Welcome to Wednesday Writing Essentials.
Today is January 7th.
Think about Winter Escape or anything.
And now a discussion of Beatrix Potter.
Beatrix Potter (1866 - 1943) was an English author, illustrator and botanist, known and loved worldwide for her delightful, anthropomorphic tales of Peter Rabbit, Flopsy, Benjamin and Mopsy Bunny, and Peter Cottontail, as well as many other characters, published in tiny, hardcover books.
Her personal life was not as delightful as that lived by her fictional characters.
Beatrx Potter, 1881, age 16, in a photo taken by her father; with her dog, Spot. Public Domain.
Beatrix was born in London and educated at home by governesses, with little chance to mingle and know other children. Her younger brother was sent to boarding school and Beatrix was often alone with her animals, which included a vast menagerie of frogs, newts and a pet bat.
Her first rabbit was Benjamin, whom she often would describe as an impudent, cheeky little thing; her second bunny was Peter, which accompanied Beatrix everywhere, on a leash.
Beatrix often sketched the animals in her yard, and had great occasion to observe their habitats and behavior.
Her father was a Barrister (trial attorney) but rarely practiced law; insted, he often spent his days at London's gentlemen's clubs. Her mother was a socialite who received visitors; her parents large, inherited wealth supported Beatrix, growing up.
In the summers, the Potters would retire to the Scottish countryside where Beatrix's father rented a house; after 1881, the Potters rented a house in the beautiful English Lake District.
Beatrix had little opportunity for personal development of any kind. Her parents appointed her their housekeeper, making Beatrix supervisor of the household; they discouraged personal and intellectual development of any kind for Beatrix.
She kept a secret journal in which she told of her daily life, but this was written in a secret code which was not decypted until long after her death.
Her uncle tried to have her admitted as a student at the Royal Botanical Gardens, but she was denied admission because she was female.
Beatrix was among the very first to suggest that lichens were a symbiotic relationship between fungi and algae, having studied these organisms closely through her own detailed drawings. Apart from her children's books, Beatrix now is known and widely respected for her early efforts in Botany.
Even though she had painted some 270 detailed watercolors of fungi by 1901, Beatrix' uncle was the one who had to present her scholarly paper on spore germination to the Linnean Society, as women were barred from attending Linnean Society meetings.
The Linnean Society issued a posthumous apology a few years ago for the way Beatrix Potter had been treated in 1901.
It is in Beatrix' numerous tiny books that were published for children that she is most known and loved worldwide.
The many animals she observed while on vacation in Scotland and especially in the Lake District became the seeds of her many books, which were not published until she was 36. Frederick Warne & Co. published these in 1902.
Benjamin and Flopsy Bunny in foreground with Peter Rabbit in the background, published by Frederick Warne & Co., 1902, public domain. From The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies.
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Excerpt:
Once upon a time there were four little rabbits, and there names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton tail and Peter.
They lived with their mother in a sand bank underneath the root of a very big fir tree.
Nowmy dears, said old Mrs. Rabbit one morning, you may go into the fieldsor down the lane, but don't go into Mr. McGregor's garden.
Your father had an accident there and was put into a pie by Mrs. McGregor.
Now run along and don't get into mischeif. I am going out.
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(Oh, what little rabbits would obey their Mummy and avoid Mr. McGregor's delightful garden, full of tasty lettuce. Perish the thought.)
(When I was in Edinburgh in 1971, I bought the collection of these tiny books for a pittance in an old bookstore. Our children's library also had these books in the library, which I read to my children, when they were younger.)
Immediately following the publication of her first book, Beatrix became a commerically successful children's author and became engaged to the publisher, Norman Warne. As this was a secret, she took great pains to hide her engagement from her parents, who were against her marrying into the trades.
Her parents did soon discover the engagement, and a lifelong breach between Beatrix and her parents ensued, but the marriage was not to be: Her betrothed developed pernicious anemia and died within a few weeks after the engagement was announced. Beatrix was heartbroken.
In total, Beatrix wrote 23 books, published in the small format that Warne originally designed.
After Warne died, she bought a farm in the Lake District and began to purchase more land, and, with the guidance of an attorney (Solicitor, non-trial attorney), William Heelis, she bought Hill Top Farm. She married Heelis married in 1913 at age 47 and moved to Hill Top Farm permanently.
Beatrix and William did not have children, but they had dogs, cats and Mrs. Tiggywinkle, their pet hedgehog.
Beatrix became a sheep breeder, and often showed her Herdwick sheep. She became president of the Herdwick Sheep Breeders Association.
After the death of her parents, Beatrix used her family inheritance to purchse even more farms, and then moved into Sawrey Village - specifically into Castle Cottage, where she spent her remaining days, until her death in 1943.
Source for information:Beatrix Potter
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Previous Wednesday's Writing Essentials, author bio/lit reviews:
Wednesday Writing Essentials: Richard Brautigan lives on
Wednesday Writing Essentials: Winter Solstice, Holidays Around the World
Wednesday Writing Essentials: Using Your Senses - Pavarotti Lives on in Paul Potts
Wednesday Writing Essentials: Flannery O'Connor Lives On
Dostoevksy/Raskolnikov: Guilty, Guilty Guilty
Harper Lee
Anne Sexton
Tennessee Williams' Kowalski's Stellaaa
Sylvia Plath
Melville's Bartleby the Scrivener
JD Salinger's Catcher in the Rye
Faulkner
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Meet the Writing Editors by Pam Johnston
Official Description of Writing Essentials by Jennifer Hodge, Gather Editorial Team
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About Kathryn
Kathryn Esplin Oleski kathryneo.gather.com
Kathryn Esplin-Oleski was raised in Salt Lake City, but moved to Montreal with her family, where she finished high school and college. Kathryn has a BA in English Literature from McGill University and a Master of Science in Journalism (MSJ) from the Medill School of Journalism, at Northwestern University, in Evanston, Ill.
Kathryn's articles have appeared in The Montreal Gazette, The Globe and Mail, and Kathryn covered Utah politics at Medill from Washington, D.C. for The Ogden Standard-Examiner. She has also written on business, computers, health, living, education, arts, travel and books.
She freelanced for numerous computer/business publications, including a stringer story for Newsweek magazine on graft in the music industry.
Kathryn worked as a news/feature reporter, and Features Editor for International Data Group (IDG) for several years, and then continued to writing freelance computer/business articles.
Kathryn copy edited a technical book, Raggett on HTML 4.0, Second Edition, published by Addison-Wesley Longman, New York and London, 1998.
Kathryn's fiction, The Quill Speaks, was published in Pieceworks, in 2003.
Kathryn was a finalist in the Gather-Borders-Mitch Albom contest:"Times My Mom Stood Up for Me:" My Mom Stood Up for Me During the Last Days of My Childhood.
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Comments: 42
I loved those stories as a child. It is wonderful to learn of the person behind the pen. m
Much respect.
It's always fascinating to learn so many behind the scenes facts on colorful people like Beatrix Potter. Nicely done.
When I was in Edinburgh, I bought all of her 'little books', so charming to have in that form. I later bought a collection for my children and my nephew - none of whom were born yet - the collection was actually not the 'little books' but a larger book with the 'little books' photo copied in them.
Our children's library had a collection of the 'little books'.
It was charming, but I have to admit I never really liked her stories as a child. I much preferred 'The Wind in the Willows'.
Fine article, Kathryn.
Her stories and watercolors are very special to me, the grown-up, giving them.
And I marvel at the magic of cinema when seeing the delicate watercolor hills
and dales in a Beatrix Potter film.
Children's literature is really my favorite of all literature.
To think that a PhD student at McGill in the English Department was writing her dissertaton on this question:
Does Children's Literature have any literary value?
She decided it did not.
I then decided to leave the graduate program in English at McGill.
Behind the door
Maybe I will have the next part of my story next Wednesday. I hope.