Arthur Ransome’s book series “Swallows and Amazons”, named after the eponymous first volume, is among the first writing for children to present adventure plots which are believable, with the stories delivered by a narrator who treats his readers as peers. In this they have transformed the genre of the children’s novel. They have been acclaimed as quintessentially English and as such have achieved cross-over into adult readership as an idyll of a now lost rural England in the inter-war years. On the fly-leaf of the first edition of
Swallows and Amazons, Ransome describes it as “a book about children for children and their parents, guardians, cousins and aunts”. They were intended as much for adults as for children. Since the first volume was published in 1930 (UK) and 1931…
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Citation: Davis, Graeme. "Swallows and Amazons". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 24 February 2018 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=28102, accessed 21 November 2024.]
