Posted by Peter H on March 23, 2004 at 12:46:20 from 213.122.23.50 user Peter_H.
In the Daily Telegraph last Saturday, the British author Margaret Drabble was asked what books she read when she was 10 years old. This is her reply:
‘When I was 10, I read anything and everything - The Children’s Encyclopaedia, pony stories, school stories, Tennyson, Rider Haggard, Arthur Ransome. I had never been on a boat, but I loved Swallows and Amazons. Even more, I loved Arthur Ransome’s Old Peter’s Russian Tales, published in 1916, in which he retells legends and fairy stories. I’ve still got my copy somewhere.
The book was full of magical, icy, frightening tales about loyal brothers, jealous sisters, ravening wolves, and the terrifying old Baba Yaga with her steel teeth, who lived in a house in bony legs. The landscapes were strange and wonderful and very real to me.’
Margaret Drabble goes on to say that she did not know then that AR had covered the Russian Revolution firsthand as a reporter, and later married Trotsky’s secretary. ‘No wonder the stories ring true.’
I wonder if Ms Drabble would be willing to talk about this at a future TARS Lit Weekend?