Katharine wrote:George VI was born about 10 years before my grandmother, who was also left handed - at school she had her knuckles rapped with a ruler and so was forced to use her right hand - it was obviously standard practice in that era - nothing to do with being a 'nasty' father to his son.
At elementary school if we hadn't done our home work, we still got our knuckles rapped with a ruler way back in 1965. I hated it, but German parents didn't comain about it...it was accepted.
The law was fortunately changed some time in the 1990's and in 2000 they finally passed a law about German children no longer being allowed to get beaten up by their parents.
Chrissie
Society Member
"For me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake."
Alfred Hitchcock
Morgan Jones wrote:For the benefit of those who cannot access the article referenced above: She has sold more books than any other children's author, enchanting millions of young readers with tales of adventure, ginger beer and buns.
But Enid Blyton was denied the honour of a commemorative coin after Royal Mint bosses branded the creator of the Famous Five and Secret Seven novels a 'racist homophobe', newly-released documents reveal.
The snub has infuriated fans of the Noddy author who insist her books – which have sold 600 million copies to date and still sell hundreds of thousands a year – have inspired generations of children to read.
The idea of a commemorative 50p coin for Blyton was discussed at a meeting of the Royal Mint's advisory committee in December 2016.
Thank you, Morgan.
It is indeed infuriating that EB won't get a coin dedicated to her.
Chrissie
Society Member
"For me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake."
Alfred Hitchcock
timv wrote:Another irritating example of the 'Great and the Good' on an official body rushing to judgement and not bothering to look at the evidence, I'm afraid! I fail to see where the 'homophobia' charge comes from...
This is the first time ever I hear about this charge!
And even if it was true - I could care less about it. It's her business and nobody else's.
Another famous author, Daphne DuMaurier, liked women more than men and wrote some of the best novels (Frenchman's Creek, The House on the Strand, Rebecca, The King's General, Rule Britannia).
Is the private life of an author really that important? I doubt it.
Chrissie
Society Member
"For me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake."
Alfred Hitchcock
John Pickup wrote: My love of books stemmed from reading Enid's work when I was a small boy. She has taken me to some magical places that I still love to visit. A stupid decision.
Same here.
Before EB I read books to please my parents.
When I was 10 and discovered EB, I read books, because now it was fun and interesting and suspenseful. EB turned me into an avid reader.
Kirrin Bay is the most magical place I can imagine and it never lost it's magic for me.
Chrissie
Society Member
"For me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake."
Alfred Hitchcock
Anita Bensoussane wrote:True. Jo-Jo in The Island of Adventure has been whitened and The Secret Mountain (in which Mafumu plays a major part) has been removed from the Secret Series altogether.
I'm glad I still have my old German translations from the 1960's and the lovely MacMiIllan hardcovers from the late 1970's where Jo-Jo is still intact.
Chrissie
Society Member
"For me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake."
Alfred Hitchcock
Jo-Jo was a great baddie and turned out to be the leader of the gang - to whiten him is as bad as blackening a character. Why shouldn't a black character be allowed to be bad - just plain prejudice.
Yes, exactly — there's absolutely nothing in the book (as originally written) that suggests that because Jo-Jo is a black man who happens to be a villain, therefore all black men (or black people) are villains. In fact, it's made quite clear in the book that Jo-Jo is a highly intelligent and very sinister criminal — and that he deliberately uses the prejudices of the mainly white British population around him as a cover for him to get away with what he does. They all assume that he's eccentric and a bit simple, and he plays up to those assumptions so that everyone thinks he's not clever enough to be up to anything seriously bad, when of course he is. He's one of Enid's most successful and scary villains — towards the end, when we see what fate he's abandoning Bill and the boys to, it's downright chilling.
About the only thing in the whole of The Island of Adventure that does perhaps grate a little when it comes to the portrayal of Jo-Jo, I think, is Enid's constant references to him as "the black man". But that's completely understandable when one realises that in 1940s Britain, there were not many non-white people at all and in that kind of setting, someone with dark skin really does stand out. (From having grown up in an all-white community in Australia in the 1980s, I remember how surprising it was, when I was really little, to occasionally see black people in real life rather than just on the TV.) Like most of the things critics complain about in Enid Blyton, it's simply a reflection of the times she lived in, not conscious and intentional prejudice on her part — let alone a deliberate attempt to teach children to be prejudiced.
Society Member
It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
Courtenay wrote:Yes, exactly — there's absolutely nothing in the book (as originally written) that suggests that because Jo-Jo is a black man who happens to be a villain, therefore all black men (or black people) are villains. In fact, it's made quite clear in the book that Jo-Jo is a highly intelligent and very sinister criminal — and that he deliberately uses the prejudices of the mainly white British population around him as a cover for him to get away with what he does. They all assume that he's eccentric and a bit simple, and he plays up to those assumptions so that everyone thinks he's not clever enough to be up to anything seriously bad, when of course he is. He's one of Enid's most successful and scary villains — towards the end, when we see what fate he's abandoning Bill and the boys to, it's downright chilling.
Great post, Courtenay!
Chrissie
Society Member
"For me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake."
Alfred Hitchcock
Boatbuilder wrote:Here we go again! I've just read this. Although not Enid Blyton, it's all related to the same sort of thing being discussed in this topic.
I have just viewed a leaflet advertising a local careers fair. There are a number of different sectors, and they all have images alongside them. Most have general pictures, such as a a ship to advertise the logistics sector, but a few featured photos of people - all of them female, so that's a female teacher, computer programmer, something to do with the building industry and a soldier. How on earth can that be seen as acceptable - no males featured at all.
I wonder how long it will be before all the Harry Potter books are revised to feature Harriet Potter?
Katharine wrote:
I wonder how long it will be before all the Harry Potter books are revised to feature Harriet Potter?
There will be an edition also where people can choose whether they identify with Harry or Harriet.
"What a lot of trouble one avoids if one refuses to have anything to do with the common herd. To have no job, to devote ones life to literature, is the most wonderful thing in the world. - Cicero
