Posted by Jock on September 12, 2005 at 12:41:32 from 217.172.246.144 user Jock.
In Reply to: Re: Signalling From Florida - Literary Weekend posted by Ed Kiser on September 11, 2005 at 23:10:14:
I had said that I have been disappointed in not being able to find anyone on this side of the Pond that have ever heard of Ransome or the "Swallows and Amazon" series of books. It seems no one has any awareness of these at all.
I know how you feel. Only three of the series (SA, SD and PD) ever got translated into Polish. WW II got into the way in the middle of the enterprise and then the new regime wasn't too keen on publishing what they saw as bourgeoise literature. Apart from my mother (who read SA before the war), and another person who managed to borrow battered copies of SA and SD through the Polish inter-library loans system, I've yet to meet anybody here who has heard of, let alone read, any of the books.
One day I will write an article about Ransome for one of the sailing magazines that are very popular here. Can any one help me with access to photos and drawings with which to illustrate such a treatise (and copyright permissions). Perhaps eventually one of the new dynamic publishers that have sprung up in Poland might take on the challenge of translating and publishing the whole series.