Courtenay wrote:Incidentally, growing up in Australia in the 1980s, our family used both "Father Christmas" and "Santa Claus" pretty much interchangeably as the name of the Christmas gift-bringer
I guess this must have been the transitional period when Santa Claus was starting to oust Father Christmas, in Australia at least, but hadn't yet done so almost completely. I was born in 1954, so grew up with much earlier views of Father Christmas. Also, I suppose this could be something that varied by location, social class, and other factors - hence the different, conflicting opinions you sometimes read about the matter.
It is sometimes said that the modern image of the character was invented by Coca-Cola during a 1930s advertising campaign; but apparently this is not true. I heard this discussed on the radio recently, and it seems that Coca-Cola did play a role in popularizing this image, but didn't invent it, as it had had some currency prior to that. It was also mentioned that the character's principal colour was green at some earlier point, rather than red. (I forget the details of when and where that was though - this obviously being something that can vary a lot by country.)
Courtenay wrote:Sorry, by the way, for dragging this conversation back a few steps — I've only been able to come in intermittently, as I was writing earlier on my lunch break at work. :wink:
No worries - I never mind conversations going back to older points.
Courtenay wrote:Here's the paragraph in which Father Christmas appears — as you can see, he has some of those features but not all:
It was a sledge, and it was reindeer with bells on their harness. But they were far bigger than the Witch's reindeer, and they were not white but brown. And on the sledge sat a person whom everyone knew the moment they set eyes on him. He was a huge man in a bright red robe (bright as hollyberries) with a hood that had fur inside it and a great white beard that fell like a foamy waterfall over his chest. Everyone knew him because, though you see people of his sort only in Narnia, you see pictures of them and hear them talked about even in our world — the world on this side of the wardrobe door. But when you really see them in Narnia it is rather different. Some of the pictures of Father Christmas in our world make him look only funny and jolly. But now that the children actually stood looking at him they didn't find it quite like that. He was so big, and so glad, and so real, that they all became quite still. They felt very glad, but also solemn.
Yes, I do recall that now you mention it, Courtenay. I thought I recalled the sledge and reindeer, albeit dimly (I haven't read the book for a while now), but I hadn't remembered the bright red, and so had wondered if Lewis devised his description before the idea arose that Father Christmas was dressed in red. However, clearly that idea was around in the 1950s, and Lewis felt quite happy to use it, too. His portrayal of Father Christmas as inducing solemnity more than jollity, though, shows that he was perfectly willing to depart from the normal portrayal if that didn't suit his story.
Courtenay wrote:Back on track — great to see the new thread showing how Enid DIDN'T have a "limited" vocabulary at all!! Thanks, Michael. :D
You're welcome - I'm glad if I'm able to introduce a topic people find interesting.
I'm not quite sure, to be honest, that one can make out a strong *opposite* case about Enid Blyton's vocabulary: that it was very wide and adventurous - but I have always thought the criticisms about the supposed paucity of her vocabulary were unfair, so I wanted to see if I could counteract it. However, in truth, if you can tell your story effectively, I don't really think it even matters much whether your vocabulary is narrow or wide. Perhaps telling a story effectively with mainly very ordinary words is a skill all of its own, and not to be denigrated. And clearly it shows that Enid Blyton does not try to create a fake sense of depth by hiding behind big or learned words. (Not that I'm opposed to those if they are used well, and are at least a bit better than equivalent ordinary words in the given situation.)
However, I think there are critics who are only too ready to bring down Enid Blyton whenever they can find any excuse to do so. Perhaps less so now than at one point, but I dare say such people are still around even today.
Regards, Michael.