Posted by Ed Kiser on February 18, 2007 at 21:00:19 from 152.163.101.12 user Kisered.
In WH, when they first entered the "FRAM" (houseboat) Dorothea looked about on CF's bookshelves and found "RIDDLE OF THE SANDS" which she took down and looked into. It had some interesting charts there in the front, but she put it back, thinking that is was not her sort of book.
This is a REAL book.
What was the storyline plot purpose in mentioning this actual book, especially when he had Dot give it such "negative Press" and make no further mention of it at all.
I too was a bit curious about the charts there in the beginning, as it was the presence of a MAP in the front of each of these delightful Ransome adventures that was a big positive impetus in getting me to read on into the story. Here was another book with charts in the beginning, like Ransome's stories, so with that little aid in understanding the story, as Maps do enhance understandablity, I ventured to find my own copy of "Riddle..." and found it to be interesting to keep me reading it until the last page all on one lovely Sunday afternoon. Yes, the charts there in the beginning served greatly to understand what was going on, and WHERE events were happening, especially since this part of Europe is not one that comes naturally to one raised in the USA, being totally unaware of the Geography of that area.
So for me, I am glad Ransome mentioned it with its charts (it was the charts that Dot noted that made me want to persue the item further) even though he seemed to "put down" the book, as Dot did not seem to want to go into it at all.
So why did Ransome even have to mention this real book? Especially with such a negative concept of it (from Dot).
What purpose did this mentioning serve in the Plot?
I do hope the answer comes in some form other than some mathematical formula...
Ed Kiser, Kentucky, Masters Degree in Mathematics, and totally left in the dust with this recent math discussion. But that was 50 years ago... Egad...