The Enid Blyton Society

pete9012S wrote: Please don't give up on Betty Maxey.
I admit she's not to everyone's taste,but she does grow on you if you persevere.

Thus, we have had generations of Famous Five fans and readers who grew up with either the mental image in their minds of either the Eileen Soper Famous Five or the Betty Maxey Famous Five or an admixture of the two which has led to contentions as well as differed opinions with regard to the two modes of illustrations.

For purposes of specificity, we shall compare and contrast just a couple of illustrations between those of Eileen Soper and Betty Maxey....

Lenoir wrote:Why not get a copy for Christmas? It would make a welcome addition to any Christmas stocking.
To whet the appetite I will reveal that The Anecdotage uses the illustration of a tree falling on top of Kirrin Cottage from "Five Go To Smuggler’s Top" as an example.

MJE wrote: I haven't read Stephen's book, and indeed have never seen it in bookshops here in Australia, or even seen it offered for sale on a web site - so I have no particular strong view on it. But I cannot judge this without having read the book .

pete9012S wrote:I have been reading the section of the anecdotage that gives a resume of the Famous Five books.
The grammar and word structure made me wonder if Stephen originally wrote it in his native tongue,and then used a google translate or similar to then change it into English??

The Five also learn from Pierre about Barling, a mafiosi-type of smuggler, that is even beyond reproach by the law enforcement agencies because of his wealth Pierre has also bugged his room with his personally-invented buzzer which could be an equivalence to a modern beeper in alerting him as to who is approaching his room This buzzer may not be dissimilar from the one Michael Jackson is reported to have had in his Neverland Ranch room that used to alert him whenever someone approached his room The buzzer first goes off, in the presence of the Five, when Block the butler, enters; whose “peculiar” face Anne describes as “being shut and secret” Consequently, Anne takes an immediate dislike of Block because of his discernible impassive face that neither smiles nor frowns....

Anita Bensoussane wrote:['m sure we've said this before, Stephen, but your book is not at all "on the same scholarly level" as David Rudd's. David Rudd wrote his book as a university thesis (as part of a PhD, I think) and his work would have been overseen by tutors. It's evident that your book was not written under similar circumstances.

Domino wrote:

Pete9012S wrote:I have been reading the section of the anecdotage that gives a resume of the Famous Five books. The grammar and word structure made me wonder if Stephen originally wrote it in his native tongue,and then used a google translate or similar to then change it into English??

I don't think so. I doubt if the 'academic' words that Stephen uses have any direct equivalent in Swahili, still less in any local language. Yet Stephen misuses these words as much as the ''everyday' words.
I actually read through this thread in its entirety before I ever posted on it (posts which are now deleted). One thing that I missed originally was just how old Stephen is. If he got his MA in 1990 and his PhD in 1996 he would have to be in his middle or late 40's by now. Somehow, I had imagined him to be a good 20 years younger.
So what happened to Stephen between 1996 and 2009, when he opened this thread? One possibility, that has never been touched on, is that he suffered some kind of illness (physical or mental) that affected his reason or judgment. That he never mentioned it proves nothing. I would never have mentioned that I had suffered a stroke, had it not been that Ben accused me of ignoring his post (on another thread) and I felt I had to offer some explanation..

Dave