Posted by Peter Ceresole on March 18, 2014 at 09:26:22 user PeterC.
In Reply to: Re: Boys and girls posted by Duncan on March 17, 2014 at 02:27:47:
I often wondered whether Dorothea gave us an inkling of AR's own process in these sorts of passages.
I think, mostly, that he used Dot's writing as very gentle satire on the profession of writing.
'Skates and Tulips'. By Dorothea Callum. 'The Tall Dutchman bowed low. Madam, he said, your taste in tulips has become proverbial in my country.'
It's clear that for AR, good writing was a serious subject. And without breaking the spell for his readers, he enjoyed parting the curtain ever so slightly to glimpse the machinery, by making fun of it.