Posted by Peter Ceresole on October 12, 2004 at 09:44:37 from 80.177.22.49 user PeterC.
In Reply to: Is AR a 'childrens writer'? posted by Mike Dennis on October 12, 2004 at 08:22:15:
AR certainly had children in his mind when he wrote the stories, as much himself and his own childhood as anything else. And the Altounyan children were certainly part of the whole process. All that is clear from his letters.
It's also clear that he cared about writing well. He was a craftsman; that was his special skill and he set out to earn his living from it.
After his return to England, he was mostly defined by the market opened up by the success of SA. There was a fit between his own preferences and the children's market- after all, the stories were about children and children's perceptions of the world. The relationships are fairly simple. He deals with loyalty and courage, but not at all with sexual feelings or the economic or political life surrounding his characters, which in terms of an adult story would leave out the main concerns of the participants and would be quite inadequate.
So they are children's stories, and could only be targetted at a children's market. In that sense AR is definitely a "Children's Author". This has never stopped adults enjoying his books, but they could never have been the primary target.