More Dr. Seuss and Philosophy

318 Pages·2012·2.42 MB·English

by  Jacob M. Held

More Dr. Seuss
and Philosophy
More Dr. Seuss
and Philosophy
Additional Hunches in Bunches
Edited by Jacob M. Held
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD
Lanham • Boulder • New York • London
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Copyright © 2018 by The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any
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passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Held, Jacob M., 1977– editor.
Title: More Dr. Seuss and philosophy : additional hunches in bunches / edited by
Jacob M. Held.
Description: Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, 2018. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017051584 (print) | LCCN 2017060453 (ebook) | ISBN
9781538101346 (electronic) | ISBN 9781538101339 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Seuss, Dr.—Criticism and interpretation. | Philosophy in literature. |
Children’s stories, American—History and criticism.
Classification: LCC PS3513.E2 (ebook) | LCC PS3513.E2 Z784 2018 (print) | DDC
813/.52—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017051584
TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for
Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
Printed in the United States of America
This book is dedicated to my favorite child.
Preface
Contrary to appearances, this book is not a proper sequel to
Dr. Seuss and Philosophy: Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! Rather,
this book is an alternative vision of what that book might have
been. When I first conceived Dr. Seuss and Philosophy, I had no
home for it. Editors and presses I’d previously worked for were
not interested. I shopped it around, sending proposals and
emails to presses that I believed would be receptive. I found Jon
Sisk and his colleagues at Rowman & Littlefield, and they
agreed to gamble on the book. But they were clear: they were
not interested in a series. The book was to be a one-time deal.
So I put together a conservative project, an introduction to
philosophy using the works of Dr. Seuss as a vehicle. It wouldn’t
be a random collection of essays that just happened to all
discuss Dr. Seuss in some fashion; it would be intentionally
structured as an introduction to main themes and topics in the
history of philosophy. To make sure it was done well, I reached
out to my small circle of trusted colleagues to find a full
complement of authors. Where I couldn’t find an author, I wrote
the chapter. The book took shape and turned out quite well. I
was pleased. But there were chapters and ideas that weren’t
written or developed for various reasons. But that first Seuss
book was produced to be a general introduction to philosophy
through Dr. Seuss.
There was another way it could have all gone: the book
could have been a guidebook to living an examined, flourishing
life, structured to intentionally walk the reader through
philosophy with me, the editor, as a guide. As the years have
worn on since the first book was published, more and more it’s
this version of the book I’ve wanted to see produced. Then
circumstances started to line up. The first book was successful.
[1] My publisher was interested in more books, even a series.[2]
And we’ve had a successful, collaborative working relationship
for several years. And then, finally, I got the email: “Would you
be interested in doing a second Seuss book?” Yes, I would.
The first book was good, but I’d had an alternative idea all
The first book was good, but I’d had an alternative idea all
along, and it wasn’t until recently that I felt comfortable with
trying to pull it off. I’ve done enough academically, with truly
brilliant and amazing people, to have fantastic authors willing to
collaborate with me and help bring this alternative vision to life.
So here’s my alternative version of the Seuss book. Not a
sequel, but rather a “could’ve been” that I was able to make a
“finally is.” A second chance to do it the other way.
More Dr. Seuss and Philosophy is intended to be a handbook
for living well, one that uses Dr. Seuss’s works as a common
narrative or touchstone for readers. The book is intentionally
structured to walk the reader through issues pertaining to living
well as an individual, in relation to others, and as a member of
society. It opens with chapters on the value of literature and
imagination to focus the reader’s attention on the fact that in
reading Seuss you are already beginning your journey of self-
discovery and considering issues fundamental to living a
praiseworthy life. Some of these authors have an agenda—they
are promoting a viewpoint, one echoed in Seuss even if not
intentionally Seuss’s—and the book has an agenda to promote a
way of living: a reflective, engaged, humane life. I’ve
intentionally invited and included each of these authors for the
purpose of writing what they wrote. They’re the best. This
edited book is the result of many minds coming together for a
common purpose, to present to you the best of philosophy in an
accessible format as a handbook to life’s journey. But your
mountain is waiting, so get on your way!
NOTES
1. Thanks, by the way.
2. Check out the Great Authors and Philosophy series, or Roald
Dahl and Philosophy: A Little Nonsense Now and Then.
Editor’s Note
Many of Dr. Seuss’s works are not paginated, which can
make citing them tricky. Luckily, the books are quite short, so if
anyone wants to know on what page a reference occurs, they
merely have to flip through until they find it. So, in order to
make things simpler and to avoid vast amounts of endnotes, all
references to Seuss’s works will be parenthetical according to
the key below. All works are published by Random House.
The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins (Hats)
And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street (Mulberry)
Bartholomew and the Oobleck (Oobleck)
The Butter Battle Book (Butter)
The Cat in the Hat (Cat)
Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? (Lucky)
Fox in Socks (Fox)
“Gertrude McFuzz” in Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories
(McFuzz)
Green Eggs and Ham (Eggs)
Happy Birthday to You! (Birthday)
“Horton and the Kwuggerbug” in Horton and the
Kwuggerbug and More Lost Stories (Kwuggerbug)
Horton Hatches the Egg (Hatches)
Horton Hears a Who! (Horton)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (Grinch)
Hunches in Bunches (Hunches)
I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew (Trouble)
If I Ran the Circus (Circus)
If I Ran the Zoo (Zoo)
The Lorax (Lorax)
McElligot’s Pool (Pool)
Oh, the Places You’ll Go! (Places)
Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! (Thinks)
On Beyond Zebra! (Zebra)
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish (Fish)
Scrambled Eggs Super! (Scrambled)
The Shape of Me and Other Stuff (Shape)
The Sleep Book (Sleep)
The Sneetches in The Sneetches and Other Stories
(Sneetches)
Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose (Thidwick)
“What Was I Scared Of?” in The Sneetches and Other
Stories (Scared)
Yertle the Turtle in Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories
(Yertle)
You’re Only Old Once! (Old)
“The Zax” in The Sneetches and Other Stories (Zax)