海角大神

This summer, I鈥檝e been closing each night by reading a bedtime story to my son. Nothing unusual about that, I suppose, except that my son is 13.

Like most teenagers, Will usually prefers to hang out with cooler people than his dad. He鈥檚 also an active and precocious reader who鈥檚 been reading independently for a long time. Until recently, I hadn鈥檛 read to him in years.

The book that brought us back together is 鈥淭he Complete Uncle,鈥� the collected stories of the late J.P. Martin, a British minister whose fiction was written for children but is clever and wry enough to be enjoyed by grown-ups, too.

Uncle is a rich elephant that Martin invented to entertain his own children at bedtime, and Martin鈥檚 family liked the stories so much that they asked him to write them down, which he did in 1934. The first of the stories wasn鈥檛 聽published until 1964, when Martin was 84. Martin lived the remaining two years of his life as a minor celebrity in England, where 鈥淯ncle鈥� had caused a small sensation. A few of Martin鈥檚 鈥淯ncle鈥� stories appeared after this death, but the books fell out of print, with Martin鈥檚 legacy kept alive by a small and devoted cult following.

I didn鈥檛 know about 鈥淯ncle鈥� until 2007, when New York Review Books reissued the simply named 鈥淯ncle,鈥� the first book in the series, and a review copy crossed my desk. As I shared the book with Will, then 7, we fell in love with 鈥淯ncle鈥� together.

Part of the book鈥檚 unique charm comes from the pleasure of dwelling within the self-contained universe of Homeward, the sprawling castle where the title character, an aristocratic pachyderm, is attended by a legion of servants, including his top assistant, The Old Monkey. Uncle lives the life we鈥檇 all want to have. He drinks a bucket of cocoa for breakfast, gets presents from his friends, throws parties, takes field trips and shops for treasures, which are happily, in the benign economy of Homeward, often available at bargain prices.

The only thorn in Uncle鈥檚 side is Badfort, a community of slackers in a tumbledown village down the road. 聽Badfort鈥檚 leader, Beaver Hateman, despises Uncle鈥檚 wealth, and he鈥檚 always plotting a grand scheme for Uncle鈥檚 downfall. We鈥檙e all challenged in dealing with difficult people, but the running gag in 鈥淯ncle鈥� is the self-assured elephant鈥檚 ready answer when Badfort鈥檚 uncouth residents become too unbearable. In one chapter, for example, Uncle extends an olive branch by inviting the Badfort crowd to a pool party. When Uncle鈥檚 guests get too rowdy, a trick switch flushes the pool and its occupants out the door 鈥� a solution I鈥檝e often wanted after my own visitors grow wearisome. That鈥檚 what makes the 鈥淯ncle鈥� stories so liberating: Uncle鈥檚 quiet confidence in untangling trouble makes us feel that we can handle the world, too.

That's why Will and I devoured the first 鈥淯ncle鈥� reissue in 2007, then eagerly consumed the reissue of the second installment, 鈥淯ncle Cleans Up,鈥� in 2008. But NYRB didn鈥檛 reprint the four other 鈥淯ncle鈥� books, and the only vintage copies I could find on the Internet were several hundred dollars apiece. Martin鈥檚 loyal fan base had made the out-of-print books highly desirable 鈥� but, sadly, out of reach for budget-conscious readers like me. 聽When copies at the public library also proved elusive, I resigned myself to the likelihood that neither Will nor I would ever enjoy the rest of the series.

Years passed, and over in England, a book editor named Marcus Gipps was also disappointed that so many of the 鈥淯ncle鈥� books were unavailable. That鈥檚 when he launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for publication of 鈥淭he Complete Uncle.鈥� The campaign proved successful, and Matador, a British firm, published the deluxe volume last year. When the happy news reached me that I could get all of the 鈥淯ncle鈥� stories for about 40 bucks, I knew that I鈥檇 want them for myself, but I wondered, of course, if my son would still be interested.

But Will hasn鈥檛 outgrown 鈥淯ncle,鈥� even as a teen, and my own adult affection for the books apparently isn鈥檛 unusual. In an introductory essay for the new edition, British author and television personality Will Self confesses to reading 鈥淯ncle鈥� long past the socially correct age, then welcoming children as an excuse to indulge Martin鈥檚 books again. He now looks forward to grandchildren so that he can have yet another reason to revisit the books.

In the meantime, I am, rather improbably, once again enjoying story time with my teenager. I don鈥檛 know if 鈥淯ncle鈥� can do this for your teen, but it might be worth a try.

Danny Heitman, a columnist for The Advocate in Louisiana, is the author of 鈥淎 Summer of Birds: John James Audubon at Oakley House.鈥� 聽