Posted by andy bolger on June 04, 2004 at 23:45:28 from 81.135.95.166 user beardbiter.
The recent postings about the S & As as polite and well behaved children and comparing them to modern horrors had me wondering if we had been reading the same books. In S&A NB comits criminal damage on her uncle's housboat, fires a dangerous weapon at a group of younger children and appears to be out of parental the control, roaming the countryside at night. Worse, she seems a very bad influence on other children leading them headlong into her dangerous games.
What would you think if your children behaved like that? Nancy's mother; however, far from being concerned seems to covertly encourage her and is supported in this by her friend Mrs Walker. The passage at the end of SD? where the two mothers congratulate each other on their child rearing practices is evidence for this. Mind you, what would you expect from two women who were in effect lone parents?
Moreover, the author, AR was a notorious Bohemian, a member of a hedonistic clique devoted to defying conventional manners in the name of art and free love. For those who decry a decline in tradition, manners and deference AR and the Bohemians must be where the rot set in.
In a recent article in the left wing newspaper The Guardian (June 2 2004) Virginia Nicholson, the author of Among the Bohemians is quoted as identifying the Bohemians as "pioneers of alternative lifestyle gave modern world more than literature and hedonism" the article continues " Others - including Arthur Ransome, who later became Guardian Moscow correspondent and wrote the Swallows and Amazons books, and Kathleen Hale, creator of the Orlando the Marmalade Cat children's books - were so poor in the pursuit of their art that they went without food.
Mrs Nicholson said: "We have to recognise that many of our present assumptions about life have originated from people who, sometimes in very small ways but motivated by revolutionary ideals, hope and defiance of convention, challenged the establishment 100 years ago.
"In a way, we're all Bohemians now. We can conduct relationships with people from any social class without fear of ostracism, while deploring oppressive, stratified societies.
"Our choice of friendships and love affairs is our own. The idea of chaperonage makes us laugh; women are independent. We recognise that children have potential which must not be squashed.
"We take it for granted that society is fluid, that informality will prevail. We do not expect to behave like marionettes at any social gathering. We are hatless, relaxed and on first name terms with people we barely know.
"We live in a society that most people's grandparents would hardly recognise".
Personally, I'm all in favour of polite and well mannered children, although the other sort, perhaps make more entertaining subjects for works of fiction. (Oops!) It is only to be expected that given the average age of contributors to this board (and I'm no teenager!) that we indulge, from time to time, in a spot of nostalgic fogeyism but I think those who would like to use AR and his works to advance some sort of 'back to basics' agenda would be better off finding another champion.