The Pooh Perplex Vs. Postmodern Pooh by David Crews: Two studies of master fiction ;)

Contains spoilers for The Pooh Perplex and The Post-Modern Pooh.

Everyone loves Winnie the Pooh, it is completely innocent. I have many fond memories around is the original Winnie the Pooh movie, as I have no doubt many other's do as well. And unlike most other toddler-friendly media, many adults consider movies and stories to be legitimately funny. The only person who hated the franchise was, ironically enough its creator (a bit of Sherlock-Syndrome there, plus he wanted to be remembered for his serious writings, ironic considering today's subject). Only really mean spirited person would do such a thing as to dislike this beloved franchise, let alone pick it apart as though it were some Greek tragedy or comparable in brilliance to the works of Shakespeare. 

So wouldn't it be funny if a person assembled all these mean spirited people and have them talk about the subject?

You know what would be funnier? If these people weren't real, that way they could be as crazy and hypocritical as you wanted. I am so glad that these two books exist; the concept wouldn't really work with anything else. Because no other book is as well known and still has no underlying theme. And no matter how hard the critics, both real and imaginary, kick it; Winnie refuses to vomit up symbolism.

Crews does an excellent job of showing how people can find symbolism in anything, and will see what they want to see in any form of entertainment. Let me get down to the gist of it, The Pooh Perplex, is a series of essays about Winnie the Pooh, supposedly collected for this book that college students can base their own essays of. Of course, these critics don’t actually exist, they are all characters created by Crews, who has a remarkable talent for writing like different people. One critic is a Marxist, another is a paranoid super snob, and yet another is obsessed with childhood. Crews cover’s all the bases when it comes to the critics.

Critics at the time that is to say.

After many years of his book being celebrated and people asking him when he would add new types of critics, Crews finally came out with Postmodern Pooh. 

The Postmodern Pooh is supposed to be a conference where one after another, critics come onto the stage and speak about one book and their interpretation of it. It seems to me that this format is superior, but that's just my opinion. This way the critics get to criticize each other, and they get to address a live audience. This book starts out wonderfully, with a woman explaining how Pooh’s ability to do nothing and worry about nothing is wonderful.

She is then immediately called out by the next guest, who calls her philosophy old, and stale.

Both books are hilarious, but I think that I preferred the Postmodern Pooh slightly more, although found the language harder to follow. Both books are quite good at showing what literary criticism has become in our culture, of course, the Postmodern Pooh is more relevant to our time, but as a person who doesn't really follow the literary scene, both books are still hilarious for their characters and their comparisons. And one of the best parts of these books is how they win you over, they slowly invade your mind and almost convince you that this fake person is right, yet again I feel that Postmodern is better at this.

The Pooh Perplex: Good to Great.

Postmodern Pooh: Good to Brilliant.

(If you haven’t read any of my previous posts then this will show you how I rate books: Awful - Bad - Good - Great - Brilliant)

If you can only afford one of the two, or don't think the idea would hold up for you, for two whole books, then I suggest you purchase Postmodern. And if you were a fan of the original then I can assure you that Postmodern lives up to its predecessor.

Thank you for reading and have a nice day!