Was it Alzheimer's?

[Fatty]

So another fellow writer on Enid Blyton, Green Hedges (aka Duncan McLaren) is in agreement with me that Enid Blyton satirized her dementia problems in a couple of her books. Thus, I guess I am vindicated in this assertion!!!

Do you also see religious icons on toast, Stephen? Any satire one sees in that passage is by McLaren himself. Yes, he does say that Blyton is likely to have suffered from a form of dementia (not necessarily Alzheimer's) but that's something we're all in agreement with. Where does he say that Blyton 'satirized' her dementia?

[Enikyoga]

Fatty, i think Duncan sees Dementia as having been behind the demotion of Sup. Jenkins to Inspector as well as Fatty's slow thinking in The Mystery of Banshee Towers. i can also remind you that Julian also suffers occasional bouts of short memories in a couple of Famous Five books.
Stephen I.

[Fatty]

Fatty, i think Duncan sees Dementia as having been behind the demotion of Sup. Jenkins to Inspector as well as Fatty's slow thinking in The Mystery of Banshee Towers.

Nobody's disputing that! But it can be 'satirization' only if Enid were doing it intentionally. I would maintain that these are accidental slip-ups on her part, and that neither you nor Duncan has any evidence to the contrary. Or am I misunderstanding your use of the word 'satirization'?

[Julie2owlsdene]

I would maintain that these are accidental slip-ups on her part,

I agree with Fatty's statement of this one. Enid wrote many, many books. And let's face it, even though she did have an excellent memory it is very easy to suddenly forget who is who in the many hundreds of books that you've written. And if someone is writing to a dead-line, then you haven't always got the time to search back and give some of the books a re-read to bring you back up to date. Remember, sometimes more than a year elapsed before Enid carried on with another book in a particular series. It's easy for us to read them all in order, but most difficult to write them with more than a years difference between some!

[Enikyoga]

Fatty, i think Duncan sees Dementia as having been behind the demotion of Sup. Jenkins to Inspector as well as Fatty's slow thinking in The Mystery of Banshee Towers.

Nobody's disputing that! But it can be 'satirization' only if Enid were doing it intentionally. I would maintain that these are accidental slip-ups on her part, and that neither you nor Duncan has any evidence to the contrary. Or am I misunderstanding your use of the word 'satirization'?

Yes, I think Enid satirized some of her Dementia experiences in a couple of her books as even Duncan suddenly realized by reading between the lines in these books. Contrary to what you think, people with Dementia, from experience are oftentimes aware of their ailment either through memory recoveries or their relatives or friends telling them that they have frequently lost their minds say as putting important research papers in the waste basket frequenty as Enid used to do so as her dementia advanced. She satirzed this experience in Five Go To Billycock Hill in which Uncle Quentin does the same thing over and over again.
Stephen I.

[Fiona1986]

In the final book in the Find Outers series... there is an extra character. Let's call her 'Dementia'. Dementia surely accounts for Superintendent Jenks being demoted to Inspector. Dementia no doubt accounts for Fatty being so slow on the uptake throughout. That sad book was published in August 1961.

So another fellow writer... Duncan McLaren is in agreement with me that Enid Blyton satirized her dementia problems in a couple of her books. Thus, I guess I am vindicated in this assertion!!!
Stephen isabirye

Your arrogance about your assertions really makes me want to scream sometimes. Duncan is saying nothing of the sort. He says that Enid dementia caused her to make mistakes and write a poorer novel. Nowhere does he suggest Enid was sat there thinking "I have a poor memory let's add that to the story".

[Anita Bensoussane]

Fatty, i think Duncan sees Dementia as having been behind the demotion of Sup. Jenkins to Inspector as well as Fatty's slow thinking in The Mystery of Banshee Towers.

Nobody's disputing that! But it can be 'satirization' only if Enid were doing it intentionally. I would maintain that these are accidental slip-ups on her part...

Inconsistencies of that nature strike me as accidental slip-ups too, like the mention of "Peterswood" in Fun for the Secret Seven (1963) or the continuity errors in the last couple of Famous Five titles (1962 and 1963). Enid Blyton was never great when it came to continuity anyway, as she produced books thick and fast and had several series on the go at once, but there are more errors than usual in her later books and in some instances the plots are a little confused and rambling. What Duncan McLaren is saying is completely different from what you're saying, Stephen. I agree with Fiona that Duncan is simply stating that, in the 1960s, Enid's dementia appears to have caused her to make more errors in her writing. You're claiming that, even in the early 1940s, she was "satirizing" dementia (as Fatty says, that word implies that she was doing it deliberately and with irony) by including forgetful characters in her stories - a notion which seems ridiculously far-fetched.

[Tony Summerfield]

I think it is worth pointing out that apart from any other consideration there had been a four year gap in the Find-Outers' series as the previous book was published in 1957. In view of the number of books that had flowed under the bridge in the interim period it is not surprising that Enid made odd slip-ups such as the demotion in Banshee Towers. I think that most would agree that Banshee Towers was not up to the standard of the rest of the series, but towards the end of a career other children's authors have also tailed off slightly in the standard of books that they produce and this has not necessarily got anything to do with dementia.

Just naming two examples here, it is generally agreed that Malcolm Saville's final Lone Pine book, Home to Witchend, wasn't a patch on some of the earlier books in the series. The final unfinished Biggles book by W.E. Johns, Biggles Does Some Homework, was well below the standard of other books in the series. I was the proofreader for this book and I could scarcely believe that a popular children's author could write such a very poor book. I am sure there were other authors whose later books tailed off in standard and it was probably not the case that all of them were suffering from dementia.

As for your frequent use of the word 'satirized', Stephen, I have said in another thread that it is completely the wrong word to use and Fatty has repeated that in this thread. It might be time to consult a dictionary!

[Lenoir]

There's probably quite a few little slips if one looks hard for them.
Jenks gets promoted to Chief Inspector in Vanished Prince, and to Superintendent in Holly Lane and Tally Ho. He goes back to Chief inspector in Missing Man.
He is Superintendent again in Strange Messages and then back to Chief in Banshee Towers.

No wonder Bets just likes to call him a "very high-up policeman”!

[70s-child]

I am getting a little irritated with all this talk of 'satirizing' dementia and Alzheimer's. There is nothing even remotely funny about this medical condition. Dementia is not your plain vanilla forgetfulness. It is a very serious medical condition which stems from various problems with the brain, and which has crippling effects on the person who suffers from it, and on their families, who have to constantly watch out for their loved one who has this condition. I have a friend whose mother suffers from Alzheimer's, and my friend is always stressing over how her father (who himself doesn't keep great health) is coping with her mother, and over whether her mother is ok or not. No one in their right minds would be so unfeeling as to make jokes about it. So please Stephen, cut it out. This is becoming remarkably unamusing.

[Moonraker]

No one in their right minds would be so unfeeling as to make jokes about it.

I don't think Stephen Isabirye is trying to use humour in his post, just ignorance.

[Fatty]

I assumed 70s-child meant Blyton wouldn't have been so callous as to make light of such a debilitating and emotionally painful medical condition.

[Daisy]

Not sure about that Fatty - she does say 'so Stephen cut it out'.
I think Stephen's command of English sometimes means the wrong use of some words and satirize is one of these.

[Moonraker]

Yes, telling Stephen to "cut it out" made me think it was Stephen to whom she was referring.

[Fatty]

Not sure about that Fatty - she does say 'so Stephen cut it out'.

Agreed. It's just that I can't imagine Stephen ever having a bit of (intentional) fun -- he may be completely misguided in his assertions, but never once has he cracked jokes about Enid Blyton or anything else. If anything he's rushed to her defence when someone (I think it was Moonraker) made a light-hearted remark. That's in complete contrast to Duncan McLaren, whose tongue seems to have been firmly lodged in his cheek while writing Looking for Enid.