Aunt Elizabeth objects indignantly: the girl can write diary entries and poetry! Isn't that enough trash for any youngster?
Oooh, I do like the Matilda connection! But, yes, hard to tie it into Billabong, since Norah is so disgustingly healthy and outdoorsy and not bottling up anything at all.
nnozomo below notes that there's also a little irruption of magic in the Swallows and Amazons books: Titty has a gift for dowsing! Which is another mark against the Matilda theory, for Titty also isn't bottling up enormous mental powers or artistic longings. But another mark in favor of the idea that this sort of thing was truly all over children's literature in the first half of the twentieth century! A bit of second sight, a spot of dowsing, why not.
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Date: 2024-04-08 03:17 pm (UTC)Oooh, I do like the Matilda connection! But, yes, hard to tie it into Billabong, since Norah is so disgustingly healthy and outdoorsy and not bottling up anything at all.