Review: The Magic Pudding

Ninety years after first publication, a genuine classic such as The Magic Pudding is quite beyond review. There's really no point in trying to find something new to say about a book that's today entertaining the great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren of those who first enjoyed its charming words and illustrations.

What is worth making a point about, though, is the splendid work that the publishers have done in creating this commemorative edition, and I'm not just talking about the quality of binding and printing,

There is also the inclusion of several fascinating appendices: a biography of Norman Lindsay by his grand-daughter Helen Glad; some Puddin' recipes; early reviews of the book; and, most intriguingly, some of the correspondence between Lindsay and his publishers.

Lindsay's left-leaning politics come to fore in missives such as this to his publisher, George Robertson, of Angus & Robertson:

"I have finished the last slab of 'Pudding' and thank God for it, for I've had a bellyful ... I'm sorry for the delay in getting through this last section, but a thing is not worth doing unless one wants to do it. It is a principal I do not expect you to endorse, for art and business look at these matters through different coloured glasses ... [then, talking about payment] ... And putting quite aside my personal friendliness with you, there is a blood feud between your Tribe, and my Tribe, for the road that leads to publishers counting houses is paved with the bones of artists and writers who have starved on the track."

It's also interesting to note that Lindsay wasn't terribly happy with The Magic Pudding. Take this response to a request, just months after first publication in late 1918, for permission to read excerpts in public:

"Your request re the lady who wants to recite the Pudding embarrasses me. That sort of thing is the last notoriety I care for. I wouldn't mind if the damned stuff was worth reciting but of course, if it was worth reciting, no one would want to recite it. The truth is, I'm not at all proud of having produced this little bundle of piffle ..."

When Lindsay submitted his manuscript to Robertson, he described the four chapters or 'Slices' as the soup, entrée, roast and dessert. In this edition, you also get the cigars and port.

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