Message Board

[Moonraker]

I have no idea how many forumers look at the website and home page/message board in particular. there is a very well written message from Jyotirup Goswami, and an excellent reply by Barney. This is well worth reading and would have made an interesting forum post for us all to comment on.

[Julie2owlsdene]

I've just finished that posting, funnily enough, as I always read the message board, then the forum, even though I don't always partake in the discussions.

I was quite surprised by such a long posting too. Barney's reply was excellent, and I hope the poster reads it, and let's his child read Blyton when able too.

[Daisy]

A very interesting post and Barney's reply is spot on too. It's hard to imagine oneself into a different time from the one in which we were born... I grew up in the era in which Enid was most prolific and just accepted what life was like. We had no domestics... my mother, like the majority of wives, stayed at home and ran the house as cook, cleaner, nanny and everything else! When reading Enid's books, I just accepted the different life styles of the various characters as part of society. Looking back, I can see my peers were from differing backgrounds - something I don't think registered at the time - but most of them enjoyed their Blyton books!
As a young teacher of infants in the late 50s, I used a lot of Enid's short stories for the story time which ended each day. So many of them had some subtle message to impart and I used to feel grateful for her way of passing on decent standards of behaviour in an acceptable and often amusing way.
Present day children have much to take in and i feel must be confused at times by the mixed messages that social media can give. Long may Enid's stories find some place in their young lives! Agreed they can now be classed as historical at times but the underlying message is still needed and I hope that 'the baby is not thrown out with the bath water' as her stories are reproduced.

[Boodi 2]

Thanks for the tip Moonraker, as I am ashamed to say that apart from the monthly quiz I rarely visit the website. However, having read the post and the excellent response I will have to check out the message board on a more regular basis.

[Moonraker]

Yes, it is easy to understand. I don't look in as often as I should. After all, Tony isn't Father McKenzie.

I guess we all look at the forums for different reasons, a love for the books or the 70s TV series - and can easily become tunnel-visioned!

[Bertie]

I visit the forums, and the cave of books, a lot but must admit I don't look at the other areas much and hadn't really taken much notice about the message board section.

[John Pickup]

Thanks for drawing my attention to that message, Nigel. A very long one but it was interesting and I agree it would have made for a good discussion on here. A suitable reply too.
I must admit to not looking at the message board as often as I should. My primary use of the website is the marvellous Cave. I shall pay more attention in future.

[Anita Bensoussane]

It's good that such a meaty message came Barney's way, as it was the 5000th message as well as being Enid Blyton's birthday.

Interesting points, Daisy. Like you, I accepted fictional worlds on their own terms, cooks and maids included, and wasn't concerned about particular details being different from my own life. I had a 1970s childhood but it didn't matter whether I was reading Frances Hodgson Burnett, E. Nesbit, C. S. Lewis, Enid Blyton, Noel Streatfeild or Nina Bawden. Certain characters and settings drew me in, together with the excitement, wonder and humour of the stories, and the style of writing. The messages that were imparted stirred me and made me think about things more deeply, even if the books had been written many decades earlier. As you say, Daisy, long may Enid Blyton's books continue to enthrall young readers!

[Moonraker]

I accepted fictional worlds on their own terms, cooks and maids included, and wasn't concerned about particular details being different from my own life.

As did I. I started reading Blyton circa 1957. I wasn't from a wealthy family, quite the opposite. We didn't have servants, nobody called me Master Nigel, but we did have a village bobby who was similar to Goon! I never felt Blyton's 'children' were a higher class than myself or wondered at all the household staff and boarding school life. I didn't even wonder at the way the Kirrin children treated their 'lowers' Edgar Stick, for example. I didn't even wonder at them going off on their own at such a relatively young age.

I simply read, enjoyed and re-read for the rest of my life.

[John Pickup]

I must agree entirely with Anita and Nigel. I started reading Blyton in 1959 and everything I read, I took for granted. It didn't occur to me why we didn't have a cook or a gardener.
When my friends and I went off for the day, we didn't know where we would end up. No-one knew where we had gone.

[Bertie]

Yeah, I never had any issue at all reading about families that had nice houses, staff, etc. And children that had the kind of pocket money that allowed them to buy plenty of lovely food. It all felt very warm and cosy and created a picturesque idyll.

Though, personally, I suspect the 'class issues' that some have with Enid is probably the main reason why she gets an even harder time of it over her 'old fashioned and inappropriate' language / values than a lot of other writers of her generation and before - but who are seen as writing positively about the working class / 'underdogs', whereas Enid is seen as the opposite.

I think it's pretty much reverse snobbery that uses the convenient racism / sexism issues (that could be aimed at any author of earlier periods) in order to bash her over her so called elitist values.

[Fiona1986]

I saw it. I thought it was a bit odd, to be honest. If you ask the Enid Blyton society whether or not we should should still be reading Enid Blyton I think you should rather know what answer to expect!

with every year, the relevance or even appropriateness of reading about the Famous Five or the Five Find-Outers, diminishes further and further.

Does it? Brodie is hanging on every word of Five on a Treasure Island, so I'd say it was perfectly relevant. We've had a few pauses where he's asked questions and I've explained anything he doesn't understand due to the historical context.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Is that Brodie's first Famous Five book, Fiona? Quite a milestone, if so!

[Moonraker]

If 'with every year the relevance or even appropriateness of reading about the Famous Five or the Five Find-Outers, diminishes further and further,' where is the relevance of reading Dickens, Jane Austen, Mark Twain etc, etc?

[Katharine]

If 'with every year the relevance or even appropriateness of reading about the Famous Five or the Five Find-Outers, diminishes further and further,' where is the relevance of reading Dickens, Jane Austen, Mark Twain etc, etc?

Let alone Shakespeare!

I went to see an excellent performance of The Winter's Tale last week.

I couldn't understand every word, but think I got the general idea - it was as far as I could tell the original text, which makes Enid's writing look positively modern.

For those unfamiliar with the plot, I think it starts with a king thinking his new daughter is really the child of his best friend, who he falsely accuses of having an affair with his wife. The king orders the baby to be killed.

Mmm, if Enid Blyton is potentially unsuitable reading for today's youngsters, I think The Bard should definitely be banned - we don't want the next generation growing up to think that murdering new borns is a good way of coping with jealousy.

I thought the comment and answer on the Message board were very interesting.

I must admit, I don't look at the messages very often these days. When I first joined the forums, the default page went to the message board first, and I then had to select the forum option, but now whenever I open a new tab for the Enid Blyton Society, it takes me straight here.

I shall have to try and remember to check the message board a bit more often to see if there are any more interesting comments.