Posted by John Lambert on July 30, 2009 at 20:12:14 user John.
In Reply to: Re: Thoughts on posted by Dave Thewlis on July 30, 2009 at 23:36:55:
Ah Dave, how right you are. After having read the books dozens of times, it was only fairly recently that I visited Coniston Water. I walked across the shingle and dipped my fingers into that magic lake. Behind me was the bulk of Katchenjunga, and there, near the end of the lake, was the Island. Everything was as it should be. What are the other things that keep bringing us back again and again to those books? Not just a sense of place, but plots. Most writers agree plots are the hardest element to craft. Then there's character. What would the books have been like without Nancy, Susan, John, and all the others? I suspect Dorothea was AR's facourite, if he had a favourite. Although we have definite insights into Titty's mind, it is Dorothea who really comes alive. I cannot see the faces of the others clearly, but I can Dorothea as clearly as I can see this keyboard. I'm sure I'll get disagreement on this, but how is it that male writers can write about female characters so convincingly? The only woman writer who can do this so well is Jane Austen. Yet look at Tolstoy and Anna K.