Re: Englishness and AR


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Posted by Peter Hyland on April 26, 1999 at 14:37:33:

In Reply to: Englishness and AR posted by Anne LeVeque on April 23, 1999 at 17:47:30:

Anne - The problem with current ‘Englishness’ is that (a) it is difficult to define, and (b) it is a political ‘hot potato’. If I think of Ransome, and his characters, as anything, it is as being ‘British’. That is why I think that debates as to the current significance of ‘Englishness’ are irrelevant to TARS. It means something else now, and you have to be careful what you say. I am sure TARS Scotland would object to undue stress being placed on the AR’s ‘Englishness’! Of course he was English, in the old sense, but it is probably better not to emphasize this. I can only liken it to the term ‘Native Americans’ in the US - we all have to learn not to refer to ‘Red Indians’. In Britain we have second and third generation Asian and Caribbean communities who would claim to be ‘British’ but never ‘English’. It is all a bit of a minefield, but I would, respectfully, recommend American correspondents to use the term ‘British’ whenever possible. It is an ‘inclusive’ term, whereas ‘English’ is exclusive.


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