Riddle of the Sands


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Posted by Ed Kiser on March 28, 2006 at 06:32:49 from 205.188.117.66 user Kisered.

In WH CH14:
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Dorothea had been looking for stories, but there were none except THE RIDDLE OF THE SANDS, and that, when she glanced at the charts in the beginning of it, did not seem her sort of book.
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This creation of Ransome's (WH) is fiction, a made up tale about imaginary children. He has maps at the start of each of his books, which really helps the reader to understand the where and what of these stories.

Then we have this reference to a REAL BOOK, which Dorothea discovers on the shelves of the FRAM. She also sees the charts in the beginning of it, but puts it back, as it did not truly get her attention.

I was wondering why Ransome actually mentioned someone else's book. What was the purpose of giving it negative press by saying that Dorothea was not all that enthusiastic with the idea of reading it.

To me, this reference, especially the fact it had charts like Ransome had maps in his books, seemed to get my attention, to where I was at least curious first to find out if there really was such a book, and there is. I obtained a copy of it, and found it rather a thriller. And the charts in the front were a good help in understanding the where and what of the events in the story.

I was also wondering if perhaps it was his earlier encounter with that book, and its charts, that helped him to come to the idea of putting maps in the front of his stories, having seen how helpful it was to have such a thing in that Riddle story. Maybe Riddle gave him that idea. The maps do make quite a difference in helping to read these stories, so perhaps we owe a bit of gratitude to "Riddle" for giving Ransome that idea.

But why did Ransome have Dorothea push it aside as not getting her interest?

Discovering the book about the FRAM and the polar expedition was related to their projects and was quite on topic for what they wanted to know. Having them find that book about the FRAM there was a convenient way to get them with the right ideas, such as a sail on the sledge, to make the polar trip more realistic.

But I just don't see the purpose served by this small reference to Riddle of the Sands.

Dorothea is theoretically interested in mystery stories, so I think she missed out by not giving Riddle a chance. I am glad Ransome did mention this book, because without that reference, I would have never known it existed, and would therefore have missed out reading it.

If you are interested, you can get a downloaded copy by referencing:

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2360

No, I did not type this one in...

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And on a totally unrelated topic, Mrs. Blackett did not have Rattletrap for the WH story, as when she came around to Jackson's and met them in the igloo to extend to them the invitation to come to Beckfoot that next day, she said she hired a car to bring her around the head of the lake, but would expect the Amazons to return her home via rowboat. But then again, maybe she did have it, but did not feel right about trying to drive it with the snow making driving conditions a bit tricky. Rattletrap was more of Captain Flint's car anyway, as it seemed to respond to its master, while Mrs. Blackett seemed to have to fight it, and make funny grinding noises with the gears (described in PP).

Automobiles seemed to be a bit of a rarity. The Doctor had one. Mr. Dixon took a milk cart by horse to the blacksmith to get a runner put on the new sledge. By PM, there seemed to be more cars, as the firefighters all came by car. But in SD, the GA and the Amazons in their party frocks went by carriage pulled by a horse.
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Have you noticed how iron railing seems to become used for other purposes? The crossbar in the igloo fireplace. The runners for the D's sledge. The crossbars to hold the crucible in the blast furnace (in PP.) Also interesting to note that both Nancy and John had a file as a part of the tools in the pocket knives, as Nancy almost wore hers out cutting off a part of an old railing for the igloo firplace bar, and John almost wore his out fixing the four cross bars for the blast furnace in PP.
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Just sharing my mental meanderings... It is after midnight, so what else did you expect...

Ed Kiser, South Florida




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