Fascinating story. I grew up with the Little Grey Rabbit books and I remember them fondly, though not very clearly. I’m intrigued to learn she lived in Bowdon, as I went to primary school there. (Looks from Google maps as if the building is long gone.)
Yes, she lived in Bowdon for most of the interwar period. I have fond but vague memories of the Little Grey Rabbit books too! I had a family friend who gave me a new one every time she visited.
Speaking of unnatural passions, after bedtime readings of many a Grey Rabbit story, my parents decided that Hare and Squirrel were having an affair and Squirrel was two-timing Hare with GR. Or did I make that last bit up?
This is really interesting. I was considering republishing some of Uttley's essays or pieces of autofiction/memoir, and read pretty much every collection she published, trying to find either a collection that could stand alone, or outstanding essays which could be assembled into a new collection. In the end I gave up, mainly because there was too much overlap. She seemed to be recycling the same episodes over and over again, and I found her tone too dark and too claustrophobic for me to think that they'd sell to a readership who only thinks of her in terms of that rabbit, or the superb Traveller in Time. Country Hoard is her best collection, I think, for quality and charm. Her unpublished memoir The Farm on the Hill is sprawling and needs editing (understandably), and is the closest to Laura Ingalls Wilder in approach, but I decided against it because it's not a conherent narrative, more of a ragbag of episodes. Country Things is also a rag bag. Secret Places is the most interesting memoir for her recollections of her unmarried life in London and her relationship with the Ramsay Macdonalds. The Button Box (1968) has one absolutely fantastic piece about taking her first physics exam, but the rest of that collection is repeats I've seen elsewhere. Ambush of Young Days (1937) also sems too familiar, either retellings or straight repeats of essays I've already read. Carts and Candlesticks (1948) is more or less a fictionalised version of Country Hoard. High Meadows (1938) is a straight novel of Victorian Derbyshire, which Thomas Hardy did lots better elsewhere, but it wasn't to my taste. These are notes about her Private Diaries 1932-1972: 'Edited by Denis Judd, whose extensive historiography and fulsome extra texts in his role as editor and trustee/executor (how did he become that?) say more about his self-importance than his subject. Her diary entries are mostly without context and they don't appeal. They're like fragments from a crazed woman's dream, complaining and being rapturous in the same entry. Really didn't like her personality as it emerged.' I would like to know a lot more about her physics work.
Selfishly I wish you'd republish because I'd like to read her essays, and it's hard to get hold of them! I'd particularly like to know more about her scientific work too. The 1930s diaries mention pieces she wrote on this - one was called Renaissance - which were turned down, but I'm guessing ended up being published eventually. I'm guessing all the repetition is due partly to her writing prolifically into her 70s and 80s; partly because she obviously had such a strong urge to revisit her early life over and over.
Personally I find the diaries fascinating and strangely soothing, though I’m not sure exactly why. I do find some of her other writing quite “dark and claustrophic” at times though - notably The Country Child - so I recognise what you’re saying there.
A non-linear narrative might be interesting? Your perspective on the diaries v. interesting (I haven't read them). I too have fond childhood memories of That Rabbit and Traveller in Time.
Fascinating story. I grew up with the Little Grey Rabbit books and I remember them fondly, though not very clearly. I’m intrigued to learn she lived in Bowdon, as I went to primary school there. (Looks from Google maps as if the building is long gone.)
Yes, she lived in Bowdon for most of the interwar period. I have fond but vague memories of the Little Grey Rabbit books too! I had a family friend who gave me a new one every time she visited.
Speaking of unnatural passions, after bedtime readings of many a Grey Rabbit story, my parents decided that Hare and Squirrel were having an affair and Squirrel was two-timing Hare with GR. Or did I make that last bit up?
Interesting theory!
Fascinating.
So interesting. Thank you
This is really interesting. I was considering republishing some of Uttley's essays or pieces of autofiction/memoir, and read pretty much every collection she published, trying to find either a collection that could stand alone, or outstanding essays which could be assembled into a new collection. In the end I gave up, mainly because there was too much overlap. She seemed to be recycling the same episodes over and over again, and I found her tone too dark and too claustrophobic for me to think that they'd sell to a readership who only thinks of her in terms of that rabbit, or the superb Traveller in Time. Country Hoard is her best collection, I think, for quality and charm. Her unpublished memoir The Farm on the Hill is sprawling and needs editing (understandably), and is the closest to Laura Ingalls Wilder in approach, but I decided against it because it's not a conherent narrative, more of a ragbag of episodes. Country Things is also a rag bag. Secret Places is the most interesting memoir for her recollections of her unmarried life in London and her relationship with the Ramsay Macdonalds. The Button Box (1968) has one absolutely fantastic piece about taking her first physics exam, but the rest of that collection is repeats I've seen elsewhere. Ambush of Young Days (1937) also sems too familiar, either retellings or straight repeats of essays I've already read. Carts and Candlesticks (1948) is more or less a fictionalised version of Country Hoard. High Meadows (1938) is a straight novel of Victorian Derbyshire, which Thomas Hardy did lots better elsewhere, but it wasn't to my taste. These are notes about her Private Diaries 1932-1972: 'Edited by Denis Judd, whose extensive historiography and fulsome extra texts in his role as editor and trustee/executor (how did he become that?) say more about his self-importance than his subject. Her diary entries are mostly without context and they don't appeal. They're like fragments from a crazed woman's dream, complaining and being rapturous in the same entry. Really didn't like her personality as it emerged.' I would like to know a lot more about her physics work.
Selfishly I wish you'd republish because I'd like to read her essays, and it's hard to get hold of them! I'd particularly like to know more about her scientific work too. The 1930s diaries mention pieces she wrote on this - one was called Renaissance - which were turned down, but I'm guessing ended up being published eventually. I'm guessing all the repetition is due partly to her writing prolifically into her 70s and 80s; partly because she obviously had such a strong urge to revisit her early life over and over.
Personally I find the diaries fascinating and strangely soothing, though I’m not sure exactly why. I do find some of her other writing quite “dark and claustrophic” at times though - notably The Country Child - so I recognise what you’re saying there.
I borrowed all those from my local library network!
A non-linear narrative might be interesting? Your perspective on the diaries v. interesting (I haven't read them). I too have fond childhood memories of That Rabbit and Traveller in Time.