Enid Blyton/Mary Pollock

[Farawaytreelady]

Mary Pollock is Enid Blyton - Her married name (first husband) was Enid Mary Pollock and she used this name to write six books for Newnes in the early 40's - all were later repinted under the name Enid Blyton.

Okay - so I did read through past threads.

But... why did she go by Mary Pollock for a while? Why not keep using Enid Blyton?

And even growing up I remember there seemed to be a lot of confusion about whether she was a man or a woman.

It just seems there was a lot of mystery surrounding her, and maybe she intended it to be that way but it gets me thinking.

It just seems unusual to me for a writer to go by two names. I gather Blyton was her maiden name?

(please remember though I have read many of Enid's books I am 'new' and not to sure about the facts ).

[Fiona1986]

Yes, she was born Enid Mary Blyton and continued to use the name Blyton through her writing career (as many actresses keep their maiden name too) despite being married twice.

I don't think we will ever know for sure why she chose to write under the name Mary Pollock though there are some suggestions. One is it was to avoid the war-time paper rationing (two authors could use twice as much paper as one), the other idea is that she wanted to know if her works were popular because of their content or because of her name. By releasing them under another name, she could judge their popularity and know people weren't buying them purely because of the name on them. Of course it quickly became obvious that they were works by her, as she didn't really make any attempt to disguise her writing style or her usual type of content.

Of course we do know where the name Mary Pollock came from, Mary being her middle name and Pollock being her first husband's surname.

I at first thought she was a man, when I was a child, (mostly because I misread her signature as 'Guide Blotton') but my Mum quickly set me right on that. I'm pretty sure most people would know Enid was a woman's name, and she also often had her picture on the dustjackets of books.

[Farawaytreelady]

Thanks for your reply.

My mum was also convinved 'she' was a man, I have shown her photos on google to prove myself correct, hehe!

Some of the theories you proposed to why she may have gone under 2 names are interesting.

[Fiona1986]

Some of the theories you proposed to why she may have gone under 2 names are interesting.

Oops, just so no-one thinks I'm taking undue credit here, they're not my theories, they're ones I've read put forward in the wonderful Society Journal (though I can't for the life of me remember who's articles they were...)

But if you want to know more about Enid, you can read a great biography of her written by our very own Anita: http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/a-bi ... blyton.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Farawaytreelady]

Sorry ...poor wording on my behalf, I knew that you were giving theories from others

I haven't slept all night! Madly sipping coffee now.

Thats my excuse and I am sticking to it

[Moonraker]

Agatha Christie also wrote under the pseudonym, Mary Westmacott, so it isn't unheard of. However, the Wetmacott books were romances, not murder mysteries.

[anne1991]

Yes I think Enid used to be a popular woman's name, why she wrote under Mary Pollock I dont know - maybe to distance some of her writing from her already known writing, so her readers didnt make presumptions on the books context etc?

[cranberry]

Someone bought me a postcard about Enid Blyton/Mary Pollock as he thought it was amusing... Gah! I can't find it in Google images to stick the image in this post!

I'll take a photo of it on my mobile (sorry about the rubbish quality; too lazy to start up the scanner) and upload it here. The writing at the bottom goes:

I wrote six books under the name of Mary Pollock. They sold very well and I was very pleased, until one day I read this in a review: 'Miss Enid Blyton had better look to her laurels while Mary Pollock, a new writer is rapidly catching her up.' - Enid Blyton, 1947

[pete9012S]

Just how popular in terms of actual book sales were the Mary Pollack books?
How long was it before people realised that Mary Pollock was Enid Blyton?
Did Enid Blyton reveal that she was Mary Pollock,or was it revealed to the general public via someone else?
Also,when was it decided to rename the Pollock book with Enid Blyton's name?

Regards

Pete

[Anita Bensoussane]

In answer to your last question, Pete, I've just looked in the Cave and it seems that the books were published under the name Mary Pollock for roughly a decade.

[Aussie Sue]

Cranberry, thank you for sharing your post card with us.

There are always so many opinions about why Enid Blyton did various things, so it is always good to read something Enid actually said not just what other people think she might say.

cheers
Aussie Sue

[cranberry]

Spleshure, Aussie Sue!

One day I must scan it properly, so that I'll still have a record to giggle at when the real thing gets yellow/mouldy.

[cranberry]

Ok, have now scanned in a clear image of the postcard.

[Poppy]

Yes, it is very interesting how everyone thought that Mary Pollock was a completely different author to Enid Blyton. A nice postacrd there, Cranberry!

[deepeabee]

I know that the books were later released under the Enid Blyton name but what were the books that were written using the name Mary Pollock?