An interesting piece, which I have not come across before although its general tone of ' Enid's alleged failings in racism, classism, snobbery etc should be put within their 1930s-1940s social context and a lot of other writers then were a good deal worse, eg Agatha Christie' is familar to me - and fits with my own tone in my own Blyton book. Pages 100-115 of the Coetzee PDF would be particularly useful for anyone seeking to launch a quick and emphatic defence of Enid against the usual charges, eg in an interview; and it makes good points about her having more middle-class villains (eg Mr Roland and Mr Perton) than working-class ones in the Famous Five books, though critics tend to hone in on Enid's disapproving comments about the Sticks etc. Ditto the number of middle-class villains in the Find-Outer books (the first one has Mr Hick as the crook/ fraudster and the tramp as the wrongly accused person) despite the usual comments about Fatty sneering at Ern's mistakes when Ern first appears. Ditto the 'bad' upper (or at any rate well-off) middle-class Gwendoline and aristocratic Honourable Angela in the school books, and the mildly mocked (as idiosyncratic and self-absorbed) but basically nice Zerelda and Sadie the 'foreign' Americans and the 'good' (as honest, brave and generous) 'wild circus girl' Carlotta and 'wild farm girl' Tassie. Good ammunition to throw at Enid's critics here if you get a chance!
Also interesting to read that the famous 'librarian ban on Blyton books in 1950s-60s' was not widespread across the UK, geographically speaking, but was mostly in cities, was created by (often untrained professionally) local librarians off their own initiative, and was only shared by some - but well-placed - literary critics. The latter were in well-known magazines and papers and on TV, so were able to get their views across better. (Also, the literary criticism was high-profile; I am thinking of the 1970s critiques of 'racism' etc by Rob Dixon which I read as a student, which honed in on the Five 'patronising' Jo in Fall Into Adventure.) It was in a prominent location and was carried out by articulate and 'progressive' people so it attracted more attention - and entered modern cultural mythology, like the 'Comic Strip' satire. Perhaps we could do with a study of the 'Blyton-bashing' as a modern cultural phenomenon, stirred up by self-righteous and unrepresentative enthusiasts who ignored what the children themselves wanted!
