Watership Down
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- For the hill named Watership Down, see Watership Down, Hampshire.
Watership Down is the title of Richard Adams's first and most successful novel, named after a hill in the north of Hampshire in England where Adams grew up. It was first published in the United Kingdom by Rex Collings Ltd in 1972. Initially based on a collection of tales that Adams told to his young children on trips to the countryside, the book endured 13 rejections from publishers before finally breaking through.
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Story
Watership Down tells the story of the escape of a group of rebellious rabbits who — against the wishes of their Chief Rabbit — escape from their threatened warren, and of their subsequent adventures. They find sanctuary by building their own warren on the down from which the book is titled, but the story continues after this.
The book's "gimmick" is that these are no storybook rabbits — figuratively speaking — they are significantly less anthropomorphized than the average fictional animal. Technology or articles of clothing are out of the question. Though for purposes of fiction they are depicted as sapient and capable of speech, the rabbits have the physical attributes and fierce instincts of their real-life counterparts. Furthermore, the author has gone as far as constructing a culture for his rabbits, including a language, proverbs, poetry and mythology. More than one chapter consists of pieces of lapine lore. Watership Down is one of the legendary classics of xenofiction - many editions include an appendix of the lapine vocabulary. It is thus not a beast fable like the works of Aesop but a genuine heroic fantasy.
Interpretation
Watership Down is notable as an ensemble story, with multiple protagonists who each serve a useful function under quietly competent leadership. Although Adams has always stated that the book was intended to be a children's story, many fans see the book as a political allegory attacking fascism and appeasement as Animal Farm attacked Stalinism. This opinion is supported by a plot involving visits to two other warrens whose political philosophies are depicted as antagonistic and repugnant. One of these is Efrafa, ruled with a merciless iron fist by the powerful and insane General Woundwort who becomes the story's principal antagonist. Adams has gone far enough to state that the personalities of the two principal hero rabbits, Hazel and Bigwig, are based on fellow officers he knew while a paratrooper during World War II.
Watership Down has become a modern classic and won the Carnegie Medal in 1972. In 1978 the book was adapted as an acclaimed animated film, directed by Martin Rosen. In 1999, an animated television series, Watership Down, was also coproduced by Martin Rosen.
- Watership Down is Penguin Books' best selling book of all time.
- In 1996, Adams wrote a sequel of sorts, a collection of linked short stories titled Tales from Watership Down. This book provided much of the basis for the 1999 TV series.
- In 2003, Watership Down was in the top 30 in a public vote for the 100 greatest books of all time taken by the BBC.
Editions
There have been over 300 editions of Watership Down in English - these are just a few of the ones known.
UK editions
- ISBN 0140306013 (Puffin, paperback, 1973)
- ISBN 0140039589 (Penguin, paperback, 1974)
- ISBN 0140364536 (Puffin Modern Classics, paperback, 1993)
- ISBN 0141186666 (Penguin Modern Classics, paperback, 2001)
US editions
- ISBN 0027000303 (hardcover, 1974)
- ISBN 0606050809 (prebound, 1975)
- ISBN 0380004283 (paperback, 1976, Anniversary Edition)
- ISBN 0380002930 (mass market paperback, 1976)
- ISBN 1568492502 (library binding, 1994, reprint)
- ISBN 068483605X (hardcover, 1996)
- ISBN 0783880812 (hardcover, 1997, Large Type Edition)
- ISBN 0060935456 (paperback, 2001)
External links
- Bestseller database entry (http://www3.isrl.uiuc.edu/~unsworth/courses/bestsellers/search.cgi?title=Watership+Down)
- Article on the book by John D. Rateliff (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=books/main/classicswatership)
- The Real Watership Down: Photographs and descriptions of the story's setting (http://www.mayfieldiow.freewire.co.uk/watershp/)da:Kaninbjerget
de:Unten am Fluss nl:Waterschapsheuvel sv:Den långa flykten (bok) it:La Collina dei Conigli es:La Colina de Watership