Sam Small, the Flying Yorkshireman

[dochermes]

Comments

[harvey_rrit]

I wonder if George Gamow ever read these.

[dochermes]

Interesting thought. I still have a copy of ONE TWO THREE...INFINITY that has gone unopened for thirty years. Maybe someday it will jump out at me.

[harvey_rrit]

He just reminds me of Mr. Tompkins.

[jhall1]

I must confess that I hadn't heard of Eric Knight or the Sam Small stories (though I had heard of Lassie, of course).

Evidently, Yorkshiremen were regarded at the time as being plain, simple folk with a strong streak of stubbornness for its own sake and a love of argument. (For all I know, this may have been true then as well as today, never have been fortunate enough to go there.)

That is still the stereotypical view of Yorkshiremen in the rest of the UK - and one which many Yorkshire folk seem to enjoy playing up to.

The closest thing to the Sam Small stories (in terms of affectionate recreation of a specific folk and place) I've seen in American fantasy would be the John the Balladeer tales by Manly Wade Wellman

Garrison Keillor? (Though I suppose you can argue about whether or not his work is fantasy.)

[dochermes]

Glad to hear that about Yorkshiremen, and that many seem comfortable with it.

Yes, Keillor works in the same vein, and I don't know if his Norwegian bachelor farmers and other Minnesotans actually stray into the fantastic, but they certainly tread the border of what's plausible. Good thought.

[harvey_rrit]

Um, "all the children are above average".

(I suppose you could argue about whether he really needs those glasses.)