Posted by Wayne Hammond on December 18, 2000 at 03:51:28 from 209.213.11.81:
In Reply to: Roger's New One posted by Martin Affleck on December 16, 2000 at 20:00:21:
I too have Roger's new book, but so far have been too busy to give it a proper reading. I would agree that certain paths of Ransome criticism are now well-travelled, yet I wouldn't say that even in those areas -- chiefly the background and writing of the "Swallows and Amazons" books -- there's nothing useful left to be said. Indeed I would say that Ransome criticism is still very young, and his depths have only begun to be explored. Ted Alexander, for example, has been doing fruitful research on AR's years in Russia. The late Tony Colwell said a lot about AR and Cape in his Literary Weekend talk, but more could be written on that subject, if not too much more, as the Cape files at Reading are pretty sparse -- but AR's relationship with other publishers has hardly been touched, and there is archival material with which to do it. And then there's a great deal to be said about AR's career in journalism, as a correspondent, critic, and reviewer for newspapers and magazines, hundreds of pieces of writing now identified but largely uncollected and not yet analyzed.
To mention only a few ideas that spring immediately to mind. Peter H.'s ideas are good too.