Tarka the Otter
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Tarka the Otter: His Joyful Water-Life and Death in the Country of the Two Rivers is a novel by Henry Williamson. The book narrates the experience of an otter. It was first published in 1927 by G.P. Putnam's Sons, with an introduction by the Hon. Sir John Fortescue, K.C.V.O..
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[edit] Plot summary
Tarka the otter is a tale about an otter; it starts off with him as a cub with his mother and fellow siblings. As a cub, he learns how to clean himself, swimming and other things. He learns that fish is food and that with the help of his rudder, he can guide himself through the water as naturally an otter has the potential to do. It was not instinct at first though, as it says that he had to learn confidence in swimming. When his home is attacked by hunters, he and his wild family must abandon it to flee from danger. Joining up with some other otters, the family continue to travel. At some point he loses his family and his mother forgets she even had a cub named Tarka. So at this point he has grown to fend for himself. He continues to be hunted by the hunters and the feared hunting dog Deadlock, and so he is constantly on the run from them. In the end, as he is once again being chased by the pack of hounds, it is then and there that his life is ended in a heroic deathmatch with the dog in his nightmares. In his last throes, he manages to take Deadlock down with him, and thus ends the life of an otter named Tarka.
[edit] Major themes
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[edit] Awards and nominations
The book won the Hawthornden Prize. It features illustrations by Charles Tunnicliffe.
[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
In 1974, Williamson began working on a script for a film treatment of the novel, but it was not regarded as suitable to film. Filming for the movie went on unknown to him. The movie, narrated by Peter Ustinov, was released in 1979, with a screenplay by Gerald Durrell.
- "The hunt sequence was the climax of the story, in which Tarka is forced to fight and sacrifices himself to vanquish Deadlock in a tale of simple morality. If Tarka and Deadlock have killed each other however, the story becomes a classic tragedy, which is highly ambivalent. Is it perhaps the eternal struggle?"
- —Peter Talbot, [1]
Williamson was very ill when filming started and died before its completion. His son and daughter-in-law are actually in the film however.
It was voted the 98th greatest family film in a Channel 4 poll.
The soundtrack for the film was composed by David Fanshawe and performed by Tommy Reilly.
[edit] Trivia
The Tarka Trail, a series of footpaths and cycle paths around Devon, England and the Tarka Line railway line from Exeter to Barnstaple in Devon, both take their names from the novel.
[edit] Release details
- 1927, UK, G. P. Putnams Sons, 1927, Hardback
- 1965, UK, Bodley Head, 1965, Hardback
- 1971, UK, Puffin Books ISBN 0-14-030060-0, January 1971, Paperback (C.F. Tunnicliffe, Illustrator)
- 1981, USA, Nelson Thornes ISBN 0-333-30602-3, March 1981, Hardcover (C.F. Tunnicliffe, Illustrator)
- 1982, USA, Salem House Publishers ISBN 0-370-30919-7, 1982, Paperback
- 1990, USA, Beacon Press ISBN 0-8070-8507-3, 1990, Paperback (Concord Library Series)
- 1995, UK, Puffin Books ISBN 0-14-036621-0, June 1995, Paperback (Annabel Large, Illustrator)
[edit] External links
