Posted by deb on January 15, 2006 at 02:23:57 from 203.79.92.154 user deb.
In Reply to: a foreigner's view posted by Ed Kiser on January 14, 2006 at 11:53:06:
Your observation as to the point of view is different for readers not from the UK is quite on target.
Here is the opposing view :-)
When I read Ransome as a child, the landscapes and settings and much of the culture were 'fantasy' as they didn't match anything I knew but they were also not as alien as they seem to be to an American audience. Possibly because New Zealand culture has a British base to a certain extent.
This didn't stop me preferring the Lakes books to all the others however, and I certainly liked Peter Duck and Missee Lee least of all. I can't remember why Peter Duck was not a favourite but when I first read Missee Lee, I burst in to tears when the Wild Cat burned and refused to read any more of the book. I never actually read the whole story until I was an adult.
As a child it was all Swallows and Lakes - in that order. Hence Coot Club / Big Six were disappointing, as was Picts and Martyrs. Settings were just accepted and anything not understood was ignored. As an adult perceptions changed - Nancy became the preferred character (rather than John) and I finally appreciated the D's (and the GA). I also started wondering what the Lakes actually looked like, started buying books etc, tried to piece together where the 'real' sites were.
Then I actually got the chance to visit and perceptions changed again. We spend four days staying at Bankground where I thoroughly enjoyed myself but it changed the way I read the books. Until then, I hadn't realised how much I had imposed my own NZ scenery on my imagined Lake and reality was, unfortuanely, disappointing. Now when I read the books, I see the 'correct' scenery - but some of the magic has gone.
The odd thing was that the opposite happened with Coot Club. Having now sailed the Broads, CC has become a firm favourite. Maybe I had a less ingrained imagined image of the Broads.