The Quest for England: In Search of Enid Blyton

[pete9012S]

Richard Vobes - The Quest for England: In Search of Enid Blyton

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In my continuing quest for England and Englishness, Julia and I have gone in search of The Famous Five and The Secret Seven.

Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was an English children's writer whose books have been among the world's best-sellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Blyton's books are still enormously popular, and have been translated into 90 languages. She wrote on a wide range of topics including education, natural history, fantasy, mystery, and biblical narratives and is best remembered today for her Noddy, Famous Five and Secret Seven series.

Is this a version of England or just nostalgia?

I thought of Chrissie especially when I saw this!

[Anita Bensoussane]

Thanks, Pete. What a lovely day - a visit to a secondhand bookshop, a cup of tea, chips on the pier and an Enid Blyton story by the fire. Chimney Corner Stories (Dean & Son) was one of my favourite books when I was a youngster, though I had the edition with the laminated cover:



My favourite stories were 'Winkle-Pip Walks Out', 'The Magic Walking-Stick', 'The Little Paper-Folk', 'The Tiresome Poker' and 'The Enchanted Table' - all very imaginative and enjoyably alarming in places.

I'd say that Enid Blyton's stories have typically British elements rather than specifically English elements (the food, the landscapes, the flora and fauna, bobbies on the beat, Bonfire Night, certain customs and expressions... ) but their main themes and messages are global - friendship, loyalty, courage, hard work, steadfastness, fairness, doing one's bit, owning up to wrongdoing, giving people a second chance, offering support, etc. I remember listening to a radio programme about Indian people who had grown up reading Enid Blyton and they said they were drawn to the books chiefly because they felt a strong connection to the characters and loved the exciting plotlines. Mentions of unfamiliar things such as scones and daffodils were strangely appealing too though, as they seemed exotic and it was fun to imagine what they might be like. The people who were interviewed for the radio programme had read the books in the 1970s-80s, but children nowadays would be able to look up unfamiliar references on the internet.