Abstract
This article explores Arthur Ransome's engagement with ideas about children, adventure and exploration from the long eighteenth century in his celebrated Swallows and Amazons series. I argue that Ransome positions his child protagonists between the practical enlightenment of Daniel Defoe's marooned hero and John Keats' Romantic belatedness: the Walkers and Blacketts find themselves exploring a world that is already inhabited by those they dismissively call “natives” - their adult parents. Swallows and Amazons uses Crusoe and Keats to work out ways for children to cope with coming second - with their subordination within existing discourses.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 281-294 |
Journal | Children's Literature Association Quarterly |
Volume | 41 |
Issue number | 3 |
Early online date | 30 Nov 2016 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 30 Nov 2016 |