Posted by Tim Johns on September 25, 1997 at 15:14:47:
In Reply to: Re: John & Nancy [was Re: Turner Family info from AR saga] posted by Peter on September 23, 1997 at 03:23:16:
Am I the only Tarboarder to be worried by the attempts of Dave, Peter
and others to rewrite AR's books in terms of Mills and Boone (or, if
it comes to that, Hull and Whitlock) romances? Better by far
the black humour of a New Statesman competition entry of (I think) the
1960's, which had the middle-aged Walkers and Blacketts sailing on,
arthritic, squabbling, and too drunk not to keep falling over and
injuring themselves ('"Medecine man here," screeched Titty, clutching
the first-aid box to her scrawny chest.'), condemned to a literal
interpretation of 'Swallows and Amazons for Ever'. It is a characteristic
of black humour that it takes seriously what it satirises (there, the
childhood myth of eternity, a theme which Ransome himself exploited
magnificently): that can hardly be said of the saccharine fancies that
have so far dominated this thread.
I shall now keep my head down to await the inevitable flak ...
Tim