Posted by John Wilson on January 03, 2005 at 12:23:16 from 202.154.157.203 user hugo.
In Reply to: Re: Can't Go Home Again posted by Peter H on January 02, 2005 at 15:36:59:
For adults, returning to childhood or youth is not an option. Though as on Tarboard we can reminisce about it! That is about childhood as it was or as we would have liked it to be.
The Swallows do return to Wild Cat Island again, at the end of SD and PP. But AR did not want to use Wild Cat Island for a seris of stories. The scope would be limited - yesterday Swallow beat Amazon and today Amazon beats Swallow. In SA he develops the relationship of the Swallows with the Amazons, and with Captain Flint.
In the later books (as has previously been discussed here) AR develops the characters. John faces the responsibility for sinking his boat in SD. Nancy is a responsible host then a dutiful (grand) niece in PM. And new characters are introduced - Dot & Dick in WH then in PP and PM. Each
of the Lake books is centred on a different part of the Lake: Wild Cat Island (SA); Swallowdale (SD); the Houseboat (WH); the Topps (PP) and the Dog’s Home (PM)
PS: An interview published here in New Zealand has English (American resident) journalist Christopher Hitchens complaining he was made to read improving books, and saying “Frigging Swallows and f---ing Amazons” . Interviewer Tim Wilson (no relation) said that “the Hitch” (whose father was a Naval officer) got through many glasses of wine, though in the picture the nearly empty bottle looks like Johnny Walker whisky not wine!