Journal 55

[Anita Bensoussane]

Thanks Francis, John and Daisy!

Like others, I think Enid Blyton's 'From My Window' article about the finding of Elfin Cottage (or Elfin House, as she seems to have been thinking of calling it) is lovely, especially the description of the house as "just big enough and just little enough." I don't think I've ever come across the word "pertled" before. Sadly, the road Elfin Cottage is on is no longer "quiet" - though I was pleased to see the house on the Beckenham walk that several of us went on in 2013.

Dating from the Elfin Cottage days is Enid's Christmas card featuring sketches of her animals - a fascinating item. Also fascinating is the prologue for the school concert - an appealing combination of grandeur and humour.

What a warm, glowing scene from Secret of the Old Mill on the centre pages. I have the story in a paperback collection of Secret Seven short stories, but it's a real pity that it doesn't have Eileen Soper's beautiful pictures.

'Spot Goes to Fairyland' is a gentle and enjoyable read, greatly enhanced by Kathleen Nixon's truly charming illustrations.

The Dedman and Sydney letters are very interesting indeed, especially the comments about the Mary Pollock books which do seem to confirm that Enid Blyton was curious to see whether her books would be as popular without her name attached to them. Is "Bill Johns" W. E. Johns who wrote the Biggles books, I wonder?

Enid says the same thing to Mr. Sydney that she said to Mr. Dedman - that in her opinion "the best librarians are always men!" Did she really think that, or was she just buttering them up?!

Funny that the newspaper articles give different figures. I notice that it says in the Leyton Express and Independent, "Her stories are nevertheless read not only by the young but adults also." It's good to know that adult Blyton enthusiasts existed even at the time the books were being written! When the same newspaper says, "Even Mr. Somerset Vaughan would have been pleased with such a reception", I wonder whether they mean Mr. Somerset Maugham.

I enjoyed Freda Knight's piece about the Famous Five too. I came along about ten years after Freda and had an advantage in that cheap mass produced paperbacks had arrived so I didn't have to rely entirely upon the library for my reading of these books but I well remember my own school library and the feeling of scurrying out with the precious Blytonian (or William or whoever) treasures stored safely in my schoolbag.

I also grew up collecting the books in paperback, as well as borrowing hardback editions from the town library. However, I never saw any Enid Blyton books in the school library. Maybe the school thought children read enough Enid Blyton books off their own bat, so they wanted to promote other authors to make sure we got some variety!

[Ming]

I received my Journal last night! What a strange feeling it is, to be able to read the latest issue along with everyone else.

I've read through the first few articles. Loved them all.

I enjoyed Anita's review of The Secret Island. In particular, I liked the references to other novels about surviving and living on islands - positive or negative. I had heard of Robinson Crusoe and Lord of the Flies before but the others were new to me. It would be interesting to read all of this sometime - off to Amazon for compiling a winter reading list!

Enid's conversation with the children about the books I enjoyed was lovely. "Suspencious" is such a wonderful word! The children's enthusiasm for the books were obvious. I liked that the girl mentioned reading about nature brought her joy. As a student of the natural world I can definitely identify with her. The adults' conversation about what makes a story a good story was very thoughtful too.

I enjoyed John Lester's article about the contents of Sunny Stories. I liked the commentary at the end of the telephone story, especially - how it was the unselfish love of a father for his son that helped the father safely home. Beautiful and touching.

I'll savour the rest of the articles during Thanksgiving.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I enjoyed Anita's review of The Secret Island. In particular, I liked the references to other novels about surviving and living on islands - positive or negative. I had heard of Robinson Crusoe and Lord of the Flies before but the others were new to me. It would be interesting to read all of this sometime - off to Amazon for compiling a winter reading list!

Thanks, Ming. As you're in America, it may be interesting for you to try The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. Both feature a brief stay on an island. To digress for a moment, my favourite American classics include Walden, or Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Moby Dick by Herman Melville and Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" series (beginning with Little House in the Big Woods).

I enjoyed John Lester's article about the contents of Sunny Stories. I liked the commentary at the end of the telephone story, especially - how it was the unselfish love of a father for his son that helped the father safely home. Beautiful and touching.

Yes, John Lester's comments were thought-provoking and made me reflect more deeply on the story. Another thing that makes that tale stand out is the rhyming title - 'Mr. Smick Plays a Trick'. It rolls off the tongue and is so satisfying to say.

[Enikyoga]

I also grew up collecting the books in paperback, as well as borrowing hardback editions from the town library. However, I never saw any Enid Blyton books in the school library. Maybe the school thought children read enough Enid Blyton books off their own bat, so they wanted to promote other authors to make sure we got some variety!

Anita, If I am not mistaken the time you were in school coincided with the period in which Enid Blyton's books were being pulled off the library shelves for a variety of reasons, including being politically incorrect as well as being accused of not having enough linguistic vocabulary. Incidentally, in Uganda where I was during my primary/elementary schooldays, the Kampala Public Library never housed any single Enid Blyton. Maybe, like as you have said, probably it was taken for granted Enid Blyton's books were very accessible to most children in one way or the other...
Stephen I.

[Petermax]

I have recently taken delivery of my Journal 55. Following my usual very eager cover to cover read I shall now savour this publication nice and slowly, just the right reading matter for these dark afternoons!

It is somewhat difficult to comment about the latest Journal and not to repeat anything that has already been said by the other Forumites. However, if I may make mention of Norman Wright's article Mary Cadogan: As I knew Her. Assuming that my memory is correct, Mary made an appearance at the 2009 Blyton Day. However, until reading Norman's article I had no idea of her impressive literary output and her involvement in a wide range of childrens literature. I really must hunt down a copy of her book, Richmal Crompton: The Woman Behind William. Along with Enid Blyton, Richmal Crompton was staple reading matter for me during the 1970's. I could add Anthony Buckeridge to that list but I digress and besides, Mary Cadogan never wrote a book about him!

The last paragraph of the article is very poignant in that it descibes how age and illness caught up with Mary despite the fact that she wanted to simply carry on and on. It just goes to show that our time on Earth is really nowhere near long enough.

A Letter From Enid Blyton No 20: Correspondence with Stanley Norman showed first hand the near superstar status of Enid Blyton during what could now be described as the 1950's halycon era. Were 2000 children really turned away from an autograph/book signing session at Bournemouth? I wonder if these events were ever captured on cinema newsreel cameras, a tantalising thought.

As usual the Journal is a cracking read and will stand up to many repeat reading sessions.

[sixret]

It just goes to show that our time on Earth is really nowhere near long enough.

.

Thank you for your review, Petermax.

Very much agreed with your statement. A lesson to be learned in every death. It is a reminder for living person. Have we prepared enough?

[tix]

As usual, the latest EBSJ is full of memorabilia, and the stimulating articles have been well praised and commented upon. However, there were a couple of points mentioned which could be addressed because such items can arouse one's curiosity.

Julie Heginbotham's interesting and very well illustrated piece referred to an Enid Blyton's Treasury tale called The Smugglers' Caves, and informs us that a story with the same title had appeared in a Sunny Stories Magazine. Enid Blyton using the same name for a story ... well, well!

The SS version was a different one altogether and dealt with two young boys on holiday at their grandma's place. The 'treasure' they found was actually some stuff belonging to a band of scouts but it all ends in fine Enid Blyton style.

The 'Desert Island Discs' parody by Rob Houghton, mentioned Binkle and Flip Bunny and queried as to whether or not the illustrations were by Grace Lodge.

The answer just has to be 'Yes' (cf Page #89).

[MJE]

     This question is really for Anita, although of course I'd be interested in anyone's thoughts on it. It relates to her review of "The Secret Island".

     I'm really curious about something you said in that review, Anita, and thought I'd ask you.
     You say near the end, "I won't say too much about the ending but for me it's bittersweet - as sad as it is happy - with certain things striking a jarring note after all that has gone before."
     I'm just wondering what you had in mind when you wrote this: it sounds as if it was something quite specific. I'm not sure if you thought it would be obvious to readers, but it isn't obvious to me: thinking back to the end of "The Secret Island", it seems a pretty happy ending to me, without a sad aspect: Capt. and Mrs. Arnold come back, it's Christmas, and Jack is adopted into the family; and Capt. Arnold even manages to buy the island for the children. I like happy endings, and I cannot think of any way you could add to this one.
     So what sad or bittersweet elements did you have in mind? Would you mind saying what they are? Is it perhaps that Jack parts from his grandfather, perhaps never to meet him again? But it sounded like there was little love lost between the two, so I can't see either of them missing the other much. Is it that the children have to go back to civilization and school, and cease their life of freedom on the island (if hiding from determined searchers or littering trippers counts as freedom)? But there is the prospect of being able to go back there for future holidays.
     So I'm curious about what you were thinking when you wrote that.
     Thanks.

Regards, Michael.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Sorry to have left you pondering, Michael!

So what sad or bittersweet elements did you have in mind?... Is it that the children have to go back to civilization and school, and cease their life of freedom on the island (if hiding from determined searchers or littering trippers counts as freedom)? But there is the prospect of being able to go back there for future holidays.

Your comment about the children having to go back to civilisation is what I had in mind, Michael. Of course, the island sojourn couldn't last forever and a winter on the island would have been gruelling. However, for much of the time it was portrayed as an idyllic existence in tranquil, natural surroundings. Staying alone on the island was an extraordinary experience, never to be repeated. Going back for future holidays would be fun but it would seem like a game compared to truly striving for survival without the help of adults, unaware what the future might hold. The children leave the island to rejoin (or join, in Jack's case) their loving parents and to enjoy an education and be able to play carefree games and not have to worry about food, clothes and shelter. It's a great gain, but at the same time it involves a loss - the loss of their island kingdom. Although they couldn't have existed like that for much longer, leaving the island is nevertheless a wrench for the characters and the reader.

[Rob Houghton]

I agree with you Anita. It's a bit how I felt at the end of 'The Family At Red Roofs' - a happy ending in most ways, but the children have to relinquish their independence, which they have won through their own determination. I felt similar at the end of 'The Secret Island' and as a reader I was looking forward to seeing how they survived through the winter, with all the problems that might entail - adventures on the frozen lake, maybe, living in the cave with a roaring fire while it snowed outside, etc. Although the ending is generally a happy one, I also felt that sadness that their adventures were over and the island has become less of a 'secret' than it was before.

[pete9012S]

I got a similar feeling of wistfulness at the end of The Six Bad Boys. Enid manages to allow us a glimpse into Tom's mind as he looks around the cellar on his return...a place once so cosy,warm and inviting viewed from a new enlightened perspective...it has always stayed with me...

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE One Year Later

He took a last look round as he went. Soon a new house
would be built over the cellar. What a horrid ugly place it
seemed now—but how beautiful it had looked to him that last
Christmas Day! He remembered the little candles on the
Christmas tree, and the warm glow of the oil-stove. He had
tried so hard to make some sort of home because he hadn't got
a proper one.
But now he had. He forgot his memories and ran up the
steps after Pat. Frisky was waiting for them at the top, looking
impatient. Frisky didn't like dark damp cellars, and he couldn't
imagine why they had gone down there. He jumped up at
them, barking, his tail wagging vigorously...

[Anita Bensoussane]

Ooh yes - I too feel the wistfulness of the endings of The Family at Red-Roofs and The Six Bad Boys. In The Six Bad Boys Enid Blyton probably wishes to avoid leaving readers with an image of the cellar hide-out as attractive and exciting, but it's a little sad to see it called " a horrid ugly place". How terrible it would be if the Secret Seven and Find-Outers were one day to look back upon their shed/workroom as "a musty, rotten shack crawling with spiders"!

[Lenoir]

I don’t think the gardener would allow that to happen. He would have taken over the shed at the first opportunity and used it as a storing place!

I was very pleased to see a familiar looking envelope in the post yesterday! Journal 55 at last. Actually it didn't take so long, considering everything. It seems to be packed with enticing articles. I like the Soper illustration of the Secret Seven in the centre pages.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Good point about the gardener, Lenoir! I'm glad you've received your Journal.

The Dedman and Sydney letters are very interesting indeed, especially the comments about the Mary Pollock books which do seem to confirm that Enid Blyton was curious to see whether her books would be as popular without her name attached to them. Is "Bill Johns" W. E. Johns who wrote the Biggles books, I wonder?

Sorry to quote myself, but I've just found a mention of W. E. Johns in an interview with Gillian Baverstock in Hello! magazine, November 1996. According to Gillian, Enid didn't tend to mix with distinguished people because "she was a shy person", so Gillian didn't meet many famous people through her mother. She adds, "But I did meet Captain W E Johns, who wrote the Biggles books, and Richmal Crompton, the author of the Just William stories. And one or two people in the theatre. But it wasn't as if she was taking me to a different world. She wasn't in that world."

[Moonraker]

How terrible it would be if the Secret Seven and Find-Outers were one day to look back upon their shed/workroom as "a musty, rotten shack crawling with spiders"!

You could be describing my shed, Anita!