Buchempfehlung: Der Zauberpudding
Wir sind wahrlich verzaubert und unendlich begeistert von den Abenteuern, des âyoung fellowsâ Bunyip Bluegum und seinen Freunden, den ehrenwerten Puddingbesitzern! Die Geschichte feierte letztes Jahr bereits ihren 100. Geburtstag und ist trotzdem aktuell wie eh und je!
Eine wundervolle sowie treffende Rezension haben wir hier entdeckt und mĂśchten sie nun mit euch teilen:
Phillip Pullman says The Magic Pudding, Being the Adventures of Bunyip Bluegum and his friends Bill Barnacle and Sam Sawnoff is his favourite book. He maintains that it is, "the funniest children's book ever written." And the "New York Review of Books" calls it, "Wild and woolly, funny and outrageously fun." It certainly is extremely silly and engaging, this Australian children's story, a classic from 1918. Written and illustrated by Norman Lindsay, it is partly a narrative, and partly in rhyming verse. Reading it feels like reading a cross between Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear and A. A. Milne. "Alice in Wonderland" dates from 1865, and Edward Lear's "Nonsense Songs" from 1871, so it can be inferred that these works might have had an influence on the author. "Winnie the Pooh" however, dates from 1926, so clearly this work did not! It is very much akin to that type of literature, however. And as with those authors, although the story and characters appeal to very young children, it is a story which is better read aloud, as the language used is sometimes quite difficult. The story is about a group of friends, wild Australian anthropomorphised creatures. The two main characters are Bunyip Bluegum and his Uncle Wattleberry, both koalas, whose pomposity may make you laugh out loud. In fact Uncle Wattleberry performs a similar role to Owl, in the "Winnie the Pooh" stories, "'Apologies are totally inadequate,' shouted Uncle Wattleberry. 'Nothing short of felling you to the earth with an umbrella could possibly atone for the outrage. You are a danger to the whisker-growing public. You have knocked my hat off, pulled my whiskers, and tried to remove my nose.' There is Bill Barnacle the sailor, and Sam Sawnoff the penguin. Then there is Albert the cantankerous pudding of the title. He is magic, because no matter how often the pudding is eaten, he always becomes whole again - surely every child's dream of a pudding! "There's nothing this Puddin' enjoys more than offering slices of himself to strangers," says Bill Barnacle. These friends become the "Noble Society of Pudding Owners."
On their travels they meet with several other animal characters. There's Henderson Hedgehog Horticulturalist, a "low larrikin" Kookaburra, a parrot who was a Swagman (or a Swagman who was a parrot), an elderly dog and market gardener Benjimin Brandysnap, and a bandicoot "naturally of a terrified disposition" carrying a melon. And every now and then the "Noble Society of Pudding Owners" are set upon by two dastardly puddin' thieves, the Wombat and the "snooting snouting scoundrel," the Possum.
The story romps along with abandon, including sailors, firemen, and culminating in a court scene, in the sleepy town of Tooraloo. This is very reminiscent of the Queen of Hearts's Court in "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." There is even a reference to cards, as the judge and the court usher are playing cards. It has a similar feeling of elaborate speechifying and pomposity, and a similarly chaotic dreamlike ending to the episode. Adults may well find themselves chortling along with the children, "The Mayor turned so pale at this that the Constable had to thrust a banana into his mouth to restore his courage. "Thank you," said the Mayor peevishly; "but, on the whole, I prefer to be restored with peeled bananas,"" "You're a carrot-nosed poltroon," said the Puddin' loudly, "As for the Mayor he's a sausage-shaped porous plaster." Everything is described with hilarity and extravagance. It is a children's fantasy without a witch or a goblin in sight. Norman Lindsay maintained that children were mainly interested in food and fighting, rather than fairies, and that is what he chose to write his story about. "Hearty eaters," as Sam Sawnoff says, "are always welcome."
The story is full of charm and whimsy. Every page has line drawings, also by Norman Lindsay. The verses, so similar to Edward Lear, are little stories in themselves, reflect the varying moods of the characters. Most of all though, it is rumbustious, Australian to its core, and fun. Expect a great deal of exuberance and a dash of oddity especially in the versifying, because, "'The exigencies of rhyme,' said Bunyip Bluegum, 'may stand excused from a too strict insistence on verisimilitude, so that the general gaiety is thereby promoted.'" Here's a personal favourite, where Benjimin Brandysnap reads his defence to the jury - "the activity of the vegetables, as hereunder described -Â
On Tuesday morn, as it happened by chance, The parsnips stormed in a rage, Because the young carrots were singing like parrots On top of the onions' cage. The radishes swarmed on the angry air Around with the bumble bees, While the brussels-sprouts were pulling the snouts Of all the young French peas. The artichokes bounded up and down On top of the pumpkins' heads And the cabbage was dancing the highland fling All over the onion beds. So I hadn't much time, as Your Honour perceives For watching the habits of puddin'-thieves."
