Posted by Tim Johns on May 29, 1997 at 10:22:36:
In Reply to: THE Swallows and THE Amazons posted by John Wilson Smith on May 23, 1997 at 21:36:01:
John's praise is well-deserved: this is a marvellous publication.
It is fascinating to see how AR drafted and redrafted before
arriving at the final version which we all know. The opening, for
example, reads 'Roger, aged five (crossed out, and 'seven' written
in), and no longer the youngest in the family ...'. If Roger
had remained at five, that must have had an effect on the story-line
and would surely have made the Walker parents more vulnerable to those
who accuse them of child neglect (see, for example NicholasTucker).
The ending of the book is even more interesting. In the final version,
AR achieves the effect of a casual 'cutting off' of the narrative
rather in the the style of the French writers he admired such as
Flaubert and Maupassant
"Who was Johnny?" said Roger. "Hullo, there's Mother and
Vicky coming down the field."
"Pretty Polly," said the parrot, and then, sharply, "Pieces of
eight, Pieces of eight."
And so the Swallows came home from Wild Cat Island.
Robinson Crusoe brought four eggs from the store in the basket in her
tent with a packet of butter, which was rather soft already, but Man
Friday, sniffing at it, said it ought to be eaten anyhow and more ought
to be got tomorrow. Man Friday melted a lot of the butter in the frying
pan and broke the eggs into it and shook in some pepper and salt
and held it over the fire, stirring it with a fork, Robinson Crusoe
looked on and buttered some bread. Man Friday cut up Robinson Crusoe's
pemmican and dropped it into the scrambled eggs. She put some potatoes
in their jackets at the edge of the fire, raking some of the hot ashes
over them. In a few minutes a really splendid meal was ready.