A voice from a past time

[don massimo]

Once C.S.Lewis described himself as a dinosaur, being his education and sensibility so different from the younger generation's. I think that the same can be said of Enid Blyton, who as a lot in common with C.S.Lewis. Unfortunately the new generation have very different ideas and sensibility. In Italy the worst things coming from England are very well known, and on the contrary the best ones are unknown. So The Beetles, Mary Quant and Harry Potter are famous, while C.S. Lewis is little known and Enid Blyton is nearly unknown. Coming in mission to Sri Lanka I was lucky to find Enid Blyton's works in the orphan houses of our nuns. At the beginning I did not trust, because I thought that she was a writer of the new generation, without high spiritual ideals. But later I read one of her books on college life and was really conquered. Now every new book of hers I read is a very great joy for me and I feel a great friendship and love for the author. Being a Catholic priest I was very sorry to learn that she married twice, but I know that in the Church of England there are different laws. I have the feeling that it is not so important, on account of her very great merits. Every day, however, I pray for her soul. My greatest wish is that the new generations may discover again what they have lost and I am sure that Enid Blyton's works may be one of the best means for that. I apologize for may bad English.

[Wayne Pyer]

Hello and welcome Don.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Welcome, Don.

Being a Catholic priest I was very sorry to learn that she married twice, but I know that in the Church of England there are different laws.

Both Enid Blyton's weddings took place at a register office, not a church. Hugh and Kenneth had both been married before, and got divorced in order to marry Enid. Enid's family were Baptists, not Anglicans, the name "Carey" being used frequently for boys in her family because it was the name of one of the founders of the Baptist Missionary Society.

[Eddie Muir]

Welcome to the forums, Don.

[Katharine]

Welcome Don, it's lovely to hear that Enid Blyton's books are still being enjoyed in different countries and in different walks of life.

I've always felt a strength of Enid's books is the way she manages to convey a strong moral undertone in many of them without 'preaching' to the reader.

I was interested to note your comment that Harry Potter is among the 'worst things coming from England'. I've always felt they have an equally strong message of love and selflessness as many of Enid's books.

When you say you've read Enid's 'college' books, do you mean the Malory Towers and St. Clare's books? I hope you are able to enjoy a wide variety of her books, as she wrote so many:- simple children's tales, religious stories, nature books and a number of adventure series. I've never been able to decide which my favourite is.

[Viv of Ginger Pop]

Welcome

It's always interesting to hear what people make of Blyton when discovering them first as an adult.

Viv

[don massimo]

Dear Katharine,
I was really rush as I included Harry Potter among "the worst" things coming from England. In fact I do not know it properly - I only have read something about it in newspapers. I am very glad to learn that I was mistaken. The first book about college life I read was a Malory Tower story. After that I read also a St. Clare's one. I wonder if there were relations between Mrs. Blyton and C.S.Lewis, as I notice a great likeness of inspiration in them. Surely both depended on George McDonald. But Lewis wrote a few books - though perhaps deeper in there inspiration - while Mrs. Blyton created a whole world with so numerous books! I want to continue reading them and taking inspiration from them for my own life and work. May we continue being in contact? I have studied English language and literature at the university and have taken a lot of inspiration from the very many good things coming from England. Being in a mission I do not have so much time, but when I can I should be glad to have intercourse with you - and the other friends of course. If I am somewhat sorry for the difference of behaviour in the morals between different Christian confessions, but I try to be sufficiently broad-minded not to condemn other people for that. At any rate I love Mrs. Blyton very much and continue praying for her soul - and also for all of you, her and my friends. Hoping to contact you again, yours Don Massimo

[Anita Bensoussane]

Surely both depended on George McDonald.

Yes, both were influenced by him. When she was a child, Enid Blyton's favourite book was The Princess and the Goblin. She said she read it at least a dozen times.

[Katharine]

I have a copy of the Princess and the Goblin, but have yet to get past the first chapter. I must remedy that, as it will be interesting to see if I can spot any influences in either Enid Blyton or C.S. Lewis' writing.

Don, I'm wondering what you may have read about Harry Potter in a newspaper? The style of writing in those books is very different to anything Enid Blyton would have written, a lot more intense and dramatic. I'm not sure what the children a generation or two back would have made of the Harry Potter books. Although I love the Harry Potter books, I do find it nice to return to the 'safety' of Enid Blyton.

I find it very interesting that a man enjoys the school books so much. I really enjoyed them as a child, but they probably aren't among my favourites now. Although generally I think that the books I read first as a child are my favourites.

I guess you didn't study Enid Blyton at university? I don't know if you are aware, but during the 1970s and 1980s many libraries and schools banned Enid Blyton as her style of writing was considered to be of poor quality!

[Moonraker]

Many narrow-minded (my term) Christian sects have banned Harry Potter books and merchandise. The privately owned toy chain, The Entertainer is one of the largest chain of toy shops to ban all merchandise.

[Katharine]

I never realised they had banned HP merchandise, I've a feeling they don't stock Barbie dolls either.

I do wonder how many people who have banned Harry Potter have actually read the books. Personally I think some of the later books are a bit 'dark' for young children, and I certainly didn't let my children watch the films until they were the age the censor gave. However I think it's sad if people ban them without actually finding out about them. I banned Jacqueline Wilson books from my house, but only after I'd read 2 of them.

It reminds me of the wholesale backlash against Enid Blyton, I wonder how many people just jumped on the band wagon. I also wonder if any of those who refused to stock her books in their libraries had actually enjoyed the books as children, and just forgotten how good they were?

[don massimo]

As for what I remember, I read that in Harry Potter there was a lot of black magic, which suggested the idea of getting occult powers to become powerful. But I can be mistaken. I think that if really in books, films or dollies there is something dangerous it is not tight-mindedness to avoid them. I have discovered Enid Blyton only recently, being in mission Sri Lanka, and had never heard of her before. That her works were excluded from libraries for their style sounds very strange! In Italy there was - and there is still! - a predominant low level ideological cultural climate, so works like hers are ignored. I think that children's books, if they are really inspired, are as readable as gown-up's books. Sometimes I prefer them because children's sensibility is more open to understand the mysteries of life: "If you do not become as children, you will not enter the Kingdom of God." Just yesterday I read a preface to a book of Mrs. Blyton's written by her daughter Gillian - and there was also a photograph with Enid, Gillan and another daughter. What about them?

[Katharine]

Yes, Harry Potter certainly does contain some black magic which is used for the purpose of gaining power with the aim of world domination. However I feel the whole point of the book is to show the struggle between doing what is 'right' and doing what is 'easy'. I hope I'm not giving too much of the story away when I say that eventually the main evil character is overcome because of his inability to love. Harry Potter was prepared to throw away all his magical abilities and give up his life in order to save the world. In the end magic wasn't enough, love was the answer.

I suppose the danger in many books, films etc. is if people fail to see the whole picture and just focus on one part of it. Avoiding something because it is considered dangerous is a difficult decision, as it depends on what someone classes as dangerous. I didn't ban Jacqueline Wilson because I thought she was dangerous, just that in my opinion her subject matter was totally unsuitable for the age it was aimed at, and even as an adult I found it unpleasant to read.

I believe part of the reason Enid Blyton's books were so unpopular for a while is that is was considered 'unhealthy' for children to read so many of her books, possibly at the exclusion of other authors. Their fairly simple plot lines were also criticised and the language she used. I think the general idea was they weren't intellecutal enough. In it's broadest sense her books were considered 'dangerous' as they were too 'nice' for modern children.

I agree that a really good children's book is something that an adult can throroughly enjoy too. As a parent it's great to read a book to my children that I'm enjoying as much as them. Bedtime reading can sometimes be a chore if the book is 'boring'.

[Moonraker]

A book with dead people walking, people speaking in 'foreign' tongues (in a language of which they have no knowledge), evil spirits being cast out, capital punishment featuring the accused being nailed to wood and left to die.....should this book be banned? No, of course not: it is the Holy Bible.

[don massimo]

I had not written about "avoiding something because it is considered dangerous", but about avoiding something because it is really dangerous. It may be difficult to make a right judgement of it - not always - but I do not speak of this difficulty to find it, I speak of the real danger. I may not see it, but it can really be there. I do not see the difference between being unsuitable and being dangerous. There was an Italian writer of end XIX-beginning XX centuries, Emilio Salgari, whose works were kept far - if possible, that is rarely! - from young people because they were so charmed by them that they had no more time to study! A mother wrote him not to write any more, because his child wasted to much time with his books. He answered: if I do not write, I do not eat. Unfortunately because of his economical difficulties he died a suicide. I think that the pure charm of Enid's books - like Salgari's - is a sign of their validity and wholesomeness, in spite of any priggish criticism.