My Watership Down

Three essays on the book and film of Watership Down, and my reaction to them.

This is all about the impact Watership Down has had on my life. One of the quotes Adam's uses for "Epilogue" to Watership Down is "He was part of my dream, of course - but then I was part of his dream, too." Through the Looking Glass Lewis Carroll. In my own very small way I too perhaps have unintentionally woven a little of myself in to the fabric of the world of Watership Down.

I've written three essays; one on the book of Watership Down - how it came to be written and what its impact and appeal might be, another on the film and one on how Watership Down and I have gone through life together. I wrote them in March 2004, and I've tried to encapsulate most of what I know about this remarkable book.

Each essay is available as web page chapters or as a text file. The first is illustrated with items from my collection - items I guarantee you won't be able to see anywhere else.

  1. Watership Down and I, my personal thirty year journey.
  2. Watership Down - What's it all about?
  3. A film is not a book - Watership Down comes to the screen.
You might be tempted to take these essays and try to pass them off as your own at school. In a word, DON'T! You'll almost certainly regret it. My style of writing is quite distinctive, and distinctly not that of a school student. Your teacher or lecturer will spot that a mile off. This is also the most prominent Watership Down site on the web. If you've come here, then you can almost guarantee that your teacher came here before you did; while they were preparing your assignment. They may well have already read these essays, and possibly used them in your course material.

It is of course all right to read and then take ideas from these essays and express them in your own words. I'm perfectly happy for anyone to do that, just as long as you cite this source in your assignment. These would be satisfactory citations:

'Watership Down and I', Chris Boyce, 2004; website: http://realwatershipdown.org/mywd.htm
'Watership Down - what's it all about?', Chris Boyce, 2004; website: http://realwatershipdown.org/mywd.htm
'A film is not a book - Watership Down comes to the screen', Chris Boyce, 2004; website: http://realwatershipdown.org/mywd.htm

Chris wants me take you away from all this and back to Watership Down.