Readathon - Smuggler Ben and Cliff Castle

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Liam
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Re: Readathon - Smuggler Ben and Cliff Castle

Post by Liam »

Rob Houghton wrote:
Liam wrote:Enid also used the phrase ‘black as thunder’ a few sentences down. This ‘black’ is even less literal. How is thunder a color? Obviously it’s a feeling that ‘black’ is supposed to convey in that case. :)
'black as thunder' refers to the dark black thunder clouds that accompany the storm. :-D

I still think 'black' is odd in this instance of describing sunburn. Enid would usually say 'as brown as berries' etc.
Remember ‘black as thunder’ referred to Uncle Quentin when he was angry. In Smuggler Ben it’s a similar mood that is described:
The boy stood watching them, feeling the sharp edge of his knife with his thumb. His sullen face looked as black as thunder.
I would say the word black in this case refers to pent up feeling ready to explode, like an overcast sky laden with clouds ready to pour. And to the ominous nature of thunder.
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Re: Readathon - Smuggler Ben and Cliff Castle

Post by Courtenay »

Gosh, everyone's written such wonderful reviews of Smuggler Ben already that I can hardly think of anything more to add! I agree with just about everyone's comments so far — this is such an evocative and enjoyable little story and it's amazing how Enid manages to pack in so much action and excitement that it feels like a much longer book than it is. (This was my first time reading it.)

I would say the story is almost certainly set in Cornwall — the shopkeeper, Ben's grandmother, is called Mrs Polsett, and although I'm not sure if that is a genuine Cornish surname, it certainly looks like an attempt to sound like one! :wink: I've always remembered how Enid introduces us to the saying about "Tre, Pol and Pen" in Five Go Down to the Sea, and sure enough, almost all the characters and place-names in that book live up to it.

It was also particularly interesting to have a book that ties in so clearly with the real-life war that was going on when it was published (if not with the rationing! :wink: ) — very unusual for Enid and it gives the book an extra flavour of drama and intrigue, with a reminder that this was a time when there were real dangers directly threatening Britain itself and spies were to be taken very seriously indeed. I agree with Lucky Star, though, that it was a bit too convenient to have Uncle Ned not only decide to follow the children and join in with their late-night "prank" rather than trying to bring them back (jolly decent fellow, really), but to also have his revolver with him!! But it makes for a very exciting showdown at the end, and it's sort of a relief that the children have a responsible (and armed) adult there when things turn nasty.

I must admit I didn't think of the similarities between Smuggler Ben and George, though I see them now. Perhaps Enid was putting a fair bit of herself into both? I also agree that Hilary was the most interesting of the other children — I particularly enjoyed the plot twist where she sees Ben injure himself and ties up his cut hand for him, which of course leads to him becoming friends with her and the others. I felt a bit sorry for Frances, though, that she didn't get much of a look-in and we learned very little about her as a character. The story could easily have been about just a brother and sister, Alec and Hilary, and their friendship with Ben.

All in all, this was a brilliant little book and I'm so glad to have been introduced to it — it does show Enid could write a short adventure story every bit as engaging and enjoyable as her many longer ones. A delight all the way through! :D
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Re: Readathon - Smuggler Ben and Cliff Castle

Post by Rob Houghton »

It's interesting that when I first 'met' Smuggler Ben (at the age of 12 or 13 the paperback omnibus was one of the last Enid Blyton books I read until I was 22) I hated it. I thought this book, and Cliff Castle, as well as St Rollos and Children of Kidillin, which I read all at the same age, were really weak. I didn't realise their history then, and presumed that Enid Blyton had 'lost her talent for writing'. After these two omnibuses I read 'The Mystery That Never Was' and my feelings were reinforced. I felt I'd outgrown Enid Blyton and didn't read another of her books for about 10 years.

As an adult, I appreciate the Mary Pollock books very much and enjoy them far more than I ever did as a young teenager. In my article about the Mary Pollock books in The Journal, I described them as 'Blyton in a nutshell' - Smuggler Ben is almost a step-by step guide to writing a mystery/adventure story, while St Rollo's is a step-by-step guide to writing a school book, and three Boys and a Circus does the same for school books. They are all minature 'classics' - but Smuggler Ben remains one of my favourites.
'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: Readathon - Smuggler Ben and Cliff Castle

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Julie2owlsdene wrote:Another thing I noticed more this time, was when the children were in the cave and they got caught by the tide, Ben said I hope your mother won't be worried about you, and they replied that she was out tonight. I wondered where she would go? Especially as she was on her own. It's not as though there would be a cinema in the small cove?
I also wondered where the children's mother went. I thought she might have got to know another holidaymaker or a local (most likely a well-heeled one) and gone round to their place. When I read the book as a child, it never occurred to me to wonder what Mother got up to. Her job was to provide delicious meals and otherwise keep out of the way so the adventure could proceed unimpeded!
Lucky Star wrote:I could scarcely believe some of the attitudes towards safety that Enid displays. The children scramble up and down cliffs, get cut off by tides, attack a collapsing tunnel roof deep underground; it's a wonder they survived at all. :lol: Granted this is Enid adding to the childish excitement of the story but what a collection of dangers she conjured up. I was also surprised at the mother being so casual about renting a boat for her kids to go to sea in. Given that they didn't know the coast and were unused to the sea I would have rated it a very foolish thing indeed to give them a boat.
Yes, some of their activities are most alarming to read about! I bet their mother went grey at an early age!
Lucky Star wrote:The "He's only a fisher boy" comment struck a jarring note for me too. It sounds extremely snobbish to me and I think it unfortunately reinforces the stereotype that Enid's characters were snobs and elitists.
Alec, Hilary and Frances do go on to befriend Ben though, and their mother is perfectly happy about that and even invites him round to the cottage. Since the children are given a boat between the four of them at the end of the book (which Ben will surely get to use more than the others, living permanently in the village!) I imagine that they'll keep in touch and meet up again from time to time.

Having said that, I'm always shocked at the fact that George doesn't go to school in Five on a Treasure Island. There is no Second World War to interrupt youngsters' education in the world of the Famous Five and the children of the fisher-folk, farmers and shopkeepers must attend a school in or near Kirrin. Even though George spends a bit of time with Alf/James, it appears that it's unthinkable for her to go to school with the working class children of her community!
Courtenay wrote:I would say the story is almost certainly set in Cornwall — the shopkeeper, Ben's grandmother, is called Mrs Polsett, and although I'm not sure if that is a genuine Cornish surname, it certainly looks like an attempt to sound like one! :wink: I've always remembered how Enid introduces us to the saying about "Tre, Pol and Pen" in Five Go Down to the Sea, and sure enough, almost all the characters and place-names in that book live up to it.
Ah yes - well spotted, Courtenay! That would seem to confirm that the story is set in Cornwall.
Rob Houghton wrote:It's interesting that when I first 'met' Smuggler Ben (at the age of 12 or 13 the paperback omnibus was one of the last Enid Blyton books I read until I was 22) I hated it. I thought this book, and Cliff Castle, as well as St Rollos and Children of Kidillin, which I read all at the same age, were really weak. I didn't realise their history then, and presumed that Enid Blyton had 'lost her talent for writing'. After these two omnibuses I read 'The Mystery That Never Was' and my feelings were reinforced. I felt I'd outgrown Enid Blyton and didn't read another of her books for about 10 years.
The Mary Pollock books (along with a couple of other Blytons) were also among my last Blyton books as a child. I found the Collins 2-in-1 editions at a junior school Bring and Buy Sale when I was eleven - Mystery Stories (Cliff Castle and Smuggler Ben), Adventure Stories (St. Rollo's and Kidillin) and Dog Stories (Three Boys and a Circus and Scamp). At the same sale I also picked up The Boy Next Door and The Treasure Hunters. I remember paying 5 p per book. The Boy Next Door was the best of the lot but I found the others disappointing at the time. I only bought two more Blyton books after that - The Adventure of the Strange Ruby and The Mystery That Never Was, neither of which I liked much either. However, if I'd come across them at the age of eight I'm sure I'd have enjoyed them a lot more.
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Re: Readathon - Smuggler Ben and Cliff Castle

Post by Daisy »

I wonder if I am the only one here who read these books by Mary Pollock and had no idea they were actually by Enid Blyton. I read them at the same time as I was reading Blyton for the first time and it never occurred to me to suppose the two authors were the same. Of course there were far fewer Blyton books around at that time. One Barney story, just seven Fives books and Noddy wasn't born! I was also reading Kathleen Fidler's Brydon series and the Chalet books by Elinor Brent-Dyer and various others borrowed from the library. I had quite a lot of catching up to do when I came back to Enid when my children were small. Seeing the number of books in the Cave, I realize I am still catching up!
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Re: Readathon - Smuggler Ben and Cliff Castle

Post by Courtenay »

Anita Bensoussane wrote: Ah yes - well spotted, Courtenay! That would seem to confirm that the story is set in Cornwall.
Well, I'd just got back from a week in Cornwall myself when I started reading the book, so it stood out! :wink:
Daisy wrote:I wonder if I am the only one here who read these books by Mary Pollock and had no idea they were actually by Enid Blyton. I read them at the same time as I was reading Blyton for the first time and it never occurred to me to suppose the two authors were the same.
Yes, it would be interesting to know if there are any others here with that experience... I've just looked in the Cave and the six Mary Pollock books were all republished as Enid Blyton between 1950-52, only about 10 years after their original publication, so that's a fair bit of time when the public didn't know the author's real identity.

I must say, reading Smuggler Ben with the knowledge that it's an Enid Blyton book, it does read exactly like an Enid Blyton book — she made no attempt to disguise her style! — but would I have guessed if I'd originally read it as a "Mary Pollock" book? I don't know.
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Re: Readathon - Smuggler Ben and Cliff Castle

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

It's interesting to hear of your experience, Daisy. My Collins editions (plain yellow boards without dustwrappers) have the name Enid Blyton on the spine and inside, so when I first read them I had no idea that they'd ever been published under another name.
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Re: Readathon - Smuggler Ben and Cliff Castle

Post by Rob Houghton »

Its interesting to hear that, as I've only ever read about this in biographies etc and never come across anyone who actually read the books as Mary Pollock books. When I first read them in paperback in the 1980's, I of course just thought they were written by Enid Blyton, although I did think they were inferior to other Blyton books I'd read, so they did stand out as somehow 'different'.
'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: Readathon - Smuggler Ben and Cliff Castle

Post by Liam »

Anita Bensoussane wrote: I must say I enjoyed Smuggler Ben, which is perhaps my favourite of the Mary Pollock novels. The setting sounds idyllic with the thatched cottage complete with library, marigold-lined path, views of the sea and heather-clad moors (like Kirrin Cottage!) and a sandy road leading to the village, with chicory and poppies by the wayside. There are shades of The Secret of Spiggy Holes and, as the story unfolds, also The Adventurous Four. As for Ben, he's a bit like George in Five on a Treasure Island in that he's wary of other children at first and seems rather hostile and secretive but soon learns that it's fun to share - "You lend me your books - and I'll lend you my boat." Like Jack in The Secret Island, he gets called "Captain" by the others. Smuggler Ben is clearly aimed at younger children so it's shorter than the other books I've mentioned and the plot is not as involved. Nevertheless, Enid Blyton packs a lot in and there is much to enthral and entertain.
The amount of parallels is amazing, both with earlier and later books. I was of the mind that the elusive Enid Blyton Formula would be found in the similarities between books. That kind of makes sense - repetition would reveal a pattern or formula. If that was so, this book should reveal that formula because of the abundance of parallels with other books. Only it does not. I still don’t see that magical way or should I say mechanical way I can write an Enid Blyton book. So now I see that the Enid Blyton secret lies not in similarities, but in difference. It is the difference that is able to reshuffle old themes and plotlines into a new and exciting work of art. But difference is just another word for imagination. And for imagination there is no formula. So there goes my hope of ever writing an Enid Blyton story!
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Re: Readathon - Smuggler Ben and Cliff Castle

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

I agree that it's hopeless looking for a formula. Plot ingredients, structure and vocabulary are only part of Enid Blyton's appeal anyway. Voice, mindset and all manner of other things play a part.

Interesting comment about the Blyton secret lying in difference rather than similarities. The best of her stories will feel familiarly Blytonesque while still containing plenty that is surprising. Enid was adept at ringing the changes as you say, Liam, and she brought such joyousness and zest for life to her work that her prose flows with a zing and always feels fresh.
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Re: Readathon - Smuggler Ben and Cliff Castle

Post by Rob Houghton »

I agree. I've always thought Enid's greatest strength was the very thing many people pointed at as a weakness - the similarities, but the fact that none of her books were ever truly alike. As Anita says, they are familiarly comfortable - but as Liam says, never the same. Her biggest strength was twisting a familiar story so we feel we are on familiar ground and yet we have no idea what will happen.

Writing EB stories as I have, I find that the most challenging aspect. Its easy to write a 'pastiche' but harder to write something that is familiar and yet fresh.
'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: Readathon - Smuggler Ben and Cliff Castle

Post by Liam »

Maybe it’s the ability to think with characters that makes the difference, to think of new characters, or characters in new situations that automatically will reshuffle the old ideas and plotlines. If on the other hand you have an analytic mind like I do, you have an instinctive block against working with whole things like characters. You just have to break things up into their basic elements. But trying to reshuffle the ideas and plotlines on their own without the characters is a dead end.
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Re: Readathon - Smuggler Ben and Cliff Castle

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Yes, Enid Blyton does seem to "think with characters" and let herself be led by the characters which appear in her mind. In her autobiography, The Story of My Life, she writes:
I sit in my chair, shut my eyes and wait till my characters appear in my mind's eye. Remember, I don't know who or what they will be! There are always children, of course, or something to do with the world of children.

Then, as I sit still and look into my mind's eye, my characters appear... They stand there in my mind's eye and I can see them as clearly as I see you when I look at you. I can see if they are tall or short, dark or fair, fat or thin. And more than that, in some queer way I can see into their characters too. I know if they are kind or unkind, hot-tempered, generous, amusing, or deceitful! They stand there complete before me, exactly as they would in real life, and I can see every single detail of them. I do not have to invent anything, either in their appearance or their character. They appear complete...
Enid explains that the only thing that doesn't come to her without thought is her characters' surnames - she resorts to looking up suitable names in the telephone directory.

She continues:
As I look at my new characters... they seem to come alive. They move and laugh and talk - they are real to me now. They will be with me all the time I write my book.

And now, having found my characters, I must find my "setting". This is important too. Adventures cannot happen without characters to experience them, and a place to happen in! So, once again, I look steadfastly into my mind's eye, and the setting appears.
As she walks herself through the setting, further characters and story ideas come to her and she's ready to begin typing:
It is as if I were watching a story being unfolded on a bright screen. Characters come and go, talk and laugh, things happen to them... the whole story sparkles on my private "screen" inside my head, and I simply put down what I see and hear.

The story comes out complete and whole from beginning to end. I do not have to stop and think for one moment. If I tried to think out the whole book, as some writers do, I could not do it. For one thing it would bore me, and for another it would lack the "verve" and the extraordinary touches and surprising ideas that flood out from my imagination. People in my books make jokes I could never have thought of myself. I am merely a sightseer, a reporter, an interpreter, whatever you like to call me.

The only thing that is mine where the book is concerned, is that it is my imagination that has supplied every word. Although it is something beyond myself, bigger than I am, it is still mine. I cannot alter it in any way, but I can supply it with more and more facts to feed on; I can make the road to it easy to travel, so that at any moment I can open the way from my imagination to my conscious mind, and can put into written words the stories and fantasies that come flooding out when I fling wide the gates.

It is open to all writers to enrich their imagination and to make it easy of access. The more one observes and hears and learns, the more one reads (and that is very important), the more one ponders and muses consciously on this, that and the other, the richer the imagination becomes.
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

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Re: Readathon - Smuggler Ben and Cliff Castle

Post by Rob Houghton »

The only thing that is mine where the book is concerned, is that it is my imagination that has supplied every word. Although it is something beyond myself, bigger than I am, it is still mine. I cannot alter it in any way, but I can supply it with more and more facts to feed on; I can make the road to it easy to travel, so that at any moment I can open the way from my imagination to my conscious mind, and can put into written words the stories and fantasies that come flooding out when I fling wide the gates.
I think of all the stuff Enid writes about her techniques in The Story of My Life', this quote is the most important of all. Enid has basically been describing how imagination works in all the other quotes. The cinema screen thing, the children popping up 'fully formed', the way they look, the things that happen, the 'cinema screen' thing - its just the way all writers see things. I've never thought it was anything special - just Enid describing it to her fans as best she could. :-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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Re: Readathon - Smuggler Ben and Cliff Castle

Post by pete9012S »

I thought this was quite an interesting review of the book I came across a few years ago:
A Boy who Dreams of Being a Smuggler:


I was rather surprised to discover that this little mystery story has a war setting in the background, and in fact the war seems to play a major role in the story. A family (minus the father, who is a soldier, as were most men his age at the time) goes on a holiday to a beach side cottage where they meet an apparently obnoxious young boy who does not like company. However one of the girls manages to befriend him and discovers that he is full of secrets that he is happy to reveal to those he trusts.

His name is Ben, but he calls himself Smuggler Ben namely because he fantasizes about being a smuggler. It is sort of one of the childhood things where we dream of the adventure without realising that the adventure involves getting on the wrong side of certain people. However Blyton's adventures always involve bad people (and there is generally no ambiguity about it, they are either thieves, or spies as in the case of this book, and are no doubt up to no good). Blyton is not interested in exploring the grey side of humanity, but rather helping us retain our innocence by undermining those who seek to take it away.

Obviously with the war playing in the background the loss of innocence is front and centre, and no doubt the holiday was not necessarily a vacation, though by the time this story had been written the London Blitz was over and the tide of the war was beginning to turn (no doubt due to Hitler's decision to invade Russia). However threats to the British way of life were still evident, and no doubt there were still a lot of Nazi sympathisers living within Britain as well (as is suggested by this book).

Okay, this is a children's book, and no doubt such books are not meant to have themes or explore deep issues – at the age when I was reading these books English had more to do with comprehension rather that actually teasing out ideas and issues, but then again is that not what English literature all about, attempting to comprehend what the author is telling us and trying to understand the themes and issues that the author is exploring? Blyton, despite being a very popular author (I remember reading a Blyton book while standing in the Melbourne Central railway station when a guy that was dressed like a punk passed me and cried out 'Enid Blyton, I love Enid Blyton'; another shop that I went into told me that I would have a lot of trouble finding any Enid Blyton books due to their popularity, though once again that was in Melbourne, and I had no problems at all finding them in Adelaide, something that I will have to do when I return for a little while in August), is not interested in exploring the grey side of life, but rather giving children the belief that they can fight to maintain their innocence. Then again, most of her stories involve children stumbling on crimes, rather that the children being the target of the crime. Still, the idea of the innocence of childhood is something that permeates Enid Blyton.
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