Posted by Andy G on September 16, 2005 at 14:03:59 from 130.159.248.1 user AndyG.
In Reply to: Re: Purely AR: posted by Jock on September 15, 2005 at 14:23:42:
Schroedinger's cat (first proposed as a thought experiment to question the quantum theory of superposition in 1935) needs to be in the box, i.e. unobserved, to be both dead and not dead at one and the same time. Yet in WDMTGTS (published two years later in 1937) Sinbad the kitten, at the time of his discovery, is in a half-dead state while hanging on to the top of the floating chicken coop. ;-)
So is Ransome (conciously or subconsciously) drawing on the findings of 20th century quantum physicists, with a nod to Schroedinger by introducing the subplot of Sinbad and the not-quite-a-box, when seeing how far his virtual characters can be immersed in relating to firstly:
1/ The real world for the first time - the lake is well known as a myth - by sailing around the Stour, visiting the Butt & Oyster, etc.
2/ Then the novel-world of adventures, lost anchors, storms, lights shining through red plates, which we'd expect in his books.
Finally, Ransome pushes the quantum-experience-is-crazy button by topping it with:
3/ The most unbelievable experience in any of the "real" novels - when all has got as bad as it can, father appears as the Deus ex Machina who fortunately pops up to save the day.
For me, that book breaks all the rules - the ending ("but what other ending could there be?" as one reviewer had it) doesn't work in either the real or the believable literary worlds, but as an example of "common-sense expectations thwarted" the book is an excellent piece to reflect the lack of everyday reality we find in quantum mechanics...
Almost seriously,
Andy G