Re: Great Northern?


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Posted by A. Beardbiter on December 13, 1997 at 16:46:41:

In Reply to: Re: Great Northern? posted by Ian on November 14, 1997 at 14:34:02:

I've never been sure about Great Northern.The arguements for it being a
'Peter Duck' are,I believe,1)the action takes place outside the school
holidays (presumably divers nest in April or May),the Sea Bear's voyage
would have taken longer than available on a half term break etc.
and 2)a gun is fired, which it is said, takes it outside the
realm of 'believable' Swallows and Amazons activities.I don't find
the second of these arguements very convincing as the gun went off in
a struggle and wasn't fired at anyone.The point about the school
holidays would take a bit of explaining, though not I'm sure beyond
the wit of a determined member of the GN is real camp.
For me the strength of AR's works lies in the way the action originates
in the imagination of the children.So I am less happy with those parts
of the canon that rely on adult 'baddies'.
Incidentally, on the subject of 'purists'who only re-enact Nansen
or Stevenson,I felt strongly, as a child that the last thing that the
S and A's would have done is 'play' at being other children, it had
to be Nansen or nothing!


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