Parents beware: the awful Blyton is back

[pete9012S]

Are any of this Mothers criticisms valid?

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style ... 67366.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Anita Bensoussane]

Personally, I think Nicola Jones's criticisms are short-sighted and exaggerated. Take this statement about The River of Adventure, for example: "Nevertheless, all the local people the children encounter are either illiterate idiots, fawning over them and calling them 'lord' or 'master', or cruel and barbaric, beating small boys and sewing up snakes' mouths to make them harmless to snake-charmers."

Oola looks up to Philip and calls him "lord", but Oola is far from being an "illiterate idiot". On the contrary, he is hard-working and intelligent and vows to do his best at school. And when people are illiterate, it's usually because they haven't had the privilege of an education rather than because they're "idiots". Oola's uncle is cruel but he hardly represents "all the local people". Other locals like Tala are pleasant, and the novel focuses a lot more on positive characters like Oola and Tala than on negative characters like Oola's uncle. The main "baddie", Raya Uma, is not a native of that country.

Why dismiss a writer as "the awful Blyton" when she wrote so much that is informative, entertaining, thought-provoking and inspirational?

I see the article dates from 1993. I wonder whether Nicola Jones now has grandchildren and whether they will read Enid Blyton?!

[Julie2owlsdene]

There are always going to be those who criticize Enid Blyton books, and these people are annoying, as they're not looking at the books through the childrens' eyes.

Personally what I don't understand is the fact they won't let their children read Blyton, but they will let them read Ronal Dahl (not sure of spelling). His books are really bad for kids in my opinion. They're scary. Children being tricked and turned into mice by witches etc.

Why don't they say anything about those books. He's a popular author amongst children, and yet the parents complain about Blyton! It doesn't make sense to me!

[Katharine]

Once again I fail to understand why Enid Blyton should constantly be singled out for criticism. I'm currently reading Sheila Ray's book about Enid, and it's making very interesting reading. Although I'm getting the impression that the country wide banning of Enid from schools and libraries seems to be a myth, there does appear to be a general feeling that Enid's books have for decades been considered as inferior among certain members of the population.

Sheila mentions how some people such as librarians were concerned that her works didn't compare favourably with the classics such as Dickens and John Masefield. As a child I tried and gave up on both The Water Babies and The Midnight Folk. I forced myself to read both these books a few years ago and found them dull, boring and not at all enjoyable. In fact the John Masefield book I frankly struggled to understand. I realise that I'm not a particularly intelligent adult, having left school at 16, so no degrees tucked under my belt, but I've always loved reading and at the age of 11 supposedly had the reading ability of a 15 year old. Not bad considering that about 95% of the books I read were Enid Blytons!!!

I can never understand the criticism of the use of language in Enid's books, I feel that my vocabularly has widen considered from her books. From the books my children have brought home from school, I feel there is a much more limited word choice in many of those.

As for this lady's children not enjoying Enid Blyton books, well fair enough, everyone has their own taste. My 7 year old is loving Five on a Treasure Island. My son has shown no interest in any of the ballet books my older daughter loved when she was younger, so does that mean that they are badly written? Of course not.

[Wayne Pyer]

Her suggestion that reading the books would sub consciously make her children racist and bigoted is ridiculous. She freely admits that she remembers them with fondness, so is she saying that she is a closet racist now? Get a grip Nichola! Over re-act much? Lets hope that age has mellowed her cynical outlook.

[Bectun67]

There are always going to be those who criticize Enid Blyton books, and these people are annoying, as they're not looking at the books through the childrens' eyes.

Personally what I don't understand is the fact they won't let their children read Blyton, but they will let them read Ronal Dahl (not sure of spelling). His books are really bad for kids in my opinion. They're scary. Children being tricked and turned into mice by witches etc.

Why don't they say anything about those books. He's a popular author amongst children, and yet the parents complain about Blyton! It doesn't make sense to me!

I remember my mum, who worked in a library, adopting a kind of "yuck" expression when I told her my class had began reading "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" at school when I was about 8. I don't really remember being particularly bothered by it at the time, and in fact had imagined the Oompa Loompas to be kindly elf like beings, so I was quite shocked a couple of years later to see the film and they were horrible creepy things with green faces! It's only as I have got older that I realise how macabre the story actually is.

I think the only other one I have read of his is "Danny The Champion Of The World" which is a much nicer book, but then again it does involve upstanding members of society eg. the doctor and the village bobby, condoning poaching!

[Katharine]

I quite happily read Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach as a child. I recently started to re-read James and the Giant Peach and was struck by how unpleasant bits of it are. I remember reading my son's copy of The Twits a few years back and thinking that was quite revolting too. I saw a performance of Danny The Champion of The World a year or so ago, and really enjoyed that. So I have mixed thoughts on Roald Dahl. However the 'powers that be' seem to tell us that he's a brilliant author that we must read and enjoy!

Surely, once again, it's a matter of taste?

[Poppy]

What an awful review. I can't say I agree with any of the points that this woman wrote, however disagree with almost every aspect. It is appalling of her to write such things about Enid Blyton, who is hardly responsible for some of the things she mentioned in her books that are today recognised as racist. How could she know that one day this would happen? Also, she is wrong in many ways about her critism of The River of Adventure. She has mostly mentioned about the changes in the country which she seems to fail to understand that it would not be exactly the same as Britain... Such great work of a fantastic author, does not desearve to be critisized so severely.

[Belly]

I wish we could like posts as I'd like several here - especially Anita's.

As for the vocabulary not being ambitious who could forget 'a fusillade of barks' or something like that. I don't think I've ever seen another writer use 'fusillade' and I am quite widely read. I think if any primary child used that in their writing a teacher might raise an eyebrow...

[Ming]

I will have to use "fusillade of barks" sometime!

What an awful article. Leaves a nasty taste in the mouth after reading it.

[pete9012S]

What an awful article. Leaves a nasty taste in the mouth after reading it.

That's exactly how I felt!..It also put me in mind of this little passage...

'My teeth do feel a bit funny, now I come to think of it,' said Sooty, opening and shutting his mouth as if to see if they were all right. I think I'd better go and clean them, sir. I feel as if I've got the taste of Block's ankle in my mouth. And it isn't nice.'

[Anita Bensoussane]

Once again I fail to understand why Enid Blyton should constantly be singled out for criticism...Sheila mentions how some people such as librarians were concerned that her works didn't compare favourably with the classics such as Dickens and John Masefield. As a child I tried and gave up on both The Water Babies and The Midnight Folk. I forced myself to read both these books a few years ago and found them dull, boring and not at all enjoyable. In fact the John Masefield book I frankly struggled to understand.

I also found Charles Kingsley's The Water Babies boring when I was a child, Katharine. I've never re-read it as an adult but I have seen a film version and I still consider the whole of the underwater episode dull, whether on page or screen. As for John Masefield, I enjoyed reading The Box of Delights as a child and also liked the TV serial that came out when I was in my teens but I didn't read The Midnight Folk until a few years ago and, like you, found it so aimless and unexciting that I failed to finish it. It lacked the poetic feel and mysterious atmosphere of The Box of Delights and I could hardly believe it was by the same author.

Personally what I don't understand is the fact they won't let their children read Blyton, but they will let them read Ronal Dahl (not sure of spelling). His books are really bad for kids in my opinion. They're scary. Children being tricked and turned into mice by witches etc.

I loved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Danny Champion of the World, The Magic Finger and The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar as a child and I also very much liked Matilda, which I discovered in my twenties. I revelled in Dahl's sense of fun and enjoyment of words. However, I do find some of his books over the top, e.g. The Twits and George's Marvellous Medicine. His most successful stories in my opinion are the more sensitive ones.

What an awful article. Leaves a nasty taste in the mouth after reading it.

That's exactly how I felt!..It also put me in mind of this little passage...

'My teeth do feel a bit funny, now I come to think of it,' said Sooty, opening and shutting his mouth as if to see if they were all right. I think I'd better go and clean them, sir. I feel as if I've got the taste of Block's ankle in my mouth. And it isn't nice.'

A great quotation, Pete! And it serves to show just what a talented author Enid Blyton is. She doesn't need to use difficult or pompous words or phrases to beef up her stories. Her writing has a natural, effortless feel to it and she is particularly adept at writing dialogue. The passage quoted is just right in its rhythmic quality and comic timing. The reason Enid Blyton is so underrated by critics is probably that the media have tended to concentrate on the perceived "racism" and "sexism" in the books, and on the repetition of stock phrases like "at top speed" and "as blue as cornflowers", rather than examining the many positive qualities of her writing.

[Poppy]

Yes I like this comical quotation, too!

Enid clearly states in her autobiography, she wishes to bring happiness and enjoyment to the children of the world trough her books. We should respect her books for this reason, and not be ungrateful as the writer of this article was, for the kindness Enid offers.

[Katharine]

Anita, I'm so relieved to hear you didn't enjoy either of those books. Maybe I should give both authors another try and read something different by them though. After all, I'd probably try and persuade someone to read more than just one Enid Blyton book.

I can agree with some points by critics about the repetition of certain phrases in Enid's works, such as food tasting so much better outside etc. However, given that she wrote several hundred books it's not hard to understand why she repeated herself. I'm sure most other authors would do the same if they produced such large volumes of work.

One aspect of Enid's work that I feel is overlooked is that she rarely seems to use the same word twice in a sentence or sometimes even a paragraph, other than obvious words such as 'the', 'and' etc. I can't think of any specific examples off the top of my head, but I have noticed that some children's authors- particularly newer ones always seem to use the same word. Perhaps if they were describing a dress as blue, they would then always use the word blue, whereas Enid would then describe it as having a billowing skirt, or being shabby or some other description, these tiny little touches gradually build up a 3 dimensional image whereas other authors might over look the description altogether, or else give one long winded description at the start which I usually find rather boring.

I don't feel I've explained that very well - but then I don't have Enid's magical touch.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Maybe I should give both authors another try and read something different by them though.

Poetry by Charles Kingsley and John Masefield is quite often included in anthologies and I'm particularly fond of some of John Masefield's, especially 'Sea-Fever':

I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face and a grey dawn breaking.

I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.