Pooh Perplex (Paperback)

by Frederick Crews (Author) "NO ONE in these days, I feel sure, will care to complain that there is a lack of critical attention to Winnie-the Pooh..." (more)
Key Phrases: absolute canons, moral seriousness, Christopher Robin, Pooh Corner, Lord Wendell Dovetail (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

In this devastatingly funny classic, Frederick Crews skewers the ego-inflated pretensions of the schools and practitioners of literary criticism popular in the 1960s, including Freudians, Aristotelians, and New Critics. Modeled on the "casebooks" often used in freshman English classes at the time, The Pooh Perplex contains twelve essays written in different critical voices, complete with ridiculous footnotes, tongue-in-cheek "questions and study projects," and hilarious biographical notes on the contributors. This edition contains a new preface by the author that compares literary theory then and now and identifies some of the real-life critics who were spoofed in certain chapters.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From the Inside Flap

In this devastatingly funny classic, Frederick Crews skewers the ego-inflated pretensions of the schools and practitioners of literary criticism popular in the 1960s, including Freudians, Aristotelians, and New Critics. Modeled on the "casebooks" often used in freshman English classes at the time, The Pooh Perplex contains twelve essays written in different critical voices, complete with ridiculous footnotes, tongue-in-cheek "questions and study projects," and hilarious biographical notes on the contributors. This edition contains a new preface by the author that compares literary theory then and now and identifies some of the real-life critics who were spoofed in certain chapters.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

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Product Details Paperback: 150 pages Publisher: Plume (March 30, 1965) Language: English ISBN-10: 0525484116 ISBN-13: 978-0525484110 Product Dimensions: 7 x 5 x 1 inches Shipping Weight: 8 ounces Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews) Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,752,550 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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First Sentence:
NO ONE in these days, I feel sure, will care to complain that there is a lack of critical attention to Winnie-the Pooh. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
absolute canons, moral seriousness

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Christopher Robin, Pooh Corner, Lord Wendell Dovetail, Primal Scene, Professor Force, Felix Culpa, King Lear, Lady Chatterley's Lover, North Pole, Professor Crane, Elder Olson, New York, New Critic, Pooh Bear, Professor Penwiper, Professor Sweat, Professor Thumb, Reality Principle, Robertus Tracy, Sir Pooh de Bear

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 32 books:

• Now We Are Six (Pooh Original Edition) by A. A. Milne on 4 pages
• King Lear (The New Folger Library Shakespeare) by William Shakespeare on page 113, and page 121
• An Expotition to the North Pole (Winnie-the-Pooh story books) by A.A. Milne on page 7
• Sons and Lovers (Penguin Reader Level 5) by Lawrence on page 102
• Sons and Lovers by D H Lawrence on page 102

See all 32 books this book cites

 

38 books cite this book:

• Professing Literature: An Institutional History by Gerald Graff on page 186, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
• Dicing with Death: Chance, Risk and Health by Stephen Senn in Front Matter, and page 45
• Parody: Ancient, Modern and Post-modern (Literature, Culture, Theory) by Margaret A. Rose on page 71, and Back Matter
• American Academic Culture in Transformation by Thomas Bender on page 323, and page 329
• Texts and Textuality: Textual Instability, Theory, and Interpretation (Garland Reference Library of the Humanities) by Philip G. Cohen in Front Matter (1), and Front Matter (2)

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6 Reviews 5 star:  (4) 4 star:  (2) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 4.7 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews 14 of 14 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars The Pooh Perplex, December 4, 2005 By  Zoe Gibbons - See all my reviews This review is from: The Pooh Perplex : A Freshman Casebook (Paperback) I first read The Pooh Perplex in the summer before my freshman year of college; my father presented it to me as an encapsulation of the reasons why he had abandoned his English major. I had not yet encountered Leavis, Crane, and the other critics so marvelously parodied in Crews's book, but I spent a good few hours shrieking with laughter at Myron Masterson's vision of Kanga as castrating "'Mom' figure" and Simon Lacerous's characterization of the bear himself as a flabby old Tory with a string of knightly titles and an overfondness for condensed milk. Then I came to college and took a Literary Criticism and Theory class; with wonder, I recognized in my casebook more and more of the bizarre characters inhabiting Crews's topsy-turvy hermeneutic milieu. Oddest of all, I found that my reading of The Pooh Perplex had actually provided me with a fairly solid overview of structuralism, Marxist theory, and other critical concoctions my professor obliged me to imbibe. And when I gave Crews's work a second reading, I discovered a myriad of hilarities that had previously passed me by. Though it is depressing that Crews's zany satire can help a student of literature grasp the principal critical theories of the past fifty years, I disagree with my father's justification for forsaking his major. Many critics unintentionally self-parody; to endure their bombast, the reader must absorb the good, dismiss the inane, and find in the ludicrous a scrap or two of humor. Fortunately, we have Crews to assist us with that last task. Satire is a dying art; read The Pooh Perplex to understand why it is still necessary. 10 of 10 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant and funny, January 30, 2006 By  A. J. Cornish Bowden (Marseilles, France) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    It was probably the publication of Postmodern Pooh, Frederick Crews's second venture into Pooh studies, that explains the renewed availability of The Pooh Perplex more than 40 years after its first appearance. But whatever the reason, it is an excellent thing that modern readers can get hold of it, both because it is a brilliant and witty book in itself and also because it makes a natural companion for Postmodern Pooh. For those who have not met the book before it should be explained that it is a series of parodies of different styles of literary criticism (those that were fashionable in the 1960s) applied to Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner, collected together as a "case book" of the kind that was then popular for elementary English courses, and accompanied by Questions and Study Projects prepared by the editor, ostensibly Crews himself, but in reality as much of a parody as the articles themselves. No doubt one would need to be familiar already with the parodied styles to get the most from the book, but no matter; one can get a great deal of amusement from it without any specialist knowledge, and some of the sources are fairly obvious even to non-specialists, the Freudian analysis by "Karl Anschauung", for example, or the proletarian analysis by "Martin Tempralis". On the other hand, readers born since the book was written may not easily recognize F. R. Leavis thinly disguised as "Simon Lacerous". The non-specialist reader will easily be tempted to believe that Crews is exaggerating. Surely no serious expert on English literature could really express some of the sillier ideas expressed in this book? Alas, he amply demonstrates with real quotations from real (and apparently serious) publications that they could and they did. 13 of 14 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully funny stuff, April 8, 2003 By  Christopher Tessone (Durham, NC USA) - See all my reviews This review is from: The Pooh Perplex : A Freshman Casebook (Paperback) I ran across a reference to Postmodern Pooh about a week ago, and I decided to read Crews' first Pooh satire before reading the latest. What a gas! Crews takes the prevalent methods of literary criticism leading up to the 1960s and apes them with a deft touch. One of my favorite moments was when "C. J. L. Culpepper, D.Litt., Oxon.," after determining the Christic nature of Eeyore, declares that Christopher Robin is a stand-in for God the Father. He proves this simply: "Christopher Robin" is an anagram for "I HOPE CHRIST BORN. R." ("I take this to be a decree in the hortatory imperative, dispatched to the Heavenly Host, urging the speedy fulfillment of the Incarnation and signed 'R' for REX.") Admittedly, the book does drag at times, but only rarely, and probably due to Crews' too perfect mimicry of the rather dry literary personae being roasted over the flames. Not many books make me laugh out loud on every page -- this is one of them.		Ad feedback   Most Recent Customer Reviews 5.0 out of 5 stars First-rate satire If I ever read Winnie the Pooh, it was decades ago and I have long since forgotten it. An ignorance of WtP, however, is no obstacle to reading TPP. Read more Published on June 14, 2006 by Librum 5.0 out of 5 stars How dare this book ever be out of print? This is a brilliant send-up of the pretentious critiques that has masqueraded as literary criticism since pseudo-intellectualism was first invented by which mental-nonentities... Read more Published on February 13, 1999 4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent prose humor An hilarious parody of intellectual analyses of Winnie the Pooh. A must-read if you are tired of seeing "The Tao of Pooh," "The Tei of Piglet," etc. Published on October 24, 1997 Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

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Product Details

• Paperback: 150 pages
• Publisher: Plume (March 30, 1965)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525484116
• ISBN-13: 978-0525484110
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,752,550 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Pooh Perplex, December 4, 2005

By	Zoe Gibbons - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Pooh Perplex : A Freshman Casebook (Paperback)

I first read The Pooh Perplex in the summer before my freshman year of college; my father presented it to me as an encapsulation of the reasons why he had abandoned his English major. I had not yet encountered Leavis, Crane, and the other critics so marvelously parodied in Crews's book, but I spent a good few hours shrieking with laughter at Myron Masterson's vision of Kanga as castrating "'Mom' figure" and Simon Lacerous's characterization of the bear himself as a flabby old Tory with a string of knightly titles and an overfondness for condensed milk.

Then I came to college and took a Literary Criticism and Theory class; with wonder, I recognized in my casebook more and more of the bizarre characters inhabiting Crews's topsy-turvy hermeneutic milieu. Oddest of all, I found that my reading of The Pooh Perplex had actually provided me with a fairly solid overview of structuralism, Marxist theory, and other critical concoctions my professor obliged me to imbibe. And when I gave Crews's work a second reading, I discovered a myriad of hilarities that had previously passed me by.

Though it is depressing that Crews's zany satire can help a student of literature grasp the principal critical theories of the past fifty years, I disagree with my father's justification for forsaking his major. Many critics unintentionally self-parody; to endure their bombast, the reader must absorb the good, dismiss the inane, and find in the ludicrous a scrap or two of humor. Fortunately, we have Crews to assist us with that last task. Satire is a dying art; read The Pooh Perplex to understand why it is still necessary.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant and funny, January 30, 2006

By	A. J. Cornish Bowden (Marseilles, France) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It was probably the publication of Postmodern Pooh, Frederick Crews's second venture into Pooh studies, that explains the renewed availability of The Pooh Perplex more than 40 years after its first appearance. But whatever the reason, it is an excellent thing that modern readers can get hold of it, both because it is a brilliant and witty book in itself and also because it makes a natural companion for Postmodern Pooh.

For those who have not met the book before it should be explained that it is a series of parodies of different styles of literary criticism (those that were fashionable in the 1960s) applied to Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner, collected together as a "case book" of the kind that was then popular for elementary English courses, and accompanied by Questions and Study Projects prepared by the editor, ostensibly Crews himself, but in reality as much of a parody as the articles themselves.

No doubt one would need to be familiar already with the parodied styles to get the most from the book, but no matter; one can get a great deal of amusement from it without any specialist knowledge, and some of the sources are fairly obvious even to non-specialists, the Freudian analysis by "Karl Anschauung", for example, or the proletarian analysis by "Martin Tempralis". On the other hand, readers born since the book was written may not easily recognize F. R. Leavis thinly disguised as "Simon Lacerous".

The non-specialist reader will easily be tempted to believe that Crews is exaggerating. Surely no serious expert on English literature could really express some of the sillier ideas expressed in this book? Alas, he amply demonstrates with real quotations from real (and apparently serious) publications that they could and they did.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully funny stuff, April 8, 2003

By	Christopher Tessone (Durham, NC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Pooh Perplex : A Freshman Casebook (Paperback)

I ran across a reference to Postmodern Pooh about a week ago, and I decided to read Crews' first Pooh satire before reading the latest. What a gas! Crews takes the prevalent methods of literary criticism leading up to the 1960s and apes them with a deft touch. One of my favorite moments was when "C. J. L. Culpepper, D.Litt., Oxon.," after determining the Christic nature of Eeyore, declares that Christopher Robin is a stand-in for God the Father. He proves this simply: "Christopher Robin" is an anagram for "I HOPE CHRIST BORN. R." ("I take this to be a decree in the hortatory imperative, dispatched to the Heavenly Host, urging the speedy fulfillment of the Incarnation and signed 'R' for REX.")

Admittedly, the book does drag at times, but only rarely, and probably due to Crews' too perfect mimicry of the rather dry literary personae being roasted over the flames. Not many books make me laugh out loud on every page -- this is one of them.