Posted by Peter H on April 29, 2006 at 19:27:02 from 86.130.125.75 user Peter_H.
In Reply to: Re: Susan taking charge posted by Prue Eckett on April 29, 2006 at 04:25:16:
'Unworthy'
I'll accept that - it's the mildest word that has been used about me on Tarboard for some time!
But seriously, now that the dust has settled a bit, let me try and explain where I am coming from. I honestly and truly believe implicitly that a close reading of the Ransome text will lead to the conclusion about Susan which Andrew Craig-Bennett draws. That is how it seems to me. It is my belief, and to say it wasn't would be a lie. Such a statement is NOT intended as any sort of personal disparagement or criticism of anyone else. Other people may well draw a different conclusion from a careful reading of the text, as Prue has done. They are perfectly entitled to express it on this board. Thus two different approaches to AR are offered to other readers of Tarboard, and they may if they wish read the relevant passages and decide what they think.
To me, a forum like Tarboard is occasionally about impassioned argument over a Ransome point. I am ready to listen to any view, however robustly put, but I do reserve the right to make a robust response. Jonathan Labaree described this approach as 'If you disagree with me then you haven't read AR properly'. In fact, I don't see anything terribly wrong with that argument. After all, it's there to be shot at, and if anyone can convince me that they have read AR thoroughly but can actually prove me wrong, then I'll admit I am wrong. Now if you are going to allege that the Mother of the Swallows wasn't that good a mother, then you have got a job on, and you are going to have to work hard to convince people, because it goes against the accepted view of Mrs Walker as an ideal mother and the 'best of all natives' (reinforced by the film portrayals of her). But - you may have a point, but, in my opinion, you should derive your view strictly from the text and not from external individual experience. That is my view on analysis of Ransome. But, of course, I may be wrong. Convince me!
Finally, there's been much talk of 'personal' innuendos. I dislike these as much as anyone, but I wonder if Prue might just ponder whether describing people over 80 as all 'fussy' is not also a 'personal' criticism. I don't want to make too much of this, but bearing in mind that some Tarboard readers may be over 80 . . . . My point is that it is easy to make remarks which seem a bit sweeping when posting to Tarboard and I have done it myself. Could we perhaps be tolerant of each other's gaffes? (Even the former Mrs Nichols?)