I've read
Journal 44 twice already and will be returning to some articles again. So much to take in and savour, as always. One of the highlights for me was Enid's article on 'The Writing of Family Stories for Children'. I was struck by the observation that "a child does not always identify himself with a child
similar to himself, but more often with one that he would dearly
like to be". That was certainly true of myself when I was young. I identified with Jack Trent and Fatty, admiring them tremendously and longing to be like them, but in reality I was probably more of a Lucy-Ann. Despite Enid Blyton's remark that she deliberately made the Famous Five children "very varied", I didn't connect as readily with any of the Kirrins, which might explain why the Five books never meant as much to me as some of the other series.
I smiled at the truth of Enid's comment that "mothers and fathers, aunts, uncles and grannies come into their own here [i.e. in the Family story], and must be as real as the child characters. In Adventure and Mystery books they so often have to be in the background, because, I regret to say, parents are somewhat of a nuisance to Adventure-writers, where the sharing of an Adventure is concerned. If they are allowed to obtrude and interfere, as they most certainly would have to in real life, the Adventure would come to a sudden end - and so would the book!" It was also good to see Enid Blyton putting such emphasis on the notion of "one for all, and all for one" which is central to her Family books and also describes the relationship between the main characters in the Mystery and Adventure books - the way they stick together and help one another.
'The Packman in Sicily' is unusual, especially as it seems that Enid read it aloud at a birthday party. She says that it's a true story - is it one that's well-known in Sicily, I wonder?
What an exciting contribution by David Chambers! He's a real Find-Outer, tracking down so many of Enid's earliest poems and short stories to a
Merry Moments periodical that he hadn't realised existed. I was interested to see the Whit Monday story ('Coran's Whit Monday Adventure') as I always liked the Whit Monday story ('The Lost Golden Ball') in
The Enid Blyton Book of Fairies.
Tricked on the Track is also a wonderful find and has a particularly attractive cover.
Like Lucky Star, I'm not overly impressed by most of Blyton's adult fiction. I enjoyed the humour of 'The Eligible Bachelor' in
Journal 43 and the psychology of 'A Proper Knight', also printed in a past
Journal, but 'Vantage In', like some of the other adult stories that have come to light, seems to be little more than an expanded version of a rather feeble joke. It's fascinating to have access to these rare pieces of writing though, and see another side of Enid.
A nice, poetic 'From My Window' article about the Sussex Downs, and it was fun comparing the different incarnations of Mr. Stamp-About by various artists over the years, while reading John Lester's interesting observations.
A cracking
Journal - roll on the next one!
