Enid Blyton - The Untold Story

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Julie2owlsdene
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Re: Enid Blyton - The Untold Story

Post by Julie2owlsdene »

Hello Keith, not seen you for ages. :D

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Re: Enid Blyton - The Untold Story

Post by Moonraker »

That is most interesting, Keith. Jane is writing her autobiography and it is almost up to the present time, now. It tells the story of her life, growing up in a small rural community. She has no intention of publishing it for resale, but would like it printed and bound as a 'proper' book. She has sourced a printer locally, who can print it off (A4) and bind it, but it wouldn't look like a 'proper' book. She only really wants one copy for personal ownership. Obviously close family could read it, but it wouldn't end up in Waterstones or the Kindle Store! We will have to give it further thought.
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Re: Enid Blyton - The Untold Story

Post by Keith Robinson »

Nigel, check out CreateSpace.com or Lulu.com.

CreateSpace is US-based, but you can do everything any US customer can do including publishing for free (not that you want to publish). The only snag is that you can't order stock/personal copies without paying daft shipping costs, because the stock copies come from the US. Maybe that's not a big issue for a one-off, but there's a workaround if you're interested: just publish the book at the lowest price possible (the manufacturing cost plus Amazon's cut), and then, 24 hours later, you can order copies directly from Amazon UK, which are printed in the UK. ;-) You could then take it back off sale if you wanted. But for a one-off book with maybe a handful of personal copies, I suspect paying international shipping rates might be a better option.

Lulu.com is possibly more UK-friendly, and very easy to use, but the manufacturing costs are twice as much. Again, maybe not a big deal for a one-off.

In both cases, with a bit of fiddling and learning to prepare your book for publishing, you can do the whole thing for free except for buying the actual printed copies.
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Re: Enid Blyton - The Untold Story

Post by Moonraker »

Thanks, Keith; we'll look into those.
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Re: Enid Blyton - The Untold Story

Post by Hermes »

Hi Tony
I consider it my duty to chip in here to respond to your post of March 5, 2015.
At the end of the article in my website: How Enid Blyton’s Poems Happened to be Featured at a World Premier in Beckenham, readers can find the following Note:
This story is drawn from Robert Fisk's short article with the caption: Enid Blyton's poems enjoyed at world premiere in Beckenham that was published in the News Shopper.co.uk website Tuesday, March 19th, 2013. Then I gave the following link (to be typed directly into the web browser): http://www.newsshopper.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and enid blyton's poems* for readers to read Robert Fisk’s article and see a photo of Cliff Watson. The author of the article states that: ‘… Mr Watkins, from the Beckenham Civic Society, discovered three poems in the pages of a magazine from 1917…’. He did not state that he was not the first to bring the poems to light – a fact both you and I already know – and the magazine in question is Nash Magazine – cited by Barbara Stony in her remarkable biography of EB. You should understand that I obtained the statement from a source and I gave that source.
With regards to your statement: ‘Enid was most certainly not living in Westfield Road when she was 20, Theresa was but not Enid’, Mr Fisk went on to make the following statement: ‘When they were written the author was 19 and living in Westfield Road, Beckenham.’
I stated in the article in my website: ‘Enid wrote the poems sometime in 1917, when she was about twenty-years-old – 19 years plus – and living in Westfield Road, Beckenham. (The poems were published in the editions of March and August, 1917.) I did not state that she was 20 years old. Since her birthday falls on 11 August, then she would have been about 20 and not 20 years old, especially when the first poem was published. This then is my chain of reasoning that led me to state Enid was living at 13 Westfield Road when she was about 20 years old.
In the light of these two explanations I hope you’ll make an apology in this forum for the categorical statements you've made. For if you had read Robert Fisk’s article, for which I gave a link, you would have understood that the statements came from that source. The author was not supposed to know that Mr Watson was not the first to bring the poems to light and it was not my intention to state, in such a short piece, the fact that someone else had already done so. This is not a treatise!
Finally, this is the last post members of this forum will receive from me, regardless of your reply. It no longer gives me pleasure to post anything in this forum.
Brian
* You have to type into your web browser the entire wording: http://www.newsshopper.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and enid blyton's poems, and not just the web addressed underlined, to find the article quickly to read.
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Re: Enid Blyton - The Untold Story

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Here's a link to Robert Fisk's article:

http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/10297854.print/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Robert Fisk claims that Cliff Watkins "discovered" the poems, and Tony is right to point out that that wasn't the case. Why repeat that information on your website if you know it's incorrect, Brian?

The article is also wrong in saying that the Maud Dyrenfurth poem is thought to have been written by Enid Blyton - though I see from your website that you were aware of that.
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Re: Enid Blyton - The Untold Story

Post by Rob Houghton »

It seems a bit odd to pronounce something as fact when you know it isn't...I don't quite understand this technique! It would be like me saying 'Anita Bensousanne stood up at the EB Day in 2008 and announced she'd written a new novel, Five Go Off In A Caravan' Mr Tony Summerfield protested that he didn't think Anita had really written this book, but I actually believe that Anita did indeed write it when she was 20 and living in Portugal...' :lol:

In other words, its a total fabrication written as fact!
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: Enid Blyton - The Untold Story

Post by Tony Summerfield »

Hermes wrote:Finally, this is the last post members of this forum will receive from me, regardless of your reply. It no longer gives me pleasure to post anything in this forum.
Brian
Oh dear, I am sorry that you have thrown the toys out of the pram, Brian. I was well aware that you took this from an article in a newspaper as Cliff sent me a copy of it when it originally came out, but when it was not particularly accurate I was a bit surprised that you decided to feature it on your website.

You have slightly missed the point on Westfield Road as I wasn't querying Enid's age, just the fact that she had left home several years before this and at the time was living with the Attenboroughs.

I think I have become aware that you have recently written me off as knowing nothing about Enid Blyton or her work, but it is a bit sad that you have decided that the Society is no use to you and made the decision that eb.net is the best place to promote your book. I wish you luck as the site is largely used by children, whilst this site is largely used by adults.
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Re: Enid Blyton - The Untold Story

Post by Courtenay »

I don't know the background to this whole debacle, but if a non-fiction author has (even in all good faith) made a statement that is inaccurate or misleading, and someone provides clear evidence that it is inaccurate or misleading, and the author completely dismisses them and is rude into the bargain... then there's no way I'd be interested in buying, reading or promoting that author's book. That's complete lack of professionalism at the very least. :?
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Re: Enid Blyton - The Untold Story

Post by Fiona1986 »

Well gosh, Tony, as if you of all people would know anything about Enid Blyton. We all know you're not really interested in her!
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Re: Enid Blyton - The Untold Story

Post by tix »

I want to get a move on with my book because if it becomes popular I hope to make lots of money. I've more-or-less mastered the technique that has become à la mode these days which is of course the necessity to find Blyton connections no matter how tenuous. These help to fill space and whilst not relating directly to the subject, they can add interest until the theme eventually returns to that of our author. This is a handy little ploy because there's only so much information available about Enid Blyton so I think readers would welcome the little side trips.

Here's a sample from my manuscript which can be looked upon as a kind of ‘teaser’ -

< Not only did Enid Blyton relate to many aspects of our lives but her knowledge also extended to various sciences, natural history, and branches of wisdom which even include religious and cosmological studies. The two passages below might illustrate this point -

"Speaking of galaxies, mergers are common because the universe is crowded on the galactic distance scale. The disc of the Milky Way, for example, spans about 100,000 light-years; the nearest major galaxy, the great spiral in Andromeda, which is a little bigger than the Milky Way, is about 2.5 million light-years away. That means the distance between these two galaxies is only about 25 times greater than the sizes of the galaxies themselves. That doesn't leave a lot of 'elbow room' for galaxies." (Star Date)

In this above excerpt we are informed there's not too much 'elbow room' for galaxies. I found this quite impressive and even more so when reading the following excerpt in 'Malory Towers' -

"Well," said Darrell, looking round at Sally's steadfast little face beside her, "well—I think if you don't mind, I'll stick to Sally and Mary-Lou. I wasn't always nice to them, but they did stick by me when I was in trouble—and they're my real friends now!"

"Oh!" said Mary-Lou, her face glowing. "Thank you, Darrell!"

Sally said nothing, but Darrell felt a delighted pinch just above her 'elbow.' She turned and smiled. She felt very happy. Now everything would be all right again till the end of the term. Good!>

Did you notice it? Enid Blyton has introduced the 'elbow' principle into her own works and used it in a slightly different way but the connection has been established and thus merits a mention in my book. There's no doubt about it, our favourite author doesn't miss a trick and apart from this insight into her methods, I'm also wondering whether or not I should introduce a couple of mythological stories because, as has been said before today, "Ancient mythology may have influenced Blyton." The myths may not be all that much to do with EB but they'll take up even more room and will hopefully ensure my manuscript ends up with the required number of pages.

A book that has been described as an "International Comparative Analysis of Enid Blyton's literature," also introduced 'history' into the proceedings - it's not so much about Enid Blyton's history, but it 'does' give us some information about gypsies -

"It should be recalled that the gypsy/Roma people are a landless people that has lived in Europe for a millennium. Historically, they are immigrants from Asia. When they arrived in Europe in the middle or medieval ages, they found an entrenched feudal system that would never acquiesce any land to them because of their immigrant status as well as their race (brown). It is this condition that has forced them in becoming rural/urban de-classes or as Frantz Fanon called the lumpen-proletariat, that is, people dissociated from society primarily through land alienation."

We learn 'so' much from books about Enid Blyton. The following passage from a pending production touches on the 'mythology' side and you're sure to notice the link because EB was well into 'morals.'

"Atalanta known for her swiftness was outmatched by the slow Hippomenes who resorted to a trick of throwing down golden apples on the racecourse before the race. As Atalanta slowed down to pick up the golden apples, he slipped pass her and won the race. What is the moral in this myth? There are many, but the one that springs to mind is: Never bow to temptation. Had Atalanta refused the temptation to pick up the golden apples en route she would have preserved her reputation as the fastest runner and won the race."

The Enid Blyton fraternity can look forward to a new publication and although I might be infringing guidelines for these forums as far as advertisements go I'll just say that it's supposed to be coming out in a few months, and deals with the 'Untold.'

Is there anything left to tell? I had always thought that Stoney and the rest had covered the subject of Enid Blyton fairly adequately and that nothing much apart from perhaps a few intimate details of family life remains to be exposed. However, it should be exciting to learn of previously untold material that, according to Tony, relates more to the author's 'works' rather than to Enid Blyton's persona.

I might search around for some 'untold' material myself with the hope that it will help sales. If that doesn't gel, perhaps my work will be regarded as 'Just a good book about Enid Blyton.' I wouldn't mind that. There are already several that could be recommended and the first in line is of course the bio by Barbara Stoney. I think most fans would label this account as the 'bible' but there are others which are worth perusing.

'The Byton Phenomenon,' 'The Story of My Life (EB's autobiography),' 'The Enid Blyton Story,' 'A Childhood at Green Hedges' and 'The Enid Blyton Dossier’ are all pretty good examples. George Greenfield also came up with a book containing some interesting photographs and Gillian Baverstock's booklets from the 'Telling Tales,' and 'Tell Me About Writers' stable supply us with still more information 'from the horse's mouth' so to speak. I think this batch would contain any information required as far as the author is concerned. A couple might be considered a little 'anti' but I'm sure they're written from an honest point of view ... we must remember that EB received a lot of criticism, so one would expect a slight reflection of this factor. After reading 'Phenomenon' in 1983 I wrote to Sheila Ray with my comments and she kindly answered, whilst at the same time offering me an insight into her own stance.

"I believe that Enid Blyton's earlier works, like those of other series writers, are superior to her later ones. My book is generally regarded as being a reinstatement of Enid Blyton and I have had varying reviews. I would not myself sit down and read any Enid Blyton except for the purpose of some projects. Enjoyment is the most important thing in reading fiction - for all children and most adults. The Secret Seven and the Famous Five books are the most popular in this country (Britain) - all the evidence proves this, however this may be due as much to accessibility and promotion by the publishers as to the content. A couple (of stories) I would read aloud to young children are The Enchanted Wood, and The Secret Island."

'The Story of My Life' is a popular biography and almost 'essential' reading, "The Blyton Phenomenon' is fairly well up in the stakes and can be purchased for a pound or two these days, and 'The Enid Blyton Story' which has some great pictures, basically analyses the Blyton works in a fairly critical vein. 'The Enid Blyton Dossier' has to be seen to be believed.
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Re: Enid Blyton - The Untold Story

Post by Domino »

You said a mouthful there.
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Re: Enid Blyton - The Untold Story

Post by Rob Houghton »

Brilliant! :lol: I'm sure your book will sell a few copies...someone might like to use it to compile their own biography of Enid Blyton... ;-)

Joking aside, I'm pleased to see you call 'The Story Of My Life' 'essential' reading. I agree completely. Although it's looked upon as heavily biased and tells us nothing Enid didn't want to tell, it does give an amazing insight into Enid's mind, and how she wanted to present herself to the world. It's a beautiful book, and the photos are great! :-)
Last edited by Rob Houghton on 07 Mar 2015, 23:58, edited 1 time in total.
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Tony Summerfield
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Re: Enid Blyton - The Untold Story

Post by Tony Summerfield »

Hermes wrote:Finally, this is the last post members of this forum will receive from me, regardless of your reply. It no longer gives me pleasure to post anything in this forum.
Brian
I think it doubtful that posting on our website ever gave you pleasure, Brian, as this was your first post for 475 days and it raised your grand total to 4. If you are honest I think you would say that you made this decision back in 2013, a long time ago.
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Re: Enid Blyton - The Untold Story

Post by Moonraker »

Stephen Isabirye has received shed loads of criticism and leg-pulling concerning his Anecdotage. It is to Stephen's credit that he has never taken offence or thrown toys around. Stephen is always respectful and entertains us with his varied posts and comments. Good on you, Stephen.
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