Bambi, A Life in the Woods

Bambi, A Life in the Woods (originally Bambi, ein Leben im Walde) is a book by Felix Salten, first printed in 1923. Bambi is the name of the main character, a male roe deer beginning life as a fawn, then an adolescent spike, and finally a buck. Felix Salten was the pen name of Siegmund Salzmann, who was born in Budapest, Hungary but grew up in Vienna, Austria. The book was translated from German into English by Whittaker Chambers, who needed to supplement his income while working at a Communist newspaper. Felix Salten wrote a sequel, entitled Bambi's Children. Additionally, Salten wrote a novel titled "Fifteen Rabbits," about rabbits in the woods, wherein Bambi makes a brief appearance. He also wrote a novel titled,"Perri", whose title character is a squirrel. Bambi makes a brief appearance in that novel as well.

Adaptations

The novel was made into an animated film by Walt Disney Productions first released in the United Kingdom on August 8, 1942. The company took the liberty of changing the species into a white-tailed deer, and of putting him into an American forest. Additionally, the tone of the story was significantly lightened. The original book was much darker and more brutal. A midquel, titled Bambi II, was released on DVD February 7,2006 and the last Disney film to be released on VHS.

Besides the popular Disney film, two films based on this book, Detstvo Bambi (Bambi's Childhood) and its sequel Yunost Bambi (Bambi's Youth), were released in the former Soviet Union in 1985 and 1986 respectively with participation of living animals as well as human actors. Over 60 species of animals were featured in these two films.

References

External links

• Bambi, the Austrian deer, article by Paul A. Schons published in Kulturecke by the Germanic-American Institute, September, 2000