Chums

[matthew cissell]

Another secondary literature question for your collective memory. Much has
been written about the Chums of Chance but I don't remember if anyone has
found a firm source for the name. Folks have compared the CoC to exemplars
of the genre, that is true.

Well, the other day while cooking I was listening to (and occasionally
glancing at) a BBC documentary series called Empire, it was Episode 3
"Playing the Game". In that episode it discusses British Empire and
colonialism in India and elsewhere, and it mentions the literature of
Empire (not Kipling and all that, but the popular press). At around 38
minute mark it shows a fine assortment of examples one of which is held up
and is called: "Chums". Good image at 38:39.

Turns out their is a Wikipedia entry. (If this is old news, just consider
me slow and not much of a learner). You might look at this collector's page
also: http://www.collectingbooksandmagazines.com/chums.html
The serial stopped publishing in '41 when TP was just a kid. Perhaps there
were some in the house growing up.

In light of this it makes some reviews look pretty clueless. For example,
when Salon's Laura Miller wrote, "The Chums of Chance (as if that name
weren't bad enough)" I guess she thought it pretty clever. Doesn't seem
clever.

ciao
mc