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msand3's review
2.0
More banal scribblings from Busch. Some narratives are like sadistic fables. Others depend on silly rhymes or repetitive visual gags. (How many times can we see sketches of characters’ butts in the air before it gets boring?) Many stories end in half-hearted attempts to offer moral lessons, which seem neither valuable nor insightful. Perhaps they are intended to be ironic détournements of fables or morality tales, except the sketches and rhymes are not clever enough to rise above the cheap chuckles to make any larger point.
The funniest part of the collection was the introduction, in which Walter Arndt tries in vain to connect Busch to Gogol, Twain, Carroll, Dickens, etc. To say this is a stretch is an understatement. Ardnt concludes by attempting to read Busch’s Plisch and Plum as a Rousseauian commentary on the impact of pedagogy on childhood. Of course, Plisch and Plum is “not included in this anthology”! I always love when the prime example in the introduction to an anthology is not included in the collection. It happens more often than one would think. I read Plisch and Plum in another Busch collection; as with every other aspect of the introduction, Arndt’s analysis was greatly overstated. This is the last book I’ll read of Busch’s work.
The funniest part of the collection was the introduction, in which Walter Arndt tries in vain to connect Busch to Gogol, Twain, Carroll, Dickens, etc. To say this is a stretch is an understatement. Ardnt concludes by attempting to read Busch’s Plisch and Plum as a Rousseauian commentary on the impact of pedagogy on childhood. Of course, Plisch and Plum is “not included in this anthology”! I always love when the prime example in the introduction to an anthology is not included in the collection. It happens more often than one would think. I read Plisch and Plum in another Busch collection; as with every other aspect of the introduction, Arndt’s analysis was greatly overstated. This is the last book I’ll read of Busch’s work.
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