WIST Quotations

Travers, P. L. -- Essay (1978-07-02), “I Never Wrote for Children,” New York Times

Dave — Thu, 02 Jan 2025 16:34:54 +0000

“What,” I asked my father once, “what is a concubine?”
“Er‐hum — !” he responded. “Why do you ask?” Clearly, he was playing for time.
“Well, it says in the Bible that David took him more concubines and Solomon had 300.”
He inwardly groaned, but grappled with it. “Well, David was the head of the house, he needed people to look after him and the concubines — er did.”
Three hundred! I thought to myself. One would need a very big house.
“What a pity, father, that you have only two!”
He was astonished. “Two what?”
“Two concubines — Katie and Bella to cook and make beds.”
“Katie and Bella are not my concubines.” Here was a child being childish, which was something he did not like.
“Then, Nelly, what about her?” Nelly was slightly wanting, and came to help with the washing.
“Certainly not.” The idea was repugnant.
“Well, father, who are your concubines?”
“I have no concubines!” he roared and stormed out of the room.
The head of the house and no concubines! Clearly we, as a family, were vastly lower on the social scale than Solomon or David.

P. L. Travers (1899–1996) Australian-British writer [Pamela Lyndon Travers; b. Helen Lyndon Goff]
Essay (1978-07-02), “I Never Wrote for Children,” New York Times
(Source)

Travers, P. L. -- Essay (1978-07-02), “I Never Wrote for Children,” New York Times

Dave — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 16:32:07 +0000

You do not chop off a section of your imaginative substance and make a book specifically for children, for — if you are honest — you have no idea where childhood ends and maturity begins. It is all endless and all one.

P. L. Travers (1899–1996) Australian-British writer [Pamela Lyndon Travers; b. Helen Lyndon Goff]
Essay (1978-07-02), “I Never Wrote for Children,” New York Times
(Source)

Travers, P. L. -- Essay (1978-07-02), “I Never Wrote for Children,” New York Times

Dave — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 16:18:40 +0000

Nothing I had written before “Mary Poppins” had anything to do with children, and I have always assumed, when I thought about it at all, that she had come out of the same well of nothingness as the poetry, myth and legend that had absorbed me all my writing life. If I had been told while I was working on the book that I was doing it for children, I think I would have been terrified.

P. L. Travers (1899–1996) Australian-British writer [Pamela Lyndon Travers; b. Helen Lyndon Goff]
Essay (1978-07-02), “I Never Wrote for Children,” New York Times
(Source)

Travers, P. L. -- Essay (1978-07-02), “I Never Wrote for Children,” New York Times

Dave — Thu, 09 Jan 2025 16:10:28 +0000

So, confronted with this hoard of stolen riches, the question of who writes or who does not write for children becomes unimportant and, in fact, irrelevant. For every book is a message, and if children happen to receive and like it, they will appropriate it to themselves no matter what the author may say or what label he gives himself. And those who, against all odds and I’m one of them — protest that they do not write for children, cannot help being aware of this fact and are, I assure you, grateful.

P. L. Travers (1899–1996) Australian-British writer [Pamela Lyndon Travers; b. Helen Lyndon Goff]
Essay (1978-07-02), “I Never Wrote for Children,” New York Times
(Source)