Enid Blyton's enduring Utopian fantasy

[auscatherine]

http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/b ... 38816.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

this opinion piece from an Australian newspaper is a few years old but I thought related well to some of the discussions on here.

I particularly like this paragraph at the end:

Blyton's books are still relevant to some Australian children and the reason is clear. The Famous Five took risks and did stuff. They did not sit in front of television to be entertained. Blyton offers escapism and novelty. Moreover, the Famous Five children were happy. For some children, this is an appealing fantasy.

Interestingly, I think John Marsden, one of the Australian writers also discussed in here is or was an Enid Blyton fan. I don't know this for sure but know that he did give a presentation once entitled "Shakespeare, Enid Blyton and Me". His "Tomorrow When the War Began" series makes an interesting comparison with the Famous Five. While much darker in its themes (ie, imagines a future where Australia has been invaded by a foreign power), I think a lot of its appeal for young people lies in the fact that it centres around a group of young people having adventures and solving problems without the interference of adults - just like the Famous Five did.

[Ming]

That was an interesting article, I particularly liked the comparison between Marsdon and Jennings.

[Anita Bensoussane]

An interesting article - thanks for that, Catherine. Must admit that, as a child, I disliked books where almost the entire emphasis was on a particular social problem which dominated the story. I found them depressing and felt that the characters often appeared to be lacking in common sense or in the ability to focus on anything else except whatever problem was currently troubling them. In Enid Blyton books we see the children taking an interest in things like nature, sports and games, music, art, old legends, boating, ventriloquism, etc. They are more outward-looking and less self-obsessed, and seem to have a healthy and relatively positive attitude to life even when times are difficult. Enid Blyton characters were an inspiration to me and seemed so "real," whereas characters in "social issues" books by authors like Judy Blume didn't engage me at all and were often instantly forgettable.

My daughter enjoyed some of Paul Jennings' stories when she was younger and loved the Round the Twist TV series.

Anita

[auscatherine]

Glad you liked it, Ming. I personally think Paul Jennings is a genius in the way he is able to capture the interest of reluctant readers, eg, through his Rascal the Dragon series for younger readers.

Anita, I quite liked social issues type books but then I was a fairly angsty kind of adolescent, I think. I do agree though that books that are solely focussed on a particular social issue with very little else in the way of characterisation or plot development can be pretty forgettable. I feel the same way about a lot of adult writing too.

I would be interested to hear your thoughts on the Tomorrow series if you ever get around to reading any of them. I think they are actually quite exciting and even positive (despite the plot context) compared to a lot of Marsden's other works. I was actually up all night reading the first one (which was a set text for my teaching course). The young people in it are country rather than city kids adn do seem to have fairly wide ranging interests and life skills. The narrator, Ellie, a bit of a weird character though, ie, I do tend to have a problem with male writers attempting to write in a girls voice and not sure that Marsden is really able to nail it - maybe it was more that Ellie was a different kind of girl to what I was (ie, more of a tomboy).

[Anita Bensoussane]

I'll have to look out for the Tomorrow series, Catherine. It does sound intriguing.

Anita

[auscatherine]

Here is a link to the first book on Amazon, Anita, if interested in finding out more:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tomorrow-When-W ... 378&sr=8-1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Anita Bensoussane]

Thanks, Catherine.