Kenneth Grahame

Kenneth Grahame ( born March 8, 1859 in Edinburgh, Scotland, † July 6, 1932 in Pangbourne, Berkshire, England ) was a British writer. His most famous book, The Wind in the Willows (1908 ) is a classic of children's literature. His former children's book The dragon who does not want to fight (1898 ) was filmed by Disney in 1941 under the German title The Reluctant Dragon.

Life

Kenneth Grahame was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. After his mother's death, his father could not take care of the four kids and sent them to their grandmother to England, where the Grahame attended St. Edward's School in Oxford. The study at the University of Oxford was forbidden to him by his guardian for financial reasons. Instead, he began in 1879 in the Bank of England to work, where he during his career as Managing worked his way up before it in 1907 for health reasons went into retirement.

Grahame married Elspeth Thomson in 1899, who gave birth to their son Alastair 1900. Alastair, the Grahame nicknamed 'Mouse ' was, was blind from birth in one eye, was also on the others just see bad and had lifelong health problems. The bedtime stories that Grahame told his son, were the beginning of his book The Wind in the Willows. Two days before his 20th birthday, Alastair was beheaded found on a railroad track. His death was listed as accidental.

Grahame died on 6 July 1932 in Pangbourne, England to a brain hemorrhage. He is buried in Holywell Cemetery in Oxford St. Cross Church. His grave inscription was written by his cousin, the author Anthony Hope and reads:

"To the beautiful memory of Kenneth Grahame, husband of Elspeth and father of Alastair, who passed the River on the 6th July 1932, leaving childhood and literature through him the more blest for all time. " ( In memory of Kenneth Grahame, husband of Elspeth and father of Alastair, who crossed the river on July 6, 1932 and are blessed even more by the childhood and literature for all time. )

Works

Grahame published at the beginning of short stories in the London newspapers such as the St. James Gazette. Some of these stories were published in 1893 in the band Pagan Papers. 1895 was followed by The Golden Age and Dream Days 1898, the band, which contained the story of the dragon, who did not want to fight. In 1908 he published The Wind in the Willows and 1916 he was editor of a collection of poetry for children.

• Kenneth Grahame: The Wind in the Willows. Knesebeckstraße, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-86873-423-2, ( German edition ).

• The Wind in the Willows. Read by Alexandra Henkel, The Audio Publishers (DAV), Berlin, 2008, ISBN 978-3-89813-770-6, ( Reading, 3 CDs, 208 min.)
• The Wind in the Willows. Radio play version of Charlotte Niemann, German Grammophon, Hamburg, 1978, ISBN 3-8291-1170-3, (3 CDs, 158 min.)

Sources

Humphrey Carpenter, Mari Prichard: The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1991, pp. 216-219, ISBN 0-19-211582-0.