• Emil and the Detectives and The Land of Cockaigne

    From Steve Hayes@hayesstw@telkomsa.net to rec.arts.books.childrens,rec.arts.books,alt.books,alt.literature on Wed Apr 3 13:47:44 2024
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.books.childrens

    When I was at school I read a book containing two stories:

    Emil and the Detectives
    and
    The Land of Cockaigne

    Both were, I believe, written by German authors between the world
    wars, and I wonder whether anyone else remembers reading them.

    Just about the only thing I remember about "The Land of Cockaigne" was
    that it had hens going about dragging frying pans, and laying eggs
    that were immediatelt friend and ready to eat.

    A few years later I read the song "Big Rock Candy Mountain" which
    seemed to embody the same concept, though it was of American rather
    than German origin.
    --
    Stephen Hayes, Author of The Year of the Dragon
    Sample or purchase The Year of the Dragon: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/907935
    Web site: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
    Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
    E-mail: shayes@dunelm.org.uk or if you use Gmail hayesstw@telkomsa.net
    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Joerg Walther@joerg.walther@magenta.de to rec.arts.books.childrens,rec.arts.books,alt.books,alt.literature on Wed Apr 3 18:58:25 2024
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.books.childrens

    Steve Hayes wrote:

    Emil and the Detectives
    and
    The Land of Cockaigne

    Both were, I believe, written by German authors between the world
    wars, and I wonder whether anyone else remembers reading them.

    I only know Emil und die Detektive, written by Erich KEstner. In fact,
    this one is still very popular in Germany and I have read it more than
    once with my 5th graders. It has been turned into a film 3 times, the
    oldest one is from 1931 and the script was written by Billy Wilder, who
    later made it big in Hollywood. I would definitely recommend this for
    watching, it's so lovingly made and it shows the old Berlin from before
    the war but I do not know if an English version, whether synchronized or subtitled, is available.

    -jw-
    --
    And now for something completely different...
    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Joerg Walther@joerg.walther@magenta.de to rec.arts.books.childrens,rec.arts.books,alt.books,alt.literature on Wed Apr 3 20:09:30 2024
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.books.childrens

    Steve Hayes wrote:

    Just about the only thing I remember about "The Land of Cockaigne" was
    that it had hens going about dragging frying pans, and laying eggs
    that were immediatelt friend and ready to eat.

    OK, I found it, it is a fairy tale by Ludwig Bechstein, it is called "Im Schlaraffenland" (Land of Plenty or Cockaigne), you can find the German
    version here: https://www.maerchenstern.de/maerchen/schlaraffenland.php
    and if you do not speak German let Google translate it for you. :)

    -jw-
    --
    And now for something completely different...
    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Steve Hayes@hayesstw@telkomsa.net to rec.arts.books.childrens,rec.arts.books,alt.books,alt.literature on Thu Apr 4 17:46:49 2024
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.books.childrens

    On Wed, 03 Apr 2024 18:58:25 +0200, Joerg Walther
    <joerg.walther@magenta.de> wrote:

    Steve Hayes wrote:

    Emil and the Detectives
    and
    The Land of Cockaigne

    Both were, I believe, written by German authors between the world
    wars, and I wonder whether anyone else remembers reading them.

    I only know Emil und die Detektive, written by Erich K|nstner. In fact,
    this one is still very popular in Germany and I have read it more than
    once with my 5th graders. It has been turned into a film 3 times, the
    oldest one is from 1931 and the script was written by Billy Wilder, who
    later made it big in Hollywood. I would definitely recommend this for >watching, it's so lovingly made and it shows the old Berlin from before
    the war but I do not know if an English version, whether synchronized or >subtitled, is available.

    Thanks very much. Good to see that it is still popular with today's
    kids. Some say that they won't like it because there are no cell
    phones etc.
    --
    Stephen Hayes, Author of The Year of the Dragon
    Sample or purchase The Year of the Dragon: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/907935
    Web site: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
    Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
    E-mail: shayes@dunelm.org.uk or if you use Gmail hayesstw@telkomsa.net
    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Joerg Walther@joerg.walther@magenta.de to rec.arts.books.childrens,rec.arts.books,alt.books,alt.literature on Thu Apr 4 20:12:39 2024
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.books.childrens

    Steve Hayes wrote:

    Thanks very much. Good to see that it is still popular with today's
    kids. Some say that they won't like it because there are no cell
    phones etc.

    I've never noticed this, probably because the story is both suspenseful
    and funny.

    -jw-
    --
    And now for something completely different...
    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From jsmith@jsmith3215@protonmail.com to rec.arts.books.childrens,rec.arts.books,alt.books,alt.literature on Wed Jul 3 18:51:29 2024
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.books.childrens

    Steve Hayes wrote:

    When I was at school I read a book containing two stories:

    Emil and the Detectives
    and
    The Land of Cockaigne

    Both were, I believe, written by German authors between the world
    wars, and I wonder whether anyone else remembers reading them.

    I've not heard of the second one, but I remember the first one from my
    own childhood! I'm still tremendously fond of it. Very vivid setting
    (the plot actually pays attention to public transport and payphone practicalities, can you imagine?). There was also a sequel rCo Emil und
    die drei Zwillinge (Emil and the Three Twins), if I remember right... I
    had thought it to be boring and needlessly convoluted, when I first read
    it, but it's probably no less charming.

    I also read and loved Das doppelte Lottchen (Lisa and Lottie) and
    P|+nktchen und Anton (Dot and Anton) by the same author... Maybe someone
    here remembers those as well.

    Steve Hayes wrote:

    Thanks very much. Good to see that it is still popular with today's
    kids. Some say that they won't like it because there are no cell
    phones etc.

    I'm quite sure kids are capable of comprehending the concept of a book
    being set in a different time and place. :-)
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  • From Michael F. Stemper@michael.stemper@gmail.com to rec.arts.books.childrens,rec.arts.books,alt.books,alt.literature on Sat Aug 24 11:04:22 2024
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.books.childrens

    On 03/07/2024 13.51, jsmith wrote:
    Steve Hayes wrote:

    When I was at school I read a book containing two stories:

    Emil and the Detectives
    and
    The Land of Cockaigne

    Both were, I believe, written by German authors between the world
    wars, and I wonder whether anyone else remembers reading them.

    I've not heard of the second one, but I remember the first one from my
    own childhood! I'm still tremendously fond of it. Very vivid setting
    (the plot actually pays attention to public transport and payphone practicalities, can you imagine?)

    I first heard of Emil's author, Erich K|nstner, when a classmate in sixth
    grade gave a book report on his _The 35th of May_, which led me to
    immediately check it out from our school library. Great fun!

    Speaking of phones and public transportation, in Chapter V, it portrayed
    a man on a moving walkway, who decided to make a call on his mobile phone.
    He got off the walkway to deal with it!

    I never read Emil until I checked it out (from a library in a different
    state) to read it to my son. For me, it was so-so.
    --
    Michael F. Stemper
    Isaiah 58:6-7

    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Steve Hayes@hayesstw@telkomsa.net to rec.arts.books.childrens,rec.arts.books,alt.books,alt.literature on Sun Aug 25 05:04:18 2024
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.books.childrens

    On Sat, 24 Aug 2024 11:04:22 -0500, "Michael F. Stemper" <michael.stemper@gmail.com> wrote:

    On 03/07/2024 13.51, jsmith wrote:
    Steve Hayes wrote:

    When I was at school I read a book containing two stories:

    Emil and the Detectives
    and
    The Land of Cockaigne

    Both were, I believe, written by German authors between the world
    wars, and I wonder whether anyone else remembers reading them.

    I've not heard of the second one, but I remember the first one from my
    own childhood! I'm still tremendously fond of it. Very vivid setting
    (the plot actually pays attention to public transport and payphone
    practicalities, can you imagine?)

    I first heard of Emil's author, Erich K|nstner, when a classmate in sixth >grade gave a book report on his _The 35th of May_, which led me to >immediately check it out from our school library. Great fun!

    Speaking of phones and public transportation, in Chapter V, it portrayed
    a man on a moving walkway, who decided to make a call on his mobile phone.
    He got off the walkway to deal with it!

    I never read Emil until I checked it out (from a library in a different >state) to read it to my son. For me, it was so-so.

    For me too, but the "Emil and the Detectives" seems to be better known
    than "The Land of Cockaign", though I found that story more
    interesting and would like to read it again. I remember it had hens
    with frying pans tied to them so they could lay fried eggs.
    --
    Stephen Hayes, Author of The Year of the Dragon
    Sample or purchase The Year of the Dragon: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/907935
    Web site: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
    Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
    E-mail: shayes@dunelm.org.uk or if you use Gmail hayesstw@telkomsa.net
    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2