Posted by Peter H on December 23, 2005 at 10:20:05 from 86.130.121.62 user Peter_H.
In Reply to: Re: Approaching Ransome (was Enid Blyton beats AR hands down) posted by Jock on December 22, 2005 at 23:55:37:
No, I don't think it matters that AR took character outlines from previous authors. It's what he did with them that matters, and each of the child characters in the stories appears as a fresh, one-off, character - even Dick, who is based on the 'Prof' school stereotype. Not all the 'native' characters achieve this originality, but that doesn't matter because they are for the most part meant to be mild caricatures anyway, eg Col Jolys and old Mr Swainson. (One exception is the burglars who, for me, are jarringly stereotypical, and I always skip that bit.) But, in general, to use 'painting' terms, I suspect that the 'native' character outlines were made to be slightly blurred and predictable in order to emphasise the sharp focus and originality of the child images. It certainly works.