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''Watership Down'' is a classic adventure novel, written by English author Richard Adams, published by Rex Collings Ltd of London in 1972. Set in south-central England, the story features a small group of rabbits. Although they live in their natural environment, they are anthropomorphised, possessing their own culture, language, proverbs, poetry, and mythology. Evoking epic themes, the novel follows the rabbits as they escape the destruction of their warren and seek a place to establish a new home, encountering perils and temptations along the way. ''Watership Down'' was Richard Adams' first novel. Although it was rejected by several publishers before Collings accepted it,〔(Richard Adams: Forever animated by the life of animals ). The Independent (online). Retrieved 2012-12-23.〕 it won the annual Carnegie Medal, annual Guardian Prize, and other book awards. It was adapted into the 1978 animated film ''Watership Down''. Later there was a television series also titled ''Watership Down'' which ran from 1999 to 2001.〔 Adams completed a sequel almost 25 years later, ''Tales from Watership Down'' (Random House, 1996; Hutchinson and Alfred A. Knopf imprints). It is a collection of 19 short stories about El-ahrairah and the rabbits of the Watership Down warren, with "Notes on Pronunciation" and "Lapine Glossary".〔. Retrieved 2012-09-08.〕 ==Origin and publication history== The title refers to the rabbits' destination, Watership Down, a hill in the north of Hampshire, England, near the area where Adams grew up. The story began as tales that Richard Adams told his young daughters Juliet and Rosamond during long car journeys. As he explained in 2007, he "began telling the story of the rabbits ... improvised off the top of my head, as we were driving along." The daughters insisted he write it down—"they were very, very persistent". After some delay he began writing in the evenings and completed it 18 months later.〔 The book is dedicated to the two girls. Adams's descriptions of wild rabbit behaviour were based on ''The Private Life of the Rabbit'' (1964), by British naturalist Ronald Lockley. The two later became friends, embarking on an Antarctic tour that became the subject of a co-authored book, ''Voyage Through the Antarctic'' (A. Lane, 1982).〔 ''Watership Down'' was rejected six times before it was accepted by Rex Collings.〔 The one-man London publisher Collings wrote to an associate, "I've just taken on a novel about rabbits, one of them with extra-sensory perception. Do you think I'm mad?" The associate did call it "a mad risk" in her obituary of Collings; "a book as bizarre by an unknown writer which had been turned down by the major London publishers; but it was also dazzlingly brave and intuitive."〔Quigly, Isabel (8 June 1996). ("Obituary: Rex Collings" ). ''The Independent''. Retrieved 2012-07-26.〕 Collings had little capital and could not pay an advance but "he got a review copy onto every desk in London that mattered."〔 Adams wrote that it was Collings who gave ''Watership Down'' its title.〔 There was a second edition in 1973. Macmillan USA, then a media giant, published the first U.S. edition in 1974 and a Dutch edition was also published that year by Het Spectrum.〔〔 . Retrieved 2012-07-31.〕 According to WorldCat, participating libraries hold copies in 18 languages of translation.〔 ("Formats and editions of Watership Down" ). WorldCat. Retrieved 2012-07-31.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Watership Down」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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