Item 36 - Letter from Arthur Ransome to R. C. Trevelyan

The Heald, Coniston, Lancashire. - Bob has correctly identified the 'weak point of all stories that have even a suspicion of detective interest': that it 'steals the limelight from the actors'. It is 'fun' to experiment occasionally, and he got a 'sort of larky pleasure' from writing the "Big Six". A phrase in Bob's letter lifted his and his wife's hearts: 'This senseless war'. Thinks it could and should have been avoided, and could have been ended a long time ago with 'infinitely less damage to Europe as a whole' than now seems inevitable. The 'prodigious speeding up' of Bob's output which the war seems to have produced is however a great thing; has got great pleasure from his translations [of Horace, Juvenal and Montaigne] and thinks it a 'beautiful, consistent, original book', which sent him back to other works, especially "Pterodamozels" which 'stabs through the joints of the brass armoured bombasts'. Has also much liked Bob's "Epistle to Joan Allen". Very cheering to think Bob can write such things despite the times. He and his wife have gone to the lake country: he has 'got a bit of the shore of Coniston Water' and some land above, with a 'very ugly hovel' which they hope to add to if 'the war ends before we do'. They would very much like to see Bob there: there is just enough room to 'squeeze in one not too pernickety guest'.