Publisher's Synopsis
First published in 1930, Swallows and Amazons secured Arthur Ransome's reputation as one of
the most influential children's authors of all time, yet prior to writing
fiction he had had a turbulent career as a journalist and war correspondent in
revolutionary Russia. In this refreshing account of Ransome's work, Alan
Kennedy sets out to explain his enduring appeal, combining literary criticism
with psychological expertise.
Not only did Ransome apply a careful narrative
theory to his works, his use of symbolism aligning them more with the modernist
tradition than with the event-driven children's literature of contemporaries
such as Richmal Crompton and Enid Blyton, but his novels are also more than
usually autobiographical. This Kennedy ably demonstrates with reference to
three particular challenges Ransome faced in a seriously conflicted life: his
father's untimely death, his abandonment of his infant daughter in order to escape
his catastrophic first marriage, and the innumerable compromises that kept him
alive during his Russian exile. A Thoroughly Mischievous Person: The Other Arthur Ransome is the first study to tackle this matter
systematically, giving casual and scholarly readers alike new insights into
this fascinating figure.
