Posted by Jock on October 18, 2005 at 00:17:35 from 81.79.209.48 user Jock.
In Reply to: Re: Questions about Nancy posted by Peter H on October 17, 2005 at 20:04:12:
On the contrary... in contrast to a nuanced dialogue between two people on a non-AR topic with obscure acronyms, which is code for 'keep out'.
On the contrary... the ability to escape to e-mail from Tarboard is a well established custom and its use in the appropriate circumstances is ensconced on the Tarboard masthead. I seem to remember you invited me to sort things out with you behind the bike shed not that long ago.
So far all well and good. However, due to the proliferation of unsolicited e-mail aka spam an increasing number of IP providers and system administrators install devices to stop such e-mails reaching their destinations. Such spam filters can sometimes block legitimate mail as occured with respect to my two mails to John N. The effect is entirely invisible and difficult to detect. I was interested in John's post regarding risk which I thought a worthwhile contribution to the subject, but to which you took such great exception. Not wanting to bore other Tarboarders with a re run of the Jock and Peter show, I wrote privately to John with my views. When I received no reply, I concluded that he must have found my amateur comments about risk somewhat lame. Subsequently John invited me to contact him by e-mail regarding Abbot Hall, when I received no reply to my second e-mail. I concluded that there was a problem with the spam filter on John's mail system and sought to apraise him of this by the only remaining route available to me, Tarboard. I'm sure that I'm not the only Tarboarder to have had their e-mails effected in this way and raising this problem in such circumstances is an entirely legitimate use of the board.
I don't find Nancy a clear-cut character at all, but rather see her as a sort of energy force in the books.
Agreed. I used to be terrified of Nancy when I first read the books. Just as John was getting on so well along comes this Amazon woman with her firework and spoils everything. But, Nancy is an acquired taste she is now my favourite character.
She is one-step removed from us, but that is why she is so fascinating. She is the one person who can influence events when she is not present, as in Winter Holiday.
'Deus ex machina'? No - because in the Ransome books Nancy is 'Deus', and she isn't 'ex' anything! She is also rather too down-to-earth to be a Goddess.
I also agree with you on this one. Originally a "Deus ex machina" was a mechanical device used in greek drama to give the plot a good kick up the back side. Certainly AR appears to use her in this role. But on the basis of half a century of devoted research I have concluded that the very rare real world Nancy Blacketts operate exactly in the way that AR has portrayed.