Enid Blyton - The Untold Story

[Daisy]

I received mine 2 days ago and am very impressed with the quality. I have read the section on how Enid wrote, and it's really fascinating. Some of it we already knew from the excerpts of letters to a psychologist which Tony included in some past Journals, but Brian has widened the subject considerably. It will take some time to absorb it all though... especially with so may references to the Appendix! It certainly isn't like any of her books which one can pick up and read right through in a couple of hours.

[Daisy]

Well, I've read a lot more now... and really it is unique in the way it tells "the untold story". I find the reproduction of many of the pages first printed in the 1920s needs a magnifying glass to read comfortably. (Yes, I am going to have an eye test next week!) I still have some way to go before I can say I have read it all, but it is certainly a great addition to the story of Enid Blyton.
I wonder if anyone else has any further comment yet?

[pete9012S]

I am so glad you received the book safely Daisy.
Thank you for your thoughts on the book too.

I have been dipping into the book at random sections.
For those contemplating whether to buy the book or not, here is a short sample that can be read for a short time:

It is taken from section two:

Why some of Enid Blyton's Stories Are not Up To Standard:

https://www.docdroid.net/Eh2zRw7/short- ... -story-pdf

[timv]

A very interesting extract on the problems which Enid faced - and which often critics, who've never had to write a book themselves, have tended to ignore. I'm writing a book on the major children's authors who published in the field of school stories at the moment - which will feature Enid's Malory Towers , St Clare's and the Naughtiest Girl - and have found that the same criticism crops up for some of them too, especially those who wrote a long series and had other pressures on them too. The attacks on writers for inconsistency and ''tired' /repetitive plots are common with them, for example with Elinor Brent Dyer who wrote over 60 books on a huge cast of characters (some recurring throughout the series) from 1925 to 1969 in her Chalet School series , with the final books being seen in particular as tired, repetitive, outdated in their social attitudes, and muddled .

The attacks on 'old fashioned social attitudes' and 'a snobbish attitude to working-class characters who are seen as amusing or criminal and as not properly educated' were also made on long-running school/ family series (80 books or so) author Elsie Jeanette 'Oxenham' (Dunkerley) , who was born in 1880 so was 17 years older than Enid, in her 1940s and 1950s books. Both EJO and EBD, and other long-running authors in the 1920s to 1960s, wrote some 'better' and more original individual books about new characters - but their publishers then pushed them back to doing yet more of their main, and far better-selling, series. This latter problem also crops up with other less well-known authors; once a writer had acquired a 'name' for one series their publishers wanted them to stick to it, and not to 'run risks' (ie for their publishers' potential income). Like with Enid and the lack of modern editions of her Mistletoe Farm books and Come To The Circus or House At The Corner, some of their best individual books were also republished less so got forgotten about - usually as they were not published by one of their 'main series' publishers. What the public - and critics - were and are aware of is often what is most seen in public, ie an often-republished main series, not a better but 'one off' book!

Elinor Brent Dyer was also running her own school, in Hereford, in 1935-45 and had plenty of distractions, and was notorious for getting muddled about her characters' ages, who their relatives were, and how to spell their surnames. Enid tends to get the most publicly known 'flak' in these fields, but the problem was common - and hardly any writers had secretaries in those days.

You could almost do a book on why authors tend to be seen in simplistic and 'partial' terms not in the entirety of their work - and one trail of evidence runs back to the availability of their books over several decades.

[Fiona1986]

That sounds like a really interesting book, Timv! Enid gets most of the flack as she's the only one who is still properly in print, the others are only in print through publishers like Girls Gone By whose market is fans of those authors, not the general public.

[Tony Summerfield]

Brian Carter Explains his Theory of Enid Blyton’s Ready-Made Stories carried in his Book

In putting forward the theory that Enid Blyton’s stories could have been given to her ready-
made by a supernatural agent, through automatic writing, I knew that it would raise
eyebrows.
But it is put forward as a rival theory – a possibility – to show that the established way of
writing fiction books, that is, to devise a plot, draw up a list of characters, chapters, episodes
and so on, is not the only way to write them.
So the theory should be read with an open mind. I received a Contact Us submission from a
reader who told me he did not know that books could be written by people who have passed
away, directly through authors or through mediums, but that he would have been appalled if I
had stated that that was the way Enid Blyton used to write her stories.*
It is this type of response I aim to receive – to give some readers the opportunity to learn
something new. If, in future, they gather more information about the theory, it would be nice
if they could say, well I’m not surprised because I read about it before in a book called Enid
Blyton: The Untold Story by Brian Carter!
*As readers would see if they had read to the end Section Two, Chapter VII, I rejected the
theory in favour or another rival, namely, that her subconscious mind was the force behind
the automatic production of her stories.

[Splodj]

When she sat down to write a new book in a series, she had no idea what the story in the new book would be.

But she had pre-determined in which series the book would be, indicating some form of conscious direction.

As I see it, if she was completely passive she would sit down and switch on before discovering what was coming out. 'Oh goody - another Five book!'

[Fiona1986]

I had an email from Brian a few days ago saying that sales of his book have been good, which I was glad to hear. He also said that "soon the book will be available in English bookshops in Germany, France, and Holland", which is good news too!

[Judith Crabb]

Brian Carter was very kind when I muffed up my purchase order for his book. He went to the trouble of contacting me to see if I really did want two copies (which I didn't). The summit of my achievement with modern technology is what I am doing at the moment and I had never (all by myself) purchased anything on-line before. Anyway, I told him I'd do a review which I have done in first draft, although I think that Fiona's review is a hard act to follow. As it stands at the moment the following occurs in my second paragraph:

'Based on the bibliographies, it appears that Brian Carter is widely read in esoteric philosophies and some readers may find his more speculative observations something of a distraction from his otherwise grounded focus on Blyton's text, which would be a pity.'

Now I learn that sales are going well which is very pleasing as I thoroughly enjoyed the book and appreciated his very respectful approach to his subject. After all, controversy is a great seller of copy, so perhaps I should be encouraging 'distraction' rather than regretting it.

[Moonraker]

I had an email from Brian a few days ago saying that sales of his book have been good, which I was glad to hear. He also said that "soon the book will be available in English bookshops in Germany, France, and Holland", which is good news too!

Did you miss a comma after bookshops, or did you mean English bookshops situated in Germany?

[Lucky Star]

I read it as being English language shops which are located in France, Germany and Holland. There are quite a number of these so it's good news that Brian's book will be available in them.

[pete9012S]

Me too John. More importantly, does Nigel pronounce it as buckshops or bOOkshops!

[John Pickup]

I read it as John did. Nigel says buckshops, Pete, he's from darn sarth.

[Fiona1986]

I told him I'd do a review which I have done in first draft, although I think that Fiona's review is a hard act to follow. As it stands at the moment the following occurs in my second paragraph:

'Based on the bibliographies, it appears that Brian Carter is widely read in esoteric philosophies and some readers may find his more speculative observations something of a distraction from his otherwise grounded focus on Blyton's text, which would be a pity.'

That is a superbly eloquent way to describe that portion of the book - and much better written than anything in my review!

I had an email from Brian a few days ago saying that sales of his book have been good, which I was glad to hear. He also said that "soon the book will be available in English bookshops in Germany, France, and Holland", which is good news too!

Did you miss a comma after bookshops, or did you mean English bookshops situated in Germany?

No, no missed comma. I had intended to quote Brian but mixed up the word order slightly (though it shouldn't have affected the meaning). Here's what he said, the next sentence clarifies it a bit:

The book will soon be on sale in English bookshops in Germany, France, and Holland. Got some favourable responses from English bookshops in these three countries where, as you may have known, Enid Blyton books were, and probably still are, still popular.

[Judith Crabb]

Thanks for that Fiona, I'm really chuffed! You've made my day. Of course superb eloquence is not a necessary component of a good book review. As an undergraduate I remember being told to stop showing off. Quite justifiably, too. A writer should not dazzle a reader at the expense of illuminating the subject matter. But it is so satisfying to write a good sentence, isn't it?