The argument about Blyton

Today is D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything And Read) day. Beverly Cleary's birthday. Here is a post I had written last year as a tribute. How opportune that I am writing the post that follows today.

A friend posted the link to this article on Enid Blyton. Obviously it is a piece written a while ago - The Harry Potter phenomenon was still new then, barely 4 years old, and the first few sentences of the article speculates about the actor who would possibly play the role that has now made Daniel Radcliffe a famous, instantly recognisable face.

This is how Kate Forsyth, the writer of the piece, brings in Blyton.

It should be no surprise that her books have proved as hugely popular with adults as they have with children. For decades the literary establishment has been blaming TV, video games, the Internet, MTV and Macdonald's for the demise of reading in the young and not-so-young. Few have wondered whether the reason reading has gone out of fashion is because the books published have simply not been what anyone wants to read.
To me, the Harry Potter books have all the verve and wit and excitement of the books I loved to read as a child – and still read today when I'm tired or sick or studying for exams, when I feel in need of sinking myself in the guilty, sensuous pleasure of reading for the pure joy of reading. And though Rowling has been compared with C.S. Lewis, Roald Dahl and Edith Nesbit, the author she reminds me of most is the author I loved most passionately as an eight year old. Enid Blyton.

Let me say AGAIN, for the nth time in my life, that I am an unashamed, whole-hearted Enid Blyton fan. If she were alive and if I could meet her, I would leave no stone unturned to meet her. I have had the good fortune to stay for a good nine months (significant, isn't it? that is equivalent to a gestation period.) in a village off the west of London, 10 mins from the place where she stayed when alive. A began her schooling at a Montessori school there, which was right in the village where she has placed Peterswood, of the Five Find-Outers fame. We had made a pilgrimage to Bekonscot, the miniature village that has a miniature model of the sprawling house 'Old Thatch', in which she had lived.

I agree whole-heartedly with the article writer. As a self-confessed Blyton fan, I agree with everything she says. Naysayers can go and scream till they are blue in the face, but these writers- Blyton, Rowling, Dahl, and the others have given their readers a wonderful gift. That of being able to read purely for the pleasure of reading.

So, Enid had a few issues. Who doesn't? Dahl himself was an obnoxious person, and had serious marital problems. Does that make him a lesser writer? I don't think so. Maybe Blyton's detracters should read a biographical work by Duncan McLaren- Looking for Enid. He speaks openly of her personal problems, her unsavoury behaviour, and also connects the various books to particular stages of her life. We get a 'why' about the books she wrote.

My collection of Enid Blyton books

I agree regarding the feminist bit too. George was an out-and-out tomboy, and Blyton herself says she has based her on herself, and that she is her favourite character. Blyton has also rooted for Elizabeth Allen, the hot-headed, but lovable and generous protagonist of 'The Naughtiest Girl' series. Much like Rowling's Hermione Granger. All strong female characters, all excellent role models for girls looking out for one. In fact, her school stories has strong girl characters like Darrell Rivers, Claudine, the O'Sullivan twins, Alica, Joan, Carlotta, Bill, Bobby, Janet, and many more. I could rattle off a list of them here if so desired. Anne, the girl from The Famous Five series on which the Blyton critics base their case of gender discrimination forget that it was the social structure at the time that reflects in her books, and there are plenty of strong girls despite it.  I can vouch for the fact that her school stories are as realistic as they come. Nothing that she has described in them doesn't happen in schools even today. Maybe the specifics might differ, but children still interact in exactly the same fashion as in Blyton's Whyteleafe school, Malory Towers or St Clares.

What short-sighted critics forget is that books have necessarily to be read in the context of the period in which they have been placed, and interpreted accordingly. we do our children a disservice by white-washing this stuff in the effort of making it politically correct. We also forget, that no matter how much we cry out against the 'problems' in Blyton's books, we give them a back-handed compliment by attempting to produce white-washed versions of them for today's children. for they are indeed classics that will always remain relevant.

As for the sunshiny milieu of her books, most of them were published at a time when Europe was either actively engaged in war, or reeling from the effects of war. Even in relatively safe Britain, children were separated from families, there was severe shortage of food, and I'm sure her stories gave them the much needed shot of positivity. One writer writes sunshiny stuff, while another like William Golding comes up with the seriously dystopic Lord of the Flies. It all is for the good.