Posted by Andy on April 22, 2011 at 13:19:01 user AndyG.
In Reply to: Re: Review in Guardian posted by Roger Wardale on April 22, 2011 at 12:29:49:
Strange how tastes change.
I was 14 when I got a 2nd edition of the autobiography in '77. As I read it - previously only knowing Ransome for the 12 - I thought "there's an awful lot of Russian history in this" and, as I continued, "not much room left for the writing of the books."
With growing disappointment, I realised that the writing career from '29, along with the rest of Ransome's life, are shoe-horned into, what, about twenty pages at the end.
These days, it's the progression from Bohemian-via-journalist-to-writer that strikes me as fascinating, and I don't begrudge* the autobiography at all.
Andy
*Though in light of recent revelations I think it's often "edited" by Ransome to avoid embarrassment. ;-)