E. Nesbit - The Railway Children, etc.

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Re: E. Nesbit - The Railway Children, etc.

Post by Moonraker »

Phew! Thanks, folks - good to know I'm not losing it!

I am about to 'follow' Sally. :D
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Re: E. Nesbit - The Railway Children, etc.

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Hurrah! :D
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Re: E. Nesbit - The Railway Children, etc.

Post by Billy Farmer »

I have never read The Railway Children, but I have got two versions, of The Railway Children, on DVD, the 1970 film version (which is one of my all time favourite films, and would definitely be in my top 50 of all time favourite films), and the 1968 BBC version.

I have got a copy of the following programme - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0991575/?ref_=fn_al_tt_7" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; which was part of a series, which revisited the locations of famous films.

I have also got a copy of the following Book - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Making-Railway ... DA4C9M17B0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I can remember seeing a programme (which was part of a series, called Away Day, where show business personalities, revisited the location of one of their past productions), in the late 1980's, where Bernard Cribbins, revisited Oakworth Station (famous location, for the 1970 film version), there is info, about the programme, in the Book - The Making of The Railway Children.
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Re: E. Nesbit - The Railway Children, etc.

Post by Moonraker »

Sally has already "tweeted" me! My good lady says I am a sad old man. :cry:
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Re: E. Nesbit - The Railway Children, etc.

Post by Rob Houghton »

I suppose it's better than being 'a dirty old man'... 8)
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: E. Nesbit - The Railway Children, etc.

Post by booklover »

Have recently found out that E. Nesbit wrote ghost and horror short stories. Twenty of these stories are collected in The Power of Darkness - Tales of Terror. Worth a read for fans of the genre. Nesbit writes beautifully as usual but these are definitely not children's stories.
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Re: E. Nesbit - The Railway Children, etc.

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Moonraker wrote:Sally has already "tweeted" me! My good lady says I am a sad old man. :cry:
I've only just read this. Surely not! Are you sure it's our Sally Thomsett? What did you tweet? :shock: :lol:
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Re: E. Nesbit - The Railway Children, etc.

Post by Rob Houghton »

Moved from 'What other author are you reading at the moment?'

I'm now reading The Wouldbegoods by E. Nesbit. I've never read it before, and I'm quite enjoying it. The more I read of E Nesbit's books, the more I become convinced that Enid was a big fan of E. Nesbit and must have read many of her books! The Wouldbegoods follows a similar pattern to Enid's 'The Put-em-Rights' - even down to having a similar title, and being about a group of children who aim to put wrongs right - and quite often mess them up, or help in unexpected ways. Enid must have read The Wouldbegoods, I feel sure!

I must admit though that I found Chapter 3 - 'Bill's Tombstone' - a little distasteful for modern sensibilities, dealing as it did with a young soldier going off to fight (presumably the Boar War) and being presumed dead. It was all very 'Tally-Ho!' and 'its great to die for Queen and Country' and Oswald states how he wished he could die in glory in a great battle etc. Okay - amusing in a dark way - but given what happened later - with World War one I guess ideas changed pretty rapidly! I somehow never saw E Nesbit as the type who would glorify war, as she was very forward-thinking in other ways. It came across almost as propaganda.
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: E. Nesbit - The Railway Children, etc.

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

I too feel that Enid Blyton is likely to have read a number of E. Nesbit books, Rob.

The books about the Bastables are hugely enjoyable, my favourite being the first one - The Story of the Treasure Seekers. I don't recall much about 'Bill's Tombstone' from The Wouldbegoods, but is it possible that E. Nesbit intends Oswald's comments to come across as naive and to raise questions in the reader's mind?
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


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Re: E. Nesbit - The Railway Children, etc.

Post by Rob Houghton »

I'm thoroughly enjoying the Bastable Family stories - I bought a hardback version from the 1920's with all three stories - The Story of the Treasure Seekers, The Wouldbegoods, and New Treasure Seekers. :-)

You might be right that E. Nesbit is intending Oswald's comments to come across as naive and to raise questions in the readers minds. In a way it doesn't come across as being sincerely 'jingoistic' - maybe more tongue-in-cheek, perhaps! She does have the 'dead' soldier return at the end, though he is injured and won't be able to fight again, so is given a job as a gardener. perhaps this is Nesbit's own veiled comment on what should be happening to injured soldiers - ie - not being left unemployed and useless, as many undoubtedly were.
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: E. Nesbit - The Railway Children, etc.

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

I seem to remember that New Treasure Seekers is a little odd in that it goes back in time, though I enjoy it as it contains one of my favourite episodes - the story of the plum-pudding!

As well as the three main titles about the Bastables I've got a book called Oswald Bastable and Others, but I'm not sure how it fits in and I've no chance of finding it in a hurry!
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


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Re: E. Nesbit - The Railway Children, etc.

Post by Rob Houghton »

Anita Bensoussane wrote:As well as the three main titles about the Bastables I've got a book called Oswald Bastable and Others, but I'm not sure how it fits in and I've no chance of finding it in a hurry!
I've heard of it, but don't have it as yet!

The New Treasure Seekers sounds intriguing. I've never read it, but will move onto it after The Wouldbegoods. :-D

I've always been an E Nesbit fan, mainly for her chatty jokey style, which I've always felt was remarkably modern, considering the books are now over 100 years old - but I've noticed also, with The Treasure Seekers and The wouldbegoods just how talented she was at viewing things from a child's point-of-view as well as from an adults. As you said in your Journal article, Anita, Nesbit is often quite sophisticated in her humour, and often the humour might only be fully understood by adults - but she also gets inside the heads of her children, and I'm constantly amazed at how good she is at tackling things from their viewpoint. This is particularly noticeable in The Wouldbegoods, I feel.

Until I reread The Treasure Seekers (in fact I think I'd only read the opening chapter before!) I had the impression that all of Nesbit's novels were fantasy/magical, apart from The Railway Children, but now I realise she started with the more every-day realistic type of stories and moved onto the magical ones slightly later.
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: E. Nesbit - The Railway Children, etc.

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Yes, E. Nesbit's style is delightfully breezy and easy to digest (particularly when a story is being narrated by one of the child characters). As a youngster I read The Phoenix and the Carpet first, having watched and enjoyed the 1976-77 TV adaptation, and went on to read quite a few other Nesbits. I loved all the books, whether magical or realistic, and have returned to them a number of times over the years.
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


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Re: E. Nesbit - The Railway Children, etc.

Post by Rob Houghton »

Chapter 8 of The Wouldbegoods, 'The High-born Babe' - is so much like Enid's ''The Very Big Secret'! Everything about it is similar - a pram with gypsies, seemingly abandoned, Dora looking after it in a shed, calling it 'The Secret'! :lol:
Last edited by Rob Houghton on 18 Jul 2018, 14:21, edited 1 time in total.
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: E. Nesbit - The Railway Children, etc.

Post by Courtenay »

Plagiarism again, obviously. :twisted: :wink:
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