The Autobiography of Arthur Ransome

by Arthur Ransome

Genres: Biography, Autobiography

368 pages, Paperback

First published September 9, 1976

About the author

Arthur Michell Ransome (January 18, 1884 – June 3, 1967) was an English author and journalist. He was educated in Windermere and Rugby.

In 1902, Ransome abandoned a chemistry degree to become a publisher's office boy in London. He used this precarious existence to practice writing, producing several minor works before Bohemia in London (1907), a study of London's artistic scene and his first significant book.

An interest in folklore, together with a desire to escape an unhappy first marriage, led Ransome to St. Petersburg, where he was ideally placed to observe and report on the Russian Revolution. He knew many of the leading Bolsheviks, including Lenin, Radek, Trotsky and the latter's secretary, Evgenia Shvelpina. These contacts led to persistent but unproven accusations that he "spied" for both the Bolsheviks and Britain.

Ransome married Evgenia and returned to England in 1924. Settling in the Lake District, he spent the late 1920s as a foreign correspondent and highly-respected angling columnist for the Manchester Guardian, before settling down to write Swallows and Amazons and its successors.

Today Ransome is best known for his Swallows and Amazons series of novels, (1931 - 1947). All remain in print and have been widely translated.

Arthur Ransome died in June 1967 and is buried at Rusland in the Lake District.

Reviews

[Muaz Jalil · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book from Sam Read's bookseller (Est 1887) in Grasmere Lake district. This is one of the best autobiographies I have read in awhile. Ransome had a very colorful life and his writing flowd effortlessly. His pseudo parents were the Collingwoods, parents of noted historian RG Collingwood. He met so many authors like Ford Maddox ,Chesterton and others. I did not know W G Collingwood was a noted Ruskin scholar and was a secretary to Ruskin. Collingwood senior studied mathematics but based on his leisure reading set for history and passed!! Later on he visited Russia during the early days of revolutions. He met all the big Soviet leaders . I want to read his book 6 week in Russia 1919 which apparently provides the human side of communist leaders. He met Radek and his secretary Mira, who became a brigade commander in Soviet Military (a lady!). He also met Nansen, which is important to me personally because my wife and I stayed in Nansen Village in London during my wife's MSc degree; it's a subsidized accomodation for post grad student. Overall a great page turner, highly recommended

[Peter Burton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting to those who knows his famous children’s books,particularly about his many years in Russia before and during the Bolshevik takeover.Good for those interested in Edwardian times and later but probably of limited interest to most readers.I would like to know what he left out because he seemed to have many contacts with the Bolshevik.Was he a spy or even a double agent?I need to read an objective biography.

[Julian Blatchley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a sparling biography, but very readable and a joyous picture of the Lake District of his time, and of his early life. The origins of Swallows and Amazons are adequately, rather than fullsomely, described, and the pure S & A fan may feel short-changed. The central theme is rather more Russia and the Bolsheviks, of which Ransome was clearly one of the best-positioned foreign observers. The narrative is compelling. There is a fine historical commentary, and also Ransome's own words on his own involvement. Interestingly, he does appear mildly defensive about his own neutrality, which one suspects was not as scrupulous as he states, and it is certainly of value in presenting Ransome's own assertions for comparison with other analyses. Good book, especially for those familiar with the Southern part of the Lake District.

[J.L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an absorbing book, refreshingly honest and self-effacing, depicting Arthur Ransome's early life. His experiences as a foreign correspondent during the first world war are especially interesting. Every student of Russian history should read Ransome's eye-witness account of the start of the Russian Revolution before coming to any conclusions.
And the reader is taken along the background path to his writing of the Swallows and Amazons books, born of his great love of the Lake District.

[JD Shaffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very interesting and engaging book. While there were a few particularly exciting moments, it carried about a certain "busy, but not too tense" feeling about it. But I enjoyed it immensely. Well worth the read!