Customer Reviews

What the Bee Knows: Reflections on Myth, Symbol, and Story (Arkana)

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P.L. Travers, while best known for "Mary Poppins", was also a scholar of myth. This slender volume contains a fair fraction of her work, mostly written for the magazine "Parabola" over the course of many years. Each essay studies a common theme or element of traditional stories.

Travers has the ability to combine an absolutely astounding amount of information on myths and folktales from all over the world into insightful and fascinating text. Throughout weaves the story of her own life, told in snatches, reminding the reader again and again how story reflects aspects of our own lives. "Only Connect", the phrase borrowed from E.M. Forster by Travers, sums up the underlying purpose which motivates every essay.

This book continually draws me back for the wisdom and inspiration it offers. I love it because it makes me stop and think.

P.L. Travers is an inspiration. She knows what is in a story and she shares it with us in this marvelous book. Each new essay or story reveals a wealth and insight that changes the colour of your world view. It is a book to set you back on your path and a book that can be dipped in and out of, read and re-read always giving something for you to take away. P.L. Travers does for grown ups in this book what Mary Poppins did for everyone.