What does Arthur Ransome the man and his works mean To you?

To me his works in the form of Swallows and Amazon to me as child seemed to be magical adventures that I felt I could have been a part of.

Now later in life they are a wonderful escape from a world that is so removed from the idyllic one shown in the books.

As a man and author I was dismayed at first that he was not like Captain Flint, though at times tried to be.

He was as we all are a somewhat flawed human being, I was particularly surprised at his lack of relationship with his only child,

I look forward to other comments on this.

I believe that the books were as much an escape for AR as they were for you.  To me, his constant moving of his home indicated a search for something, without being necessarly aware of what it was that he was searching for.  Fishing is an escape from the mundane, everyday world, to a quieter one of the river bank.  When my marriage was falling apart I found an escape from the stress in writing poetry, which I have  not been able to do since, with anything like the ease with which I did it then.  Even AR's alter ego, Captain Flint, travelled the world in search of fortune.  I think that AR was plagued by inner demons, never feeling that he 'fitted in' with where he was.

David.

Previously Robin Marshall wrote:

To me his works in the form of Swallows and Amazon to me as child seemed to be magical adventures that I felt I could have been a part of.

Now later in life they are a wonderful escape from a world that is so removed from the idyllic one shown in the books.

As a man and author I was dismayed at first that he was not like Captain Flint, though at times tried to be.

He was as we all are a somewhat flawed human being, I was particularly surprised at his lack of relationship with his only child,

I look forward to other comments on this.