In
http://www.anitadiamant.com :
I am often asked about the books that matter to me. So here are a few
of the ones that changed my life and inspire me still:
Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers. In 1964, Mary Poppins turned into a
Hollywood cream puff so that the name conjures up a pretty girl who
charms and pacifies everyone. But Mary Poppins in the book series was
a witch with a magic satchel and knowledge of secret doorways into the
many enchanted places hidden in plain sight throughout London. (Sound
familiar?) There were newborn babies who conversed with the wind,
sunbeams, and birds and an ancient candy-store owner whose self-
regenerating fingers are made of barley sugar. But Mary Poppins
herself is the best magic and role model of all: of all a well-
traveled free spirit with unshakable self-esteem, I didn't want Mary
Poppins to be my nanny. I wanted to be her when I grew up.
(end)
And I might as well add some other observations:
Years ago, the editor Clifton Fadiman once pointed out that part of
the nonsensical appeal of the series is that Mary Poppins takes such
extreme pride in being beautiful, flawlessly polite, and highly born
when in fact she's a Cockney who is none of the above - in the adult
characters' eyes, of course, but also in the eyes of jaded adult
readers who weren't expecting to laugh.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,984509,00.html?iid=chix-sphere
Mimi Kramer's TIME Magazine tribute in 1996 to Christopher Robin
Milne and P.L. Travers - very good:
"For, of course, Disney's Mary Poppins and the character in the
Travers books are two entirely different beings. The latter is
somewhat fierce, somewhat formidable and perennially unfair. The point
about the Mary Poppins of the books is that although wonderful things
begin to happen when she arrives, she's not very nice to be around."
And from Amazon:
Reviewer: A reader from Washington, D.C. August 25, 1999
It may seem that the summary of my review ("A book for adults as well
as for children") is applicable to all the great children's books, and
that is largely true. But I was amazed, when re-reading "Mary Poppins"
recently (at the age of 39), to discover what a different book it is
for a grownup. The book is through the children's eyes, and to a child
it is about their magical nanny. But to me on re-reading it, the book
was about the children. Their nanny is a woman their parents would
consider rather ordinary, in fact quite common, a cockney. Her
extraordinary stature in the children's eyes is due both to their
seeing what
their parents miss and to their considerable lack of understanding of
what is going on. The Star Child (Maia), for example, is really a
desperately poor girl who cheerfully wears rags. And no adult has ever
had any trouble understanding why Mary's uncle couldn't stop laughing.
I like the Disney movie a lot, but it has little to do with this
book.
(end)
That bit about Maia does explain quite a bit, doesn't it? It's
deliberately confusing, though, because magic clearly exists outside
of Mary Poppins in the series, so Maia could just as easily be who she
says she is, but even after she climbs into the sky in front of a
stunned crowd, the final implication - in Mary Poppins' tears - is
quite different. (Also, I thought at
first, upon re-reading it, that she was stingy in giving her her
oversize gloves instead of something more useful - her coat - but then
I remembered that she had in fact just paid for all the presents when
the kids were distracted by Maia's last exchange with the clerk as he
bowed his head - in pity.) Quite amazing. Does anyone else see
anything hidden in the series?
Lenona.
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