Postmodern Pooh by Frederick Crews
North Point Press - October 2001
ISBN: 0-86547-626-8 - Hardcover
Fiction / Humor

Reviewed by Jo Rogers, MyShelf.com
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Frederick Crews chose to wait thirty-eight years before he and his band of bogus critics gave us more interpretations of that many-faceted character, Winnie-the-Pooh. In his foreward to the book, he claims to be merely the editor of eleven insightful essays that were written by these eleven critics and actually edited by students. This time, political activism and academic mediocrity take a hit in the midsection, as Crews pokes fun at some of the ideas floating around.

The interpretations of the "true meaning" of the Pooh stories are widely varied. From the view that the best bear in the world is actually Winston Churchill with a lobotomy, to the view that they actually represent a stand for gay rights, we embark on a hilarious trip through modern politics, complete with bogus footnotes from works that do not exist. We hear from the Marxists, deconstructionists, and the feminists. There is one who professes to believe Milne was a child molester. The effect, despite the verbosity and vulgarity, was a comic look at how far off interpretations, and the critics behind them, can be.

I did enjoy the comic relief. The only sobering thought is that there are people who actually think like these boneheads! So pick up POSTMODERN POOH and have some laughs.