>From:peter@physics.otago.ac.nz (Peter Dowden) >Subject:Signalling to Mars 8: the Ransome books & Turner/Blackett dynasty > > MMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM > MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMM MMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMM MMM > M MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMM MMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMM > MMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMM MMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM > MXXXXXXXMMMXXXXXXXX/.\\\XXXXXMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMM MMMM MMMMM > XXXMXXMXXXXXXXMXXX/.:.\\\\XXXXXXXMMMMM MMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MM > XXXXXXXXXXMXXXXXX/:__:.\\\\\XXMXXXXXXXMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM > ++++++++++XXXXXX/:| |:.\\\\\\XXMXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXMMMMMMXX > ++MM++++++++++++|.|__|.:|: . |XXXXXXXXXXMMXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX > ++++++++++++++++|:.:.::.| : |XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXMXXXXXXXXXXXXX > ++++++++++++++++|.:..:.:|. :| signal station +MMMMM++++ > Virtual Tars ---|:.::.:.|.____ and observatory ++++ > ++++ M M ++++++ > ++ SIGNALLING M M M M aaaa rrr sss ++ > ++ TO M M M a a rr s + > + M M a a r ss + > + M M a aa r s + > + M M aaa a r sss + > + + > + an unofficial Electronic Newsletter for Members + > + of The Arthur Ransome Society + > + + > +content is the personal opinion and the intellectual property + > +of the contributors and does not reflect the opinion of TARS, + > + any other person or group [but not too intellectual we hope] + > + + > + e-address: peter@physics.otago.ac.nz + > + [more addresses at foot of message] + > + NB: any mail received Will Be Publishable unless Marked + > + Otherwise!! This includes senders' + > + identities! [name and email address] + > > **Arthur Ransome Page on World Wide Web** > http://newton.otago.ac.nz:808/arthurpage.html > > We're not junk emailers! IF YOU DO NOT WANT > THIS NEWSLETTER please send Reply to that effect >_______________________________________________________________________ >ISSUE NUMBER 8 - NOVEMBER 1994 > >Ahoy there Tars! > >Your Signaller has been getting into the Southern sailing season in earnest, even sailing after work! (I don't mean to gloat, and don't I jolly well suffer when news of your sailing reaches me during the Antarctic winter.) The Great Aunt (the boat not the person) blew over in the boatyard on Sunday, I have not had a chance to visit her yet to see if she's okay; remembering the last object to be named after the GA, Titty's wax doll, I wonder if my boat's blowing-over caused a little old lady in Harrogate to suddenly throw herself to the ground! > >S2M reaches another couple of Ransomophiles: welcome - I hope you'll be inspired to join Tars. > >The Arthur Ransome Web Page is getting along nicely if I say so myself, I have had conflicting reports of its availability, some say it's invisible, some say it's okay, so all you connected web surfers, please give t a blast and let me know if it works: the URL is written at the top of this message. >And for those of you who wonder what on earth I'm talking about, well aren't you missing out! If you think boring ugly text like this message is impressive, wait till you see The World Wide Web in glorious technicolour and even italic text! > >This month, there's an extract from a Catalogue of New Zealand's national children's book collection, (also on the web if you want the book titles in italics!) and a continuation of the Turner/Blackett discussions of last s2m (getting just a wee bit far fetched?). > >Peter >self-appointed Signaller-in Chief >Tar 769 >Master of the SV GREAT AUNT MARIA, a Sunburst class dinghy. >___________________________________________________________________________ >PRICE ON RANSOME > >Susan Price writing in Books for Life, catalogue of the National Library of New Zealand's Susan Price Collection. >[describing the beginnings of her family's book collection, starting with her grandmother's family] "...other more honest writers, such as Joyce Lancaster Brisley, Eve Garnett, Phillip Bollard and, especially, Arthur Ransome were greatly loved and read again and again. Although all four were pioneer critics of the English class system, the family was not consciously aware of this -- they just recognised that these books had a special quality. Gwen bought almost all Arthur Ransome's stories. Somehow, in spite of the bombs and U-boats these precious books -- all except Swallowdale -- reached Wellington. >The Randalls loved many authors, but if one had to be selected as first favourite, that one was Arthur Ransome. Swallows and Amazons and its sequels were discovered in the Karori Library, borrowed, re-borrowed, and finallybought. Ransome had the skillof making his characters and their doings, and above all their backgrounds, absolutely credible. Even the famous joking telegram "Better drowned than duffers. If not duffers won't drown", was believable (although few parents, in real life, find themselves able to shed responsibility for their offspring with such heartless logic!). >Ransome's central characters were independent and adventurous -- far more capable than most children -- but (except for the ebullient Nancy) they were not over-confident. The reader could get inside their minds. Ransome's children could be identified with because they were not super-efficient without effort, but had understandable anxieties. Susan was sometimes tense with worry, John was always aware of his responsiblities, Titty had her moments of being bothered, Dick turned green when he had to gut a rabbit. Ransome knew that small anxieties are part of the fabric of living. He had other strengths: his plots were well constructed, with good touches of humour, he had the skill to write clearly about technical matters (which could be skipped if you were not in the mood to learn how to raise a sail) and he had the ability to describe a landscape and people in it with convincing adults. The farming families of the Lake District, the charcoal burners and Slater Bob are real, not cardboard, figures. Despite the fact that Ransome wrote 'holiday stories' in which children act independently, the supervising adults are not dismissed on page one, andthey do more than provide food. They stay within reach and are friends with their children. Mary Walker in Swallows and Amazons entertains Titty with tales of childhood in Australia, while in Winter Holiday Molly Blackett tells them all about the hot-pot that sank through the ice when she was young. Ted Walker comes to life in We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea, and Jim Turner (who had more than a little in common with Arthur Ransome himself) is a key figure in several stories, making the children's independence possible. >The Ransome books gave Beverly a startling insight: many (most?) authors wrote about real places. When she was twelve she saw by chance a large scale map of Hamford Water in Essex. Secret Water existed! It was not mere fiction!" > > > > > >_______________________________________________ > >[S2M welcomes David Chorley, CHORLEY@VMS.OCOM.OKSTATE.EDU to these virtual pages, >Go easy on the flabber, David] > > >Sir, I am flabbergasted, never has my flabber been so gasted. >A.R. interest group. > >Could you put me on your occasional mailing list, please. > >Also, has anyone (ever) discussed the remarkable similarity between the >Swallows and the children in C.S.Lewises Narnia books, or is it in my head >only??????? > >Has anyone ever (bordering on sacrilege this one) attempted a story line >where John Walker goes off to the Royal Navy in WWII? >....I was thinking about it... and perhaps unmasking Capt. Flint as a naval >intelligence officer, as was Bob Blackett, who isn't really dead, but in a >Russian prison camp and Capt John has to rescue him while he is on the >Murmansk convoy run without letting the Russians know..... >I think I've been reading too much Biggles 8-). > > >Now back to Swallowdale > >David Chorley > >[... and again] > >Well I tried the WWW link to the US TARS soc... didn't work. > >My humble theory about Capt. Flint is that he was a more or less active >member of His Majesty's Secret Service, hence the much travelling abroad. > >I am desparate to get a new set of Books, since my Puffin editions, 1969 >onwards are mostly worn out and I'm tired of the typos. Plus I've lost >"Winter Holiday" and Missee Lee fell to pieces. 8-( > >If you have an e-mail of a murrican (or hern as we say on alt.fan.goons) >who is a TARS member, could you forward it unto me.... > >Regards, David Chorley > >[can anyone can work out that, I think it means he wants to be written unto by some members of Tarsus.] > >_________________________________________________ > >END OF SIGNALLING TO MARS 8 > > > > > >