Poverty stricken Blyton will send books in return for food

[Courtenay]

I acknowledge what Courtney said about 'escapism' but can't help feeling some of the feasts in the books would have made the stomachs of hungry readers growl even more. I can imagine what some of them might have done for a tin of pineapple, a bar of chocolate or even Sarah Stick's meat pies and jam tarts when their main meal most days might have consisted of bread and margarine.

Good point — I hadn't thought of it from that perspective.

Ah yes - Enid Blyton wrote to librarian Mr. S. C. Dedman in 1949:

It always amazes me when people deride books for being what they call 'escapist'. Any intelligent person must surely know, if he thinks about it, that a large part of our finest literature is escapist - take Treasure Island for instance. Escapist literature should only be scorned when it is badly written or conceived, not because it is 'escapist'. This has become the kind of cliché used by the less intelligent reviewers, critics or librarians.

All adventure stories are 'escapist' - mine among them. I cannot think why some people use this adjective in a derogative sense - such stories fulfil a very real need - and one of the finest, Eric Williams' The Wooden Horse, is better than any fiction.

Thanks, Anita! I was hoping someone would remember that quote.