Saturday, January the 31th, 2004
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At a loose end one blustery Thursday morning, Dobson decided to write a lengthy critical analysis of the The Life & Times of Captain Cake. He began, as he always did, by sharpening his pencil. That done, in a single burst of inexplicable enthusiasm, he penned an essay much, much longer than his usual pamphlets. It is a bewildering piece of work, caustic and trenchant even by Dobson's standards, and was issued in fifteen weekly instalments. Flush with cash from the sale of his Big Mysterious Piece of Hardboard, Dobson took out advertisements in the press to announce his new part-work, offering the first issue at a discount price, and including a two-inch high plastic figurine of Captain Cake* as further inducement.
Each of the fifteen instalments addresses a different aspect of the text. So, for example, Volume IV is entitled Welk, Bankhead, Loy : There'll Be A Welcome In The Hillsides while Volumes VIII and IX both concentrate entirely on the game of ping pong. Long out of print, this superb (if unintelligible) essay is ripe for reassessment in the 21st century which Dobson did not live to see. Over the coming months, the Hooting Yard Foundation hopes to publish on this site a hypertext version of the essay. Be in no doubt that it will prove a boon to scholars worldwide.
* NOTE : The distinguished critic and pirate F. X. Gilliblat claims that the figurine bears no resemblancewhatsoever to Captain Cake. He may well be right.
