Enid's 1937-1940 diaries

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Anita Bensoussane
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Re: Enid's 1937-1940 diaries

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Let's hope that more of the Birn Brothers books turn up soon!

It's very interesting to hear about the writing of The Enid Blyton Book of Brownies. That story has always been special to me because it was not only my first Blyton novel, but my first "chapter book" by any author. It wasn't until I was an adult that I learnt it was the first full-length book Enid wrote and that the idea for the story might even have come to her years earlier. The Enid Blyton Society Journal Number 11, Spring 2000, contains a letter which Enid sent to book-reviewer Mrs. Howe in the 1950s, and Enid says in the letter that The Enid Blyton Book of Bunnies and The Enid Blyton Book of Brownies "were the first books I ever wrote – in fact one of them was planned when I was a schoolgirl!"
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

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Rob Houghton
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Re: Enid's 1937-1940 diaries

Post by Rob Houghton »

Fascinating! I'd forgotten that, though must have read it in The Journal at the time. :-) Like you, I think 'the Book Of Brownies' was my first 'Chapter Book' I ever owned - although I had some other Enid Blyton short story books before that one. I think Binkle and Flip was my second 'chapter book' - though I can't be 100% sure. I find it hard to remember because many of the books I had read to me or read for myself belonged to my sister. :-)
'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: Enid's 1937-1940 diaries

Post by Green Hedges »

Very interesting that information from Tony about the writing of The Book of Brownies. Written in 1926, it's not only the first Blyton 'novel', apart from 'The Caravn Goes On' for adults of 1930, its the only one for children until The Green Goblin Book of 1935 and The Yellow Fairy Book of 1936. Though none of these books are free-flowing novels like, say, a Famous Five novel, those early efforts are all episodic.

If I understand Tony correctly, the only extant Blyton work log book is the 1923-1926 one. There is not one still in existence about 1935/36 when the two Goblin/Fairy books mentioned above were written. And there's not one about 1937-40 when Enid's writing practice really took off. So it's important in giving clues as to what happened.

In Enid's personal diary for 1926 she writes:

Monday, 1 March, 1926: 'Began my Book of Brownies in a.m. and tore it up in the afternoon because I didn’t like it. Began it again at 4. Hugh and I read all evening.’

Tony tells us that her work log provides the following info:
March 1-4 The Book of Brownies Chapters 1 to 3
March 5-11 Work for Teachers World and a long short story for Newnes
March 12-17 The Book of Brownies Chapters 4 to 8
March 19-28 Teachers World, work for a Newnes Annual, 4 short books for Birn Brothers and 1 book for Nelson
March 29-31 The Book of Brownies Chapters 9 to 11
So you could say she wrote The Book of Brownies really quickly, in the way she's become famous for. But that would be wrong. In fact, she wrote the first three chapters over four days. Took a week long break. Wrote another five chapters over six days, then took a ten day break (from that book, not from writing as a whole). Only then did she write three more chapters over three days. Tony then goes on to say there was a five day break before she wrote the final chapter of The Book of Brownies.

Well, that is more than a month and a fair distance from the way The River of Adventure or a famous Five book was written - in a week - and might explain why this early book (of Brownies) is so episodic. And it may be that much the same went on as far as the 1935, 36 and 37 books were concerned, for those were all episodic as well.

Take the first serial that began to come out at the beginning of 1937, The Wishing Chair. No doubt Enid launched it by writing a fair few chapters. She may well have taken a break of a week (or a month) before writing another chunk. It now seems obvious that she wouldn't have written such an episodic book with so many chapters all at once. (Granted, as Tony says, we know that she wouldn't have written it one weekly episode at a time either.) There were 36 weekly issues of Sunny Stories in a row concerning The Wishing Chair. When the book came out, adventures five, six, seven and eight had been left out, presumably so that the book wasn't too large, and because it didn't matter to the plot! Taking out that section of chapters didn't remove any essential information, action or character development.

So this all adds to the picture of how Enid's ability to write in a sustained way improved over time. In fact it wasn't really there until 1939, one might hypothesise, when The Treasure Hunters appeared.

"Cough-cough," Sorry, that's me. Dammit, I have to go back to bed.

"Dram me up, Flip!"

Duncan :)
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Rob Houghton
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Re: Enid's 1937-1940 diaries

Post by Rob Houghton »

Green Hedges wrote:Very interesting that information from Tony about the writing of The Book of Brownies. Written in 1926, it's not only the first Blyton 'novel', apart from 'The Caravn Goes On' for adults of 1930, its the only one for children until The Green Goblin Book of 1935 and The Yellow Fairy Book of 1936. Though none of these books are free-flowing novels like, say, a Famous Five novel, those early efforts are all episodic.
Although I agree that 'The Green Goblin Book' (Feefo Tuppeny and Jinks) could be said to be episodic, I wouldn't call 'The Yellow Fairy Book' any more episodic than The Book of Brownies'. It has a very similar plot - a 'quest' and it is one continuous story with a beginning, a middle and an end! :D
'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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