Posted by Ed Kiser on November 04, 2011 at 17:04:59 user Kisered.
"Are they real?"
Ransome tells us that this was a question that was
frequently put to him, a question resulting from the
impression a reader gets that these characters have
personalities. They speak and perform according to
those personalities. We get to "know" them so well
that when one of them has a line to say, for the most
part, it is not necessary to add to that line who said
it. From knowing these people as well as we do, we
just know who would have said something like that.
That this question is asked is actually a strong
accolade to the author praising him for doing such a
good job of making his characters so well known to his
readers.
The "places" are also questioned as to "Where are they
really?" But as a writer of fiction, the author can
choose certain real locations and incorporate those
places into his story and also feel free to rearrange
the geography so that object in the fictional account
is some different place totally unrelated to its real
location.
Among the fans of these Ransome stories there is much
exploring done to try to uncover the locations of
certain places described in his stories. There is
actually a hut whose description closely resembles the
"Dogs' Home" found not far from Beckfoot. The starting
location of "Holly Howe" is taken to be a real
farmhouse across the lake from Coniston. The mountain
called Kenchenjunga in the fictional accounts is taken
to be the "Old Man" behind the town of Coniston, a real
town that somehow does not exist in these fictional
stories. And Wild Cat Island, its "secret harbour" at
least, is taken to be at Peel Island on Coniston.
It is good that certain places from these stories have
been based on some sort of reality that we can actually
go to, actually "see", and actually share the
experience of "I was really there, where it all
happened." But these stories are still fiction,
although we do not want to believe it as such, because
to us, "they are real." And in that feeling, we find
the true skill of the fictional author, to be able to
create that feeling of reality in a work of fiction.
Not being able to get to these REAL places and see for
myself, there is that little detail that hopefully
someone who can actually SEE for himself can answer for
me. I wonder sometimes about certain features as to
whether those features are just a part of the fictional
account, or are these features REALLY there. I am
referring here to certain details about the "secret
harbour" on Wild Cat Island, as to whether these
details are also true about the rocky southern end of
Peel Island, or, is it just fiction.
ITEM ONE: On Wild Cat Island is this "secret harbour"
which can be entered, very carefully, avoiding the
rocks close by, some unseen underwater, by moving in on
a very straight line, like staying in the center of a
very narrow channel.
Is there such a STRAIGHT LINE channel through the rocks
on Peel Island?
ITEM TWO: On Wild Cat Island, this straight line
channel is identified by the navigation of the channel
while keeping in a line two objects: a white cross
painted on a stump near the landing place, and the fork
of a tree with a big patch of bark off it below the
fork.
Is there a stump on Peel Island, and a tree with a fork
behind it that can be used to locate the channel?
If there is such a stump on Peel, has anyone painted a
white cross on it?
------------
What a delight it must be, to "BE THERE" where it all
happened, or at least, be as much "there" as a
fictional location can be. It is with extreme envy
that I wish I could experience that "be there" feeling
that Titty described in Chapter 2 of SD:
"To be back on Wild Cat Island was almost too good to
be true. Titty dipped her hands in the cool water of
the harbour, just to show herself that she was really
there."
Titty - you were so lucky to really be there...
Ed Kiser, Kentucky