While everyone is talking about George Michael and Carrie Fisher, who both died too young, and ZsaZsa Gabor, who nearly made it to 100, one of the genuine great minds of the 20th century passed away too. He was 96 years old, and passed peacefully at his home according to the papers.
Richard Adams wrote Watership Down, and Shardik, The Plague Dogs, and other works. While good books for mature juveniles, they are not children's books. Shardik, in particular, seems to presage certain events of today in Africa and other parts of the world. While his stories end in deep surety of hope, they look honestly at the heart and at human failure, and at the quality of redemption. They should have a permanent place in every home library.
Adams named his daughters after two of the most romantic women in literature: Juliet and Rosamond. He told them bedtime stories,and they asked him to write them down. A grateful world of readers, past, present, and future, thanks them.
I don't know if people will still be singing Go-Go while watching Star Wars in 200 years, but I think it is almost certain they will still be reading Watership Down.
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