Ian Arnott recommends the joyous spoofs in The Pooh Perplex, while Dr Peter Glanvill recalls Mary Plain
One of the best books about Winnie-the-Pooh (Editorial, 16 October) is The Pooh Perplex, a 1963 work by the American academic Frederick Crews. This is 12 essays written in the style of various schools of literary criticism, such as The Sacramental Meaning of Winnie the Pooh, where Eeyore is the Christ figure; À la Recherche du Pooh Perdu, which claims the book is permeated with Weltschmerz; and Another Book to Cross Off Your List, as it contains not one working-class character. Many of these spoofs are strangely plausible – but very funny.
Ian Arnott
Werrington, Peterborough
• I was surprised that your editorial mentioned Paddington, but not Mary Plain from the bear pits of Berne, who had a mentor in the form of the Owl Man (named for his horn-rimmed spectacles). Created by the Welsh writer Gwynedd Rae in the 1930s, she was the subject of more than a dozen tales. The stories were regulars on Children’s Hour and Jackanory. Paddington was a latecomer to my childhood reading.
Dr Peter Glanvill
Chard, Somerset