Classic Blyton

[Minerva]

I went down to Sydney (from Armidale) this week and I thought I'd drop into Dymocks for a browse. Unable to find the Blyton books I asked the attendant, who informed me that they are now part of the ''Classics'' section. About time!!

[Ming]

That's good news! Did you buy any books, Minerva?

[Anita Bensoussane]

I'm in two minds whether it's good news or bad. It's great that Blyton's books are being recognised as classics, but children might not stumble across them as readily if they're no longer being displayed alongside other popular authors.

[Paul Austin]

Although, would you really consider the modern Bowdlerised editions "Classics"

[Anita Bensoussane]

No, I certainly wouldn't. Only the original texts should be in the "Classics" section.

[Katharine]

At first I thought "great". Then I wasn't so sure. If children start to associate Enid Blyton with the Classics will they be put off? I would imagine that certain groups of people will also be horrified to see her books alongside Shakespeare!

[MJE]

I would imagine that certain groups of people will also be horrified to see her books alongside Shakespeare!

     Would that be Blyton enthusiasts or Shakespeare enthusiasts who would be horrified?
     Also, are genuine classics ever bowdlerized?
     Further, certain comments seem to imply that children don't find classics enjoyable. Is that a known fact, or a common belief that spreads but is without foundation?
     Speaking for myself, I find the King James Bible difficult to understand and Shakespeare impossible - and those are often held to be the two most classic areas of English literature. I am not at all well-read in classics, and the only widely-acknowledged classic I recall having read was "Oliver Twist", while at school. I do remember thinking it was quite exciting in a way, or would have been - certain scenes could have been almost like a Blyton adventure; but it was also at times a hard slog, because there was just something difficult about its style - it's difficult to identify exactly what.

Regards, Michael.

[Katharine]

I was thinking that it would be the Shakespeare enthusiasts who would be horrified to see Enid Blyton among the classics.

I can't speak for all children, but in my limited experience I would say that when I was at school the general feeling was that if something was labelled as a "classic" it would automatically be assumed to be dull and boring. We struggled through a couple of Shakespeares at school, and I personally found it very difficult to feel the flow of the words as we had to stop and have virtually every line explained to us. Also we covered MacBeth and Henry IV, Part I, which I can't help feeling were rather dull for teenagers. Maybe Romeo & Juliet or A Midsummer's Night's Dream would have been slightly more interesting as at least they have humour in them.

Now I'm older I'd actually like to read the classics, just to see why they are classed as such, but I'm not really sure what they are

[Tony Summerfield]

We might be talking at cross purposes here. Our local Waterstone's has a classics section in the the Children's department where you can find books by the likes of C S Lewis and Lucy M Boston - Enid Blyton is still in the popular reading section however. I think it fairly unlikely that a bookshop in this country would ever put Enid Blyton alongside Shakespeare, so perhaps this is also the case in Australia.

[Katharine]

We might be talking at cross purposes here. Our local Waterstone's has a classics section in the the Children's department where you can find books by the likes of C S Lewis and Lucy M Boston - Enid Blyton is still in the popular reading section however. I think it fairly unlikely that a bookshop in this country would ever put Enid Blyton alongside Shakespeare, so perhaps this is also the case in Australia.

That makes sense. I haven't been into our local Waterstone's for a little while, but I'm fairly sure that when I last visited Enid Blyton was still listed with the other children's authors in alphabetical order. Although she was split into different age groups. I didn't notice if our branch has a children's classic section, I'll have to look next time. I'll also check out where Shakespeare is too.

[Katharine]

I've just popped into the Ipswich branch of Waterstones to check out if there is a children's Classic section. There is a very small one with AA Milne, Black Beauty and Illustrated Shakespeare, but sadly no Enid Blyton. Even worse as this is the town where she did her teacher training. I bet there aren't many people in the town who are aware of that fact though.

Still at least Enid was well represented on the other shelves.

[chloe1]

I think you could label a few Blyton books in their original form classics but she wrote too many and varied on quality to much categorise them all in this way.

If Chorion were to pick 10 "classic" Blytons and reproduce them in original text with original dustcovers as classic collector editions that would be nice. What books would you choose?

It would be a nice pr exercise for them to select, say, 50 titles and get the public to vote for the final 10. Sadly they seem intent on erasing all memory of the originals and creating their own versions to even think of something like this.

[MJE]

If Chorion were to pick 10 "classic" Blytons and reproduce them in original text with original dustcovers as classic collector editions that would be nice. What books would you choose?

     For me, this would be an impossible choice - so difficult that I would not even attempt to choose 10, and if I did manage to, it would be quite an arbitrary choice. In those "What are your favourite Famous Five?" threads that come up from time to time, I find it difficult to restrict myself to 10 titles, even just within that one series.

It would be a nice pr exercise for them to select, say, 50 titles and get the public to vote for the final 10.

     Even 50 would probably be a difficult choice for me.

Sadly they seem intent on erasing all memory of the originals and creating their own versions to even think of something like this.

     Sadly, if they legally own the works now, I suppose no-one can do a thing to stop it - presumably not even Enid Blyton's descendants or other relatives.
     I wish there were "preservation of culture/literature" type laws which could give you some loophole for the sake of preserving works in their original for. I don't know what form they would take, but I think it would be good if there were something that would support preserving things in their original form and making them available to the public.
     As things are, if I read the situation correctly, Chorion have the perfect legal right to adapt Blyton's works out of all recognition, and to even totally discard (literally burn, for all I know) the original versions as Blyton wrote them - and no-one can lift a finger to prevent this. This should not be allowed, in my opinion; I think there is a point at which literature, art, music, and so on belong to the world in a sense, and this deserves some sort of formal or legal protection, in my opinion.

Regards, Michael.

[Katharine]

I think you could label a few Blyton books in their original form classics but she wrote too many and varied on quality to much categorise them all in this way.

If Chorion were to pick 10 "classic" Blytons and reproduce them in original text with original dustcovers as classic collector editions that would be nice. What books would you choose?

It would be a nice pr exercise for them to select, say, 50 titles and get the public to vote for the final 10. Sadly they seem intent on erasing all memory of the originals and creating their own versions to even think of something like this.

That would be a great topic to start, which Blyton books would we choose if we could only keep 10?

[Anita Bensoussane]

If Chorion were to pick 10 "classic" Blytons and reproduce them in original text with original dustcovers as classic collector editions that would be nice. What books would you choose?

A difficult decision. If such a project were undertaken it would be nice if the ten classics were sold as a boxed set as well as individually, though that would mean sticking to typical novel-sized books so the size would be fairly uniform. Therefore, much as I'd be tempted to include Enid Blyton's Book of the Year or Enid Blyton's Treasury, I'd probably make my choices from the standard-sized books. And although I like some of Blyton's re-tellings of traditional tales in books like Tales of Long Ago or Enid Blyton's Brer Rabbit Book, in a selection of just ten volumes I'd prefer to keep to her original creations. Here goes:

1. The Secret Island - A stirring tale of survival and self-sufficiency which contains references to Robinson Crusoe and belongs with classic novels about living on an island.

2. The Valley of Adventure - The wartime references (guardians in the caves protecting treasures from Nazi looters; the pass from the valley having been bombed; the story of heroic freedom fighter Julius Muller) lend a sense of reality to this adventure. At the same time, the setting of the remote Austrian valley cut off from the world gives it a surreal and faraway air. Packed with thrills yet threaded with melancholy, this unforgettable story has earned the title of "classic".

3. Five Go to Smuggler's Top - The Famous Five books are undoubtedly Enid Blyton's best-known series, so it would seem odd to draw up a list of ten classics without including one. I'd choose Smuggler's Top because it is quirky and a little spooky, and full of Gothic elements. The old house set amid the misty marshes is compelling, and creepy characters like Block and Mr. Barling send shivers down the spine.

4. The Mystery of the Missing Necklace - Humour and intrigue abound in this mystery and Fatty and his friends are on top form. Some of the best disguises of the series are in this volume.

5. The Ring O' Bells Mystery - A brilliant mystery, eerie and chilling, set in a village which appears to have remained in medieval times and where the lines between fantasy and reality, past and present, are blurred in an alarming manner.

6. The Enchanted Wood - The idea of climbing an enormous tree inhabited by an assortment of fairy-folk, the topmost branches of which reach to strange and magical lands through the clouds, is entrancing. No wonder the Faraway Tree is among Enid Blyton's best-loved creations.

7. The Naughtiest Girl in the School - With Whyteleafe School being progressive and experimental and "Naughtiest Girl" Elizabeth Allen being so unpredictable, this book is a remarkable school story and probably one of the most inventive penned by any author.

8. The Six Bad Boys - An unusually realistic novel in which Blyton looks at how family problems may lead children to seek "a home from home" elsewhere, in this case by joining a gang who meet in a cellar and become involved in crime. A dramatic story with scenes of warmth and brutality, some episodes of which are based on unhappy periods of Blyton's own childhood.

9. Mr. Pink-Whistle's Party - Heartwarming tales of a little man, half-human and half-brownie, who "goes about the world putting wrong things right." Wonderful stories which touch the heart, inspiring children to be kind and just. There are several collections of Pink-Whistle stories but the tales in this volume are the ones that have stayed in my mind most over the years.

10. A short story book. There are so many to choose from, but my all-time favourite story is 'Father Time and His Pattern Book'. I have it in the Dean & Son Sunshine Book, but it's also in Enid Blyton's Gay Street Book so that would be a better choice (assuming it's of a standard size - I don't know how big it is). Enid Blyton's Gay Street Book also contains some of my other favourite tales - 'Whatever Next!', 'Santa Claus is Surprising' and 'Ring the Bell and Run Away'.

Nearly made the list: Enid Blyton's Book of Brownies (an enthralling fantasy story); The Land of Far-Beyond (lyrical and moving); Enid Blyton's Nature Lessons (beautifully written accounts of the natural world, with some personal touches).