Posted by John Richardson on May 13, 1999 at 00:04:07 from pedgate.stclc.com:
In Reply to: Re: Then, it happened... posted by Tim Johns on April 23, 1999 at 17:39:43:
Like most of us, I rate Ransome a very fine writer. The single lapse in style (rather than grammar) that comes to mind occurs somewhere in S&A (I havn't got the book to hand):
He is comparing the appearance of something to a colon, and breaks off to insert a : in the text, and continues "...like the mark I have just made..." (paraphrase).
This is the only instance of first person narrative in the books, and it is the voice of Arthur Ransome as self-conscious author. Compare this rude and completely unnecessary interruption with the oh-so subtle reference in SD to the creation of PD as a literary text (by the children).
What was he thinking of? And how did an editor let him get away with it?