Posted by Bill Dashfield on August 24, 2020 at 15:18:45 user BillD.
In Reply to: Re: Why did the Admiralty summon Cdr Walker to London? posted by Robin Selby on January 22, 2019 at 06:55:43:
** Not sure if this'll be read as it's an old thread **
I had always thought GN? was 'real', not "metafiction" until I read Captain Flint's Trunk.
Somewhat bemused by all the TarBoard posts on "metafiction" I had another look at the books, and the answer seems now clear to me.
Title page of PD: 'Based on information supplied by the Swallows and Amazons and Illustrated mainly by Themselves'
Title page of ML: '(Based on information supplied by the Swallows and Amazons)'
Tile page of GN: no 'Based on' text. But there is a later dedication 'TO MYLES NORTH who, knowing a good deal of what happened, asked me to write the full story.'
AR plays fair. You may have to look closely, but the answer is there.
PD & ML were made up stories by the S&A and written down by AR. In GN he's a reporter building on Myles tip-off.
The PD 'Illustrated by' is because PD was the first book AR illustrated himself. He thought his drawings were a bit childlike so attributed them to mainly Nancy. Capes feedback was such that he carried on illustrating new books and re-did the SA illustrations. Note sure whether SD was originally illustrated by him, but I think it was. Doubtless another TarBoarder will clarify this!
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