Posted by JB on May 06, 2012 at 08:43:54 user JB.
Why did Evgenia dislike The Picts And The Martyrs so vehemently? The criticisms in her well-known August 1942 letter to AR have a certain Devil's advocate logic but the book is so superbly executed that they seem ridiculous. Christina Hardyment conjectured that Ransome “had made Nancy up to be the perfect tomboy girl that he had never met in reality, using things he liked about several girls he knew. Then he grew so fond of her that she did become real – to him.” I wonder if this tendency was also apparent to Evgenia and whether it coloured her judgement of a story that portrays Captain Nancy at her sparkling best.