Wednesday, January 23, 2019

A. A. Milne and Winnie the Pooh


    A.A. Milne and Winnie the Pooh 

Christina Weigand

Alan Alexander Milne was born January 18, 1882. And he died January 31, 1956. Because of these two dates falling around the date of this post I thought it appropriate to write about him instead of continuing exploring some of the Inklings. No worries I will return to the Inklings in my next post.



Alan Alexander Milne otherwise known to readers as A. A. Milne and author of Winnie the Pooh was born in London to John and Sarah Marie Milne. He attended Henley House School, a small school that his father ran. One of his teachers was H. G. Wells. He attended Westminster School and Trinity College.  While there he and his brother Kenneth wrote for the student magazine. After graduating with a B.A. in Mathematics, he came to the attention of a leading humor magazine where he became a contributor and later editor. Along with J. M. Barrie and Arthur Conan Doyle, Milne played on an amateur English cricket team.

While writing for the magazine he published several plays and novels. When his son was born he wrote a collection of children’s poems that were illustrated by E. H. Shepard. He also wrote a series of children’s stories that would later become a part of the Winnie the Pooh books.

 













During this time he was also a screenwriter for a British film company where he wrote four stories. Throughout this period every time he suggested that he would write in a specific genre he was told by his agent that the genre was not what the country wanted and encouraged him to write in another genre. He finally came to the conclusion “the only excuse which I have yet discovered for writing anything is that I want to write it; and I should be as proud to be delivered of a Telephone Directory con amore as I should be ashamed to create a Blank Verse Tragedy at the bidding of others.”

Milne’s famous Winnie the Pooh books were about a boy named after his son and his son’s stuffed animals the most famous being Winnie the Pooh. Originally the bear was named Edward, but was eventually renamed after Winnie after the black bear used as a military mascot during WWI and later left to the London Zoo. Pooh comes from a swan the boy had named Pooh. The Hundred Acre Wood was modeled after the Five Hundred Acre Wood in East Sussex that Milne lived on the edge of.


Milne became annoyed with the success of the books. He felt amazement and disgust over the fame his son was exposed to. Later his son came to resent what he saw as his father’s exploitation of his childhood.


After his death he left the rights to the Pooh books to four beneficiaries. Eventually all the beneficiaries sold the rights  to Disney. Disney has since made many Pooh movies, a Disney channel television show and Pooh related merchandise.



The bulk of Milne’s papers are housed at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin. The original manuscripts are archived at Trinity College, Cambridge.

Besides the Pooh books which he is best known for he wrote several novels including:

 The Red House Mystery a detective novel









                                         


and Once on a Time.




He also wrote non-fiction, articles for Punch the humor magazine and other newspapers, story collections and poetry for children and adults, as well as numerous screenplays and plays.

Sources for the quote and photos is  Wikipedia
and  Amazon


To see more of the Author Posts as well as my dragon posts go here:



To see posts by other Authors in the Small Gang of Authors go here:



COMMENTS

Erika M Szabo via Google+

1 week ago  -  Shared publicly
 
Chris writes about Alan Alexander Milne today at #OurAuthorGang
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Thank you

Tricia Drammeh

6 days ago  -  Shared publicly
 
What a wonderful article! I love Winnie the Pooh. Some of my best memories with my kids were reading Pooh books to them. I had no idea that Milne wrote so many other books. Thank you so much for taking me on a walk down memory lane with this post!
 
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Joe Bonadonna

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Fantastic article, Chris. Although I read Winnie the Pooh when I was a kid, I never read anything else by him and certainly knew nothing about him, his family and his other novels.
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Thank you
 
+Chris Weigand - you're welcome!

Joe Bonadonna via Google+

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Today on #OurAuthorGang, Christina Weigand​ talks about A.A. Milne and Winnie the Pooh, and some of the other novels he wrote.
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Ruth de Jauregui via Google+

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Chris Weigand​ shares the life and career of Milne and how it affected his relationship with his son on #OurAuthorGang.

I adore Winnie the Pooh and as a parent, it hurts my heart that Milne's famous books came between he and his child.
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Yes it hurts my heart also, and I couldn't find anything about a reconciliation which is even sadder. I hope that there was some form of reconciliation.

Ruth de Jauregui

1 week ago  -  Shared publicly
 
Awww, I love Winnie the Pooh. It's so sad that he used his son's real name and it came between he and his son. I had no idea. Thank you so much for your post, Chris!!
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Thank you Ruth.

Rick Haynes

1 week ago  -  Shared publicly
 
I thought I knew about A.A.Milne. Alas, not. No matter the reason it was such a shame father and son didn't see eye to eye. Thanks for posting, Christina.
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Toi Thomas

1 week ago  -  Shared publicly
 
I always thought it was sad the Milne's son was bothered by the fame of his father's stories because they were based on his childhood. I guess if it was happeneing today, I would understand it more considering kids now have social media to deal with, but back then, seems like it would have been nice, like a tribute. But then, I didn't live his life. Still, I'm glad the stories were told. I adore Pooh and all these stories.
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I agree. We can only hope that at some point they reconciled although I didn't find anything about a reconciliation.

P. J. Mann shared this via Google+

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Thank you

Chris Weigand shared this via Google+

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Toi Thomas via Google+

1 week ago  -  Shared publicly
 
Today, Christina Weigand discusses A.A. Milne and Winnie the Pooh. #OurAuthorGang
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Thank you

Cindy Smith

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Interesting piece, I wonder if most children would feel as his did. Fame is a two edged sword.
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Something to think about if we obviously use our children as characters. Thank you.

Cindy Smith shared this via Google+

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Eva Pasco

1 week ago  -  Shared publicly
 
One more editor intent on squashing a writer's creativity. Sad that Milne's son felt his father's writing exploited his childhood, rather than seeing it as a tribute. Although, his dad set the tone with his disgust over fame.
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I hadn't thought about it that way. I was only angry at the son for his reaction and didn't consider it may have had it's roots in his father's reaction.

Book river Press

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Thank you

Bonita Gutierrez shared this via Google+

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P. J. Mann originally shared this
 
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Thank you

Stephanie Collins via Google+

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Erika M Szabo originally shared this
 
Chris writes about Alan Alexander Milne today at #OurAuthorGang
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Thank you


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