Re: Crab Island (Jamaica)


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Posted by Peter Ceresole on October 05, 2008 at 21:50:52 user PeterC.

In Reply to: Re: Crab Island (Jamaica) posted by Alison on October 05, 2008 at 20:22:28:

has Crab Island (or its inspiration) ever been identified?

Christina Hardyment, in 'Arthur Ransome & Captain Flint's Trunk, around page 180, has a good rundown of the candidate locations- and also points out that Ransome never went to the Caribbean, unlike his recces for other stories such as WDMTGTS and SW.

Discovering this made me a little sad; I had always had a romantic vision of him and Squashy Hat/Oscar Gnosspelius talking to together on the hills above Pernambuco, as he describes in PP, JC 1948, p381... All dashed, although of course in reality that's exactly what happened, and what I see in my mind's eye.

She also includes several unpublished chapters of 'Their Own Story', a prologue to 'Peter Duck' which takes place on a Wherry on the broads, during the freezing depth of winter, and involves the inventing of the tale by the Swallows, Amazons, James Turner and Peter Duck. Quite rightly (it would have weighed down the whole book) Ransome abandoned the idea of running it through the narrative of 'Peter Duck', but it's a fascinating additional element and ties in very closely with Titty's close imaginative relationship with Peter Duck as described in 'Swallowdale'.

I've said this only a short time ago, I know, but it bears repeating; Hardyment's book is a fascinating read for anybody who likes the Ransome novels.


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