The pirate with no name
One more book post, because every day is Book Day in this establishment.
At the pub quiz, we have a 'book of the moment', on which there is one question each week, running through the book more or less in order: which is why I have for some time been reading Treasure Island slowly and carefully. (I recommend it, by the way: it stands up even to this treatment.)
Reading with particular attention to names, numbers, places, the sort of things it's easy to ask questions about, I noticed something a bit odd, and I'd appreciate any thoughts anyone might have on the subject: one of the pirates has no name. Strictly, more than one remains unnamed: Stevenson's too good a writer to swamp you with the names of a cast of thousands. Gradually as the Hispaniola sails towards Treasure Island, Jim starts to refer to individuals by name, although others remain anonymously in the background.
( Seriously? Spoilers for 'Treasure Island'? Oh, well, just in case... )
I could tell you the name of the parrot...
At the pub quiz, we have a 'book of the moment', on which there is one question each week, running through the book more or less in order: which is why I have for some time been reading Treasure Island slowly and carefully. (I recommend it, by the way: it stands up even to this treatment.)
Reading with particular attention to names, numbers, places, the sort of things it's easy to ask questions about, I noticed something a bit odd, and I'd appreciate any thoughts anyone might have on the subject: one of the pirates has no name. Strictly, more than one remains unnamed: Stevenson's too good a writer to swamp you with the names of a cast of thousands. Gradually as the Hispaniola sails towards Treasure Island, Jim starts to refer to individuals by name, although others remain anonymously in the background.
( Seriously? Spoilers for 'Treasure Island'? Oh, well, just in case... )
I could tell you the name of the parrot...