numerous enthusiastic supporters of Down by the River , who express this, for example, by participating in role-playing games set in the book's scenario such as Bunnies and Burrows .

Awards

Down by the River was awarded the Carnegie Medal in the year of publication, 1972, and a Guardian Award the following year . In 2003, it was also voted 42nd out of the 100 best books of all time in a survey of viewers by the BBC .

expenditure

English original edition

While the UK editions published by Penguin Books are based on the first edition by Rex Collings , the American editions published by Avon , for example , and the German translation are based on the second edition. There are two differences between these versions: While the second edition contains additional citations from the literature at the beginning of the 21st chapter and the afterword, Hazel is already referred to as "Hazel-rah" and "Oberkaninchen" in the later abbreviated eleventh chapter in the British editions; Bigwig's confrontation with Woundwort is also indicated.

  • Richard Adams: Watership Down . Penguin Books, London 2001, ISBN 978-0-14-003958-0 . (current UK edition)
  • Richard Adams: Watership Down . Scribner, New York 2005, ISBN 978-0-7432-7770-9 . (current American edition)
  • Richard Adams: Watership Down . Rex Collings, London 1972, ISBN 0-901720-31-3 . (First edition)
  • Andrew Sachs: Watership Down . Penguin Children's Audiobooks, London 1997, ISBN 978-0-14-086692-6 . (Audio book)

German translation

The German translation by Egon Strohm was first published by Ullstein Verlag in 1975 ; the current 25th edition was published in 2004. The German title Unter am Fluss probably alludes to the river Test, on which the heroes escape the persecutors from Efrafa at the beginning of the fourth part. The title also differs from the original in a number of other languages, such as the Czech title Daleká cesta za domovem (The long way home) and the Italian La collina dei conigli (The rabbit hill) . Due to the high level of awareness of the English title Watership Down , however, it is indicated as an additional subtitle on the cover and the blurb of the German edition. In the translation, all proper names have been left in the English original, for example Dandelion is not called Löwenzahn in the German edition . It is noticeable that warren is only translated as “rabbit hole” when referring to the physical structure, and otherwise as “enclosure”. However, this does not mean human-made enclosures in the actual sense; instead, the term refers to the rabbit community living in the burrow.

  • Egon Strohm: Down by the river - »Watership Down« . Beltz, Weinheim 2006, ISBN 978-3-407-74010-6 . (German edition)
  • Egon Strohm: Down by the river - »Watership Down« . Ullstein Taschenbuch, Munich 2004, ISBN 978-3-548-25937-6 . (German edition)
  • Christian Brückner, Joachim Kaps, Thomas Schendel, among others: Down at the river - Watership Down . The Hörverlag, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-89940-650-8 . (Audiobook based on the translation by Egon Strohm)

Adaptations and sequels

In 1978, an eponymous cartoon appeared Watership Down (German title: Down by the river ) by director Martin Rosen , the original story but not completely faithfully adapted was. One of the main changes is that Violet also has a female among the refugees. She is later torn by an owl and Blackavar is killed by General Woundwort in the battle for Watership Down, which is also a difference to the original, in which no member of the group who is introduced to the scene dies. Further changes to the course of action resulted from the necessary reductions compared to the template. Despite initial difficulties in finding investors for the project, the cartoon was also successful and reached first place in the cinema charts in Great Britain and the Netherlands , for example . The theme song Bright Eyes , composed by Mike Batt and sung by Art Garfunkel , played a not insignificant role and became a European hit.

The novel was also adapted twice as a radio play:

In 1996 Richard Adams published the book Tales from Watership Down , which, however, is not a sequel in the strict sense of the word, but contains new legends about El-ahrairah as well as a collection of short stories that are based on the scenes depicted in Down by the River . A German translation is available under the title News from Watership Down . However, news from Watership Down could not build on the success of its predecessor. The main reason for this was that the completed plot of the first part offered no starting point for further exciting adventures, as Chris Boyce put it in his rhetorical question "[...] how many great moments can a single rabbit hole have?" (Original quote: "[...] just how many great moments can one rabbit warren have?") The attempt to introduce a female head rabbit with Hyzenthlay was also felt to be inappropriate.

From 1999 to 2001, a cartoon series was broadcast under the title Watership Down , which deviated even more clearly than the cartoon from the book and was increasingly aimed at around six to twelve year old children as a target group . This time Martin Rosen acted as producer of the three seasons of the cartoon series, each consisting of 13 episodes. On German-language television it was first broadcast by Super RTL between 2000 and 2001 under the title Unter am Fluss - Watership Down . On the basis of the animation templates of the cartoon series, three computer games were also developed that can be assigned to the adventure genre.

In 2018, the BBC and Netflix released a four-part, computer-animated mini-series under the title Down at the River (original title Watership Down ). Directed by Noam Murro and spoken by James McAvoy , Nicholas Hoult , John Boyega and Ben Kingsley .

Furthermore, Bo Hansson published an instrumental album for the book, while the post-hardcore band Fall of Efrafa related all of their musical work to the mythology of the novel.

literature

  • Charles A. Meyer (Ed.): Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts - Special Issue: Watership Down , Vol. 6, No. 1, 1994.
  • Edgar L. Chapman: The Shaman as Hero and Spiritual Leader: Richard Adams' Mythmaking in Watership Down and Shardik. In Mythlore: A Journal of JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Charles Williams, General Fantasy and Mythic Studies , 1978, pp. 7-11.
  • Edward A. Schmoll: Homeric Reminiscence in Watership Down. In: Classical and Modern Literature , Vol. 10, No. 1, 1989, pp. 21-26.
  • Kenneth F. Kitchell, Jr .: The Shrinking of the Epic Hero: From Homer to Richard Adams's Watership Down. In: Classical and Modern Literature , Vol. 7, No. 1, 1986, pp. 13-30.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christine Smith:Watership Down To Be Made Into 6M Pounds TV Series.In: The Mirror , October 9, 1998.
  2. ↑ a b c d e Kelly Winters: Watership Down. In: Elizabeth Thomason: Novels for Students , Farmington Hills: Gale Group, 2001. pp. 338-348.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Chris Boyce: Watership Down - What's it all about? ( Memento from October 20, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) , 2004.
  4. ↑ a b c d e Jesse Carton: SparkNote on Watership Down. , February 2, 2007
  5. ↑ a b Esa Peuha: Altered text in Watership Down. ( Memento from September 27, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ Pick of the Warren. In: The Economist , December 23, 1972, p. 47.
  7. ↑ a b Dominic Cavendish:Watership Down - with knives.In: Telegraph.co.uk , November 20, 2006.
  8. ↑ a b c Down by the river at MonkeyNotes Study Guide
  9. ↑ a b c Powell’s Books - Watership Down by Richard Adams ( Memento from June 21, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ↑ Matthias Kasimir:A completely new kind of animal stories? - Richard Adams' novels, 1998.
  11. ↑ Gregg Levoy: Callings. In: Three Rivers Press , 1997.
  12. ↑ Chris Boyce: Visiting the Real Watership Down ( Memento from September 7, 2006 in the Internet Archive ), photo series of all locations
  13. ^ A b c Matt Warne: Watership Down ( Memento of August 27, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), 2004.
  14. ↑ RSPCA Members Watchdog No 81
  15. ↑ RSPCA Members Watchdog No 75
  16. ↑ Bruce Ward: Kill off 'infuriating' rabbits, Watership Down author says. In: The Ottawa Citizen , August 14, 1998.
  17. ↑ a b David Buttery: “Passive Baby Factories”? The Role of Does in Watership Down. , 2002.
  18. ↑ Selma G. Lanes: Male Chauvinist Rabbits. In: The New York Times , June 30, 1974.
  19. ↑ a b Interview with Richard Adams ( Memento of January 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) from 1985 for the Book Beat series at CBS about his work as an author (MP3 file, 6.6 MB, 28 min 55 s)
  20. ↑ Rich Policz: Life and Society on Watership Down. In: Ashbrook Center , 2006.
  21. ^ Down by the river ( Memento from March 20, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) in the Internet Book List
  22. ↑ Cathi D. MacRae: Presenting Young Adult Fantasy Fiction. In: Twayne Publishers , 1998.
  23. ↑ Down by the river in Wikipedia
  24. ↑ Zorn-eleer Warren as an example of a role-playing game set in the scenario from Below the River
  25. ↑ David Buttery: Common misconceptions about Watership Down ., 2002
  26. ↑ Interview with Martin Rosen among others on the special edition of Unter am Fluss (cartoon)
  27. ↑ HörDat, the audio game database
  28. ↑ Down by the river (cartoon series) at Wishlist.de

Web links

Commons : Down by the River  - collection of images, videos and audio files
This article was added to the list of articles worth reading on March 14, 2007 in this version .