Posted by Peter Dowden on February 11, 2012 at 11:03:11 user Dowden.
In Reply to: Metastories posted by Tom Napier on February 11, 2012 at 06:34:23:
Great Northern? is sometimes listed alongside Peter Duck and Missee Lee as having story-within-a-story status; notably by Christina Hardyment (CFT). The book has some of the features of a Peter Duck story (violence, far-flung travel) but the extent of these is lesser (Scotland, not the Caribbean or China).
Arthur Ransome did not intend this status for Great Northern?. Writing to Myles North (discussing the book's dedication) he says:
...At all costs it must do nothing to weaken the *reality* ... nothing to suggest that it is a mere story and not the record of an actual happening, even if for bird protection's sake, the details are somewhat disguised. (AR's own emphasis and dotdotdots; SFM1947)