Watership Down

:For the hill named Watership Down, see Watership Down, Hampshire.

Story

Watership Down tells the story of the escape of a group of rebellious rabbits who — against the wishes of their Chief Rabbit — escape from their threatened warren, and of their subsequent adventures. They find sanctuary by building their own warren on the down from which the book is titled, but the story continues after this.

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The book's "gimmick" is that these are no storybook rabbits — figuratively speaking — they are significantly less anthropomorphized than the average fictional animal. Technology or articles of clothing are out of the question. Though for purposes of fiction they are depicted as sapient and capable of speech, the rabbits have the physical attributes and fierce instincts of their real-life counterparts. Furthermore, the author has gone as far as constructing a culture for his rabbits, including a language, proverbs, poetry and mythology. More than one chapter consists of pieces of lapine lore. Watership Down is one of the legendary classics of xenofiction - many editions include an appendix of the Lapine vocabulary. It is thus not a beast fable like the works of Aesop but a genuine heroic fantasy.

Related Topics:
Anthropomorphized - Language - Xenofiction - Fable - Aesop - Heroic fantasy

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