Posted by Duncan on January 02, 2012 at 12:34:05 user Duncan.
I was really interested to see that Susan Cooper cites Arthur Ransome as an influence. I really enjoyed her Dark Is Rising novels for children and always felt that the Drew children (who are the main protagonists in some of the stories)owed something to the Walkers. This debt seems most apparent in the first story in the series (Over Sea Under Stone) where family status appears to depend upon seamanship!
It made me wonder about other examples of stories where characters or plots seem to be clearly or self-evidently influenced by Ransome (especially SA characters/plots). One that has always presented itself to me is the main family in the Narnia books. They appear to be such a reworking of the Walkers that I've never really questioned that that is their origin (despite not having read anywhere that C.S. Lewis ever named Ransome as an influence).
Does anybody know of anything examples?