Sir, – I write in response to Donald Clarke's review of the new 'Swallows and Amazons' film ("Oh golly-gosh! We're in the wrong century", August 18th). Whether or not Donald Clarke enjoys Arthur Ransome's children's books is of no great concern, but it is sad that his piece provides such an imbalanced impression of the first of Ransome's 12 novels. He states: "Nobody still capable of walking upright will be interested in these creaky adventures. Right?"
It may surprise Donald Clarke to know that none of Ransome’s children’s novels has gone out of print since they were published in the 1930s and 1940s, and that the scope of their sales overseas is expanding, with a particular interest in China and eastern Europe. This hardly suggests a dying interest.
If Donald Clarke has a hang-up about “class”, as he appears to do – “Arthur Ransome’s top-notch tale of posh kids patronising the oiks while holidaying in the Lake District” – I wonder again if he is familiar with Ransome’s writing?
Placed in historical context, Ransome was one of the first authors of children's literature to write books where class had no place. This is one reason why former trade union leader Norman Willis was particularly attracted to the books as a boy and for the remainder of his life. The other reason was that they enabled him to "escape" mentally, as a boy, to take part in childhood adventures that he and so many other city-based children could not otherwise enjoy. Norman Willis celebrated the fact that Ransome's books are peopled with characters who are not patronised and do not take a back seat in the stories in which they appear. Try the Death and Glories, the sons of boatyard workers in Ransome's Norfolk-based novels; or Don, the "Mastadon", in his book Secret Water, based in Essex backwaters.
If Donald Clarke is averse to “posh” characters and considers that society has moved on, perhaps his sentiments extend to Jane Austen’s “posh” characters ?
Donald Clarke's 2-star film "review" is just that. There might be more mileage in writing about how Swallows and Amazons was the genesis of Ellen Macarthur's desire to sail and one of Richard Branson's favourite books as a child. That such writing continues to give rise to films should be applauded! – Yours, etc,
PAUL FLINT,
Windermere,
Cumbria, England.