ENID BLYTON – TOUCHING A NOSTALGIC NERVE!

I recently wrote an article for this website about Enid Blyton. If you haven’t read it, here is the link.   It was inspired by  a piece I came across  in the wonderful  Australian newspaper archive  TROVE.  Written in  1952,  it was a reaction to the South Australian Book Council choosing not to recommend her work during Book Week. The reason given was lack of literary merit.  Further investigation revealed that as early as 1938, the BBC’s Children’s Educational Department declined to air Blyton’s work. I was really surprised by this, as I had thought such disapproval came much later.

Like millions around the world, I grew up adoring Enid Blyton’s books especially the Faraway series and The Secret Seven. Nothing can tarnish the  joy I experienced.

On the first day the piece was published there were over 3,000 visits to my site, and as many again over the next couple of days. Almost all the  visits were to the Blyton story.

I also shared it to a couple of  nostalgia related Facebook groups. Oh my goodness, what a reaction. Many people expressed a deep love of Enid Blyton’s books and wrote about their happy childhood memories.  However, others posted  tirades  about political correctness, cancel culture and perceived  ‘wokeness’. Here are a few examples;

Of course the people who posted  such comments had not actually read the piece and simply assumed it was about current disapproval of the author.  Wow, I was shocked that the subject provoked such a visceral response.

AN EXPERIMENT

On another FB group I decided to add an introductory line making it clear  that the disapproval discussed was long before the  ‘political correctness’ era. Did it make any difference? Not one iota. People still  leapt in with comments about there being nothing wrong with golliwogs or the relationship between Big Ears and Noddy. Good grief….  racism (other than general xenophobia) and homosexuality were never raised in the times I was writing about.

Regardless of all this, surely we can remember our delight in the books, while acknowledging that Miss Blyton was a flawed character,  and that there were divided opinions about her work right from the  beginning. By the way, even her daughters grew up with very different views of their mother.

Elder daughter Gillian Braverstock, shown in the following photos, became an author herself.

In an interview with journalist Catherine Stott in 1974, Gillian, spoke of her mother’s strict writing regime and the impact this had on the children;

Gillian’s younger sister Imogen never forgave her mother, which led to an estrangement between the sisters. However, Gillian accepted the situation and treasured that precious ‘hour after tea‘.  She also understood that her mother’s own childhood had been very unhappy.

Stott wrote; ‘She told me of how Enid Blyton was inseparable from her father, who taught her all he knew of nature, music, and poetry and how she was shocked rigid when her parents’ shaky marriage collapsed and he walked out when she was 12….Of how she blamed her mother for this and rarely, if ever, saw her again after she left home at 19 to train as a teacher – even refusing to visit her when she was dying, avoiding her funeral because she was ‘too busy.’

‘Yet none of this ever came through her writing; ‘ She lived on two levels, I’m sure, said Gillian Baverstock thoughtfully.  She probably retreated to this magical world of hers to escape the unpleasantness of her teenage home and stayed there.’  She went on say that her mother may have written very different books if not for the family trauma she experienced.

‘People criticise mother for being so very simple, but in the end this is why children are able to enjoy her. Because they could enter her world without difficulty.  A part of herself remained child-like. That is why she could still enjoy a sunset or the first snowdrop coming out; unlike most grownups she never lost the ability to enjoy as a child does, the sweetness of a moment. ‘   (Women’s Weekly, Oct. 17 1974)

When I wrote the original piece about Enid Blyton, many people commented on the comfort she provided, due to loneliness, a difficult home life,  or being bullied at school. How interesting that her daughter commented on her mother  creating magical worlds to escape her own  unhappiness.

A BROADER SPECTRUM

It seems to me that the reaction by a section of Facebook members highlights a few aspects of  society today.  One is that  on social media platforms. people  often rush to comment on a topic without bothering to understand the context.   In this case, my title was  a question, not  a statement, and was intended to promote discussion. Although thousands  read the article, many others simply glanced at that  title  and let loose! We all want to have our say, which is fair enough. However, there have been occasions when I have written a piece and had people respond with lengthy contributions of their own; repeating material  already covered.  Very frustrating, but to  point this out would be  risk backlash from keyboard warriors. 😎

My sincere thanks to those who did read and understand the context of the article, including this from Dorothy, a UK reader;

Far more unsettling is the fury felt by so many of my  ‘Baby Boomer’ generation about changing attitudes to a whole range of issues.

Finally, we live in increasingly uncertain times.  I guess it’s understandable that  the remembered comfort and simplicity of Enid Blyton’s books has become sacrosanct.

NOTE – Here is some wonderful news to cheer us all up;

The movie is due for release late in 2025. I wouldn’t miss it for the world!

FOR MORE ON ENID BLYTON’S LIFE AND WORK, CLICK HERE.