Andrew Maunder - Enid Blyton: A Literary Life

[Judith Crabb]

I was just filling out a multi-page form to give permission to the chemist who is giving me a booster shot in half an hour, four months after my second vaccination, when there was a knock on the front door and the postie handed me my long-awaited parcel from Book Depository, 'Enid Blyton A Literary Life'. I've flicked through it and can't wait to get immersed. I'll have something really good to read in bed if the shot disagrees with me, not that I'm short of reading matter. I'm thoroughly enjoying working through Anita's Best of Blyton short story list (see the topic in Miscellaneous).

[Jomo]

My one big discovery (at least as far as I was concerned) is how good some of the family stories are: House-at-the-Corner and Six Cousins at Mistletoe Farm & sequel - very good on teenage psychology, parents and family dynamics. It's a shame they aren't better known.
best wishes
Andrew

As a child, I remember reading an article describing Enid Blyton’s involvement in children’s charities and programs to divert potential ‘juvenile delinquents’ into constructive activities and away from a life of crime. I was so impressed that she was genuinely actively contributing in these fields. There was also a story about a juvenile court case, but I don’t remember the details.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Enid Blyton got to know magistrate Basil Henriques while doing that kind of work. He wrote a foreword for The Six Bad Boys, calling it "a most remarkable and enthrallingly interesting book" and saying that "The description of the workings of the minds of Bob and Tom is, in my opinion, absolutely brilliant." I've read his book The Indiscretions of a Magistrate: Thoughts on the Work of the Juvenile Court and I found it fascinating.

I'm glad you're enjoying the short stories, Judith, and I hope you're feeling okay after your booster. Let us know your thoughts on Enid Blyton: A Literary Life (the same goes for anyone else who has read/is reading it).

[Anita Bensoussane]

Andrew Maunder is interviewed by Georgina Godwin here:

https://monocle.com/radio/shows/meet-th ... reads-137/


I found it to be a sensible and interesting interview, although it didn't bring up anything new for me.  Enid Blyton is rightly praised for her drive, productivity, versatility and "good sense of narrative". The fact that she was "highly regarded" in the 1930s-50s and viewed as "a kind of authority on all things to do with children" is acknowledged.

Andrew Maunder's comment that the vilification of Enid Blyton started in the 1950s with other writers being jealous of Enid's success is interesting.  He goes on to discuss claims of snobbery and racism but says that such criticisms only came from a small section of the population. When he talks about the names of the gollies in Noddy being criticised, and Mr. Plod being unable to distinguish between them, I couldn't help wondering whether he was muddling them with the gollies from The Three Golliwogs (though it's possible the same points apply to the Noddy stories, which I don't know very well).

Andrew says at one stage that Enid "carved out a career for herself" and "didn't have contacts in the publishing industry", but actually she was helped to some extent by knowing the Attenboroughs and the Thompsons (they had contacts, though I can't recall the details off-hand) and by marrying Hugh Pollock, who worked as an editor for Newnes.

Also, was St. Christopher's a "grammar school"? I thought it was a private school.

I nodded at Andrew's statement that we "have to accept" older authors' works "as they are". I agree with him that editing them is "tricky" and that "we should leave the works as they are because they're part of the historical record really, and why should we try and hide what people thought and how they wrote in a particular time period?" Lots of us have said the same thing many times on these forums.

The interview ends on a positive note, with Andrew Maunder and Georgina Godwin speaking of Enid Blyton's creativity and influence and Georgina saying, "I do think we should all be re-reading Blyton." Hear, hear!

[pete9012S]

Listening to it now - many thanks Anita.

[Jomo]

Has anyone drawn Amazon’s attention to the messed up page for this book at Amazon UK?
The Amazon Australia page manages to get it right:
https://www.amazon.com.au/Enid-Blyton-L ... 726&sr=1-2

Also the link to the WH Smith offer is broken.

[Boatbuilder]

That's a really BIG book, Jomo.

I wonder what you'd receive if you ordered it?

They usually have a link somewhere so you can report errors with descriptions, etc., but there doesn't seem to be one on that page.

[Jomo]

That's a really BIG book, Jomo.
I wonder what you'd receive if you ordered it?

I’m not sure we’re seeing the same thing on the page I published the link to. It’s a pretty standard Amazon book page. The description of the contents is unusual though, being just a list of the chapters. The kindle page has the proper book description.

Andrew Maunder may be interested to know that there are some gremlins in the machine possibly preventing sales of his book.

[Boatbuilder]

This is the UK page, Jomo. I assumed you had seen it as you also referred to Amazon UK.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/MOXIC-Abstract ... C73&sr=1-2

[pete9012S]

How many here have bought or intend to buy the book?

I'm going to buy it, but as always I like to wait a bit to see if it comes down a bit in price!

[Jomo]

This is the UK page, Jomo. I assumed you had seen it as you also referred to Amazon UK.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/MOXIC-Abstract ... C73&sr=1-2

Yes, I’ve seen the UK page and it is totally scrambled! I wish I could show you a screenshot. The one I provided a link to is the Australian Amazon page for this book, it is pretty normal looking.

I’ve never seen anything like this listing in Amazon UK. Some weird stuff going on here.

[Lucky Star]

How many here have bought or intend to buy the book?

I'm going to buy it, but as always I like to wait a bit to see if it comes down a bit in price!

Same here. I will pick it up at some point but not immediately unforynately.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Andrew Maunder may be interested to know that there are some gremlins in the machine [at Amazon] possibly preventing sales of his book.

There was some discussion of the strange Amazon listing at the beginning of this thread, and Tony mentioned it to Andrew Maunder.

Also the link to the WH Smith offer is broken.

I just checked the WH Smith website and Enid Blyton: A Literary Life no longer appears to be listed.

How many here have bought or intend to buy the book?

I've received a copy for my birthday and will read it when time allows.

[Judith Crabb]

Thanks very much Anita for the link to the interview with Andrew Maunder. I've emailed him a couple of times and it was great to be able to put a voice to the words he emailed back.
For any South Australians reading this, I managed to get a mention of his book onto page two of yesterday's Saturday Advertiser's Weekend Magazine section. In that same section last week writer Kitty Flanagan mentioned the inspiration Blyton (and Dahl) gave to her as a child and this week another author, Yotam Ottolenghi, mentions the Famous Five as his earliest reading memory. I wish I'd kept a record of all the authors who attribute their earliest inspirations to Enid.

[Fiona1986]

Waterstones finally dispatched the book ten days ago, but still waiting on it being delivered. It's still for sale on their website.