Posted by Peter H on July 13, 2004 at 15:14:26 from 213.122.177.80 user Peter_H.
In Reply to: Re: Life choices & the influence of S&A posted by Simon on July 13, 2004 at 13:09:24:
Well done, for bringing us back to a good AR topic, Simon, and I wish we had a few more like it on Tarboard. I don't find it strange that AR included almost no 'adult passion' in the Swallows stories. I think writing 'S&A' was a complete getting away from all the horrors of adult life - the carnage in Russia, and the emotional trauma of the split with Ivy etc etc. He was now happily married, came to the Lakes, and started thinking up the most idyllic, but genuine, plot line, and this involved children. Suddenly all the ingredients came together, but what made him write a children's story? Dunno - his estrangement from his own daughter Tabitha maybe? A need to revisit his imperfect relationship with his father, by making an idealistic relationship between John and Commander Walker? Or maybe AR just thought a child's book would sell better than an adult's. People who write for a living cannot afford to be too romantic. What do you think?