Enid Blyton working from home on her typewriter
Independent
The author was rightly commemorated with a plaque from the English Heritage Organisation outside her former home in Chessington S.W London.
English Heritage blue plaque
on front of Enid Blyton's home
Years after her death, English Heritage acknowledged the racism, xenophobia and sexism in Blyton’s writing. As one of Britain’s most cherished children’s authors, whose books are among the most translated in the world, Blyton has been condemned by this important cultural foundation in the latest episode of Britain’s divisive culture wars.
Back in 1975, AH Thompson already understood the problem when he compiled a broad overview of censorship efforts in the UK's public libraries, dedicating an entire chapter to The Enid Blyton Affair. Her wrote of her: no single author has caused more controversy among librarians, teachers academics and parents in the last 30 years, than Enid Blyton.
Jamaica Kincaid called Noddy books very racist because of the blonde children and black golliwogs. In Blyton's novel The Island of Adventure (1944), a very intelligent, black servant Jo-Jo was particularly cruel to the children. And English Heritage pointed to a 1966 Guardian article by Lena Jeger that showed the racism of Blyton’s The Little Black Doll (1966). Sambo the doll was ostracised by his owner for its ugly black face and ran away! In discussing possible moves to restrict publications inciting racial hatred, Jeger noted that magic rain washed Sambo’s face clean; he could be welcomed back home now with a pink face.
Her xenophobia was problematic in the inter-war era when many middle class people believed that foreigners were largely untrustworthy. The publisher Macmillan conducted an internal assessment of Blyton's The Mystery That Never Was, submitted for publication in 1960. The review found there was a vaguely unattractive, old-fashioned xenophobia in the author's attitude to thieves; they were foreigners thus criminal. Macmillan rejected her manuscript, but it was published anyway by Collins in 1961, 1965 and 1983!
Jamaica Kincaid called Noddy books very racist because of the blonde children and black golliwogs. In Blyton's novel The Island of Adventure (1944), a very intelligent, black servant Jo-Jo was particularly cruel to the children. And English Heritage pointed to a 1966 Guardian article by Lena Jeger that showed the racism of Blyton’s The Little Black Doll (1966). Sambo the doll was ostracised by his owner for its ugly black face and ran away! In discussing possible moves to restrict publications inciting racial hatred, Jeger noted that magic rain washed Sambo’s face clean; he could be welcomed back home now with a pink face.
Her xenophobia was problematic in the inter-war era when many middle class people believed that foreigners were largely untrustworthy. The publisher Macmillan conducted an internal assessment of Blyton's The Mystery That Never Was, submitted for publication in 1960. The review found there was a vaguely unattractive, old-fashioned xenophobia in the author's attitude to thieves; they were foreigners thus criminal. Macmillan rejected her manuscript, but it was published anyway by Collins in 1961, 1965 and 1983!
The Famous Five series
Blyton's depictions of boys and girls were considered by many critics to be sexist. Guardian writer Lucy Mangan proposed in 2005 that The Famous Five series depicted a power struggle between Julian, Dick and Georgina, in which the female characters either acted like boys or were ridiculed to for thinking they were as good as boys.
In 2019 The Royal Mint planned to unveil a 50-pence coin commemorating Enid Blyton. But the plan was rejected because the Mint believed that featuring her on the coin would result in a backlash against the author’s racist, sexist and homophobic views.
3 choices were available to modern publishers.
In 2019 The Royal Mint planned to unveil a 50-pence coin commemorating Enid Blyton. But the plan was rejected because the Mint believed that featuring her on the coin would result in a backlash against the author’s racist, sexist and homophobic views.
3 choices were available to modern publishers.
1] They could ignore the old unacceptable values because Blyton had been hugely popular; in any case, noone knew about sexism and racism back in 1939-63.
2] They could refuse to republish books with unacceptable values as no C21st children should be exposed to xenophobia etc. Or
3] modern publication of her old books could cleanse Blyton’s worst offences.
Some changes WERE made. In Here Comes Noddy Again (1951), the black golliwogs who stole Noddy's car and dumped him naked in the Dark Wood were replaced by goblins in the 1986 revision. They stripped Noddy only of his shoes and hat, and returned late in the story to apologise.
Some changes WERE made. In Here Comes Noddy Again (1951), the black golliwogs who stole Noddy's car and dumped him naked in the Dark Wood were replaced by goblins in the 1986 revision. They stripped Noddy only of his shoes and hat, and returned late in the story to apologise.
Enid Blyton, husband Kenneth Waters, daughters Imogen and Gillian
at their home in Beaconsfield in 1949. Guardian
As I would have expected, responses on social media have been polarised, with people arguing whether it was fair or not to judge Blyton by modern standards. Especially, as author Matt Haig said, because not everyone shared Enid Blyton’s values back in her time! In the end I had to agree with The Independent: "nostalgia for Enid Blyton does not grant her a free pass for her bigotry".
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28 comments:
It has long been known that Enid Blyton held xenophobic and racist views, but only until fairly recently was it flagged up. We can't just ignore history, and the fact that both Enid Blyton and Dr. Seuss have sold many hundreds of millions of books. So what could we do? In Enid Blyton's case, now two of her books have been re-written and more are certainly going to be re-written in the future! This does show that if Enid Blyton was writing her books today, she might have written it differently, to fit in with the times better. So it could be argued that we shouldn't judge her for views which were OK at the time she was alive. This doesn't answer the question, is it OK to read her and Dr. Seuss's books to your children?
Fortunately, in this day and age there is a huge selection of children's books that are diverse, varied and inclusive. We can still read these books to your child, especially the edited versions, but the raw, unedited editions, which show racist views should either be left untouched or used to talk about: racism, sexism and bullying.
Hi Hels - for some reason we never had Enid Blyton books ... so I never read her ... though obviously I came across her. I remember the discussions about her attitude to social norms in her lifetime. Thanks for the reminder ... about her authorship and her life - cheers Hilary
careful_science
You noted that parents can still read these books to their child, especially the edited versions. This would be a fine solution, but Blyton books were largely for older children, who read the books themselves.
My main problem would be with "the raw, unedited editions which show racist views". If they were used to promote careful discussions about racism, sexism and bullying, they might serve a useful function. But I would be VERY careful in telling a 10 year old that some people were/are oppressive arses.
Hilary
I was a huge fan of Enid Blyton in the 1958-62 era, having focused on Famous Five, Secret Seven and The Faraway Tree, but I was totally UNaware of discussions about her attitude to social norms in her lifetime. It wasn't for decades that I saw literary reviews identifying the issues raised in Blyton's novels. Surprisingly, since my parents were committed socialists who believed in the equality of all peoples.
I remember reading a biography of her I assume in the 1980s or maybe even earlier and being totally shocked about how she treated her husband and daughters and immediately could not stomach that she had fooled me into thinking how great she was. If the biography is to be believed she was a dreadful wife and mothet to the point of cruelty.
Rachel
Blyton has recently become as synonymous with the label Bad Mother. Daughter Imogen was treated with aloofness and emotional neglect. Imogen wrote a candid memoir in 1989, 21 years after her mother died, entitled A Childhood At Green Hedges and she pulled no punches. She was arrogant, insecure, pretentious, very skilled at putting difficult or unpleasant things out of her mind and without a trace of maternal instinct. As a child, I viewed her as a rather strict authority. As an adult, I did not hate her. I pitied her. Most of my mother’s visits to the nursery were hasty, angry ones, rather than benevolent. (Express).
So we have to ask how could a woman who brought so much joy to so many children have caused so much misery to her own daughters? Note however that the other daughter Gillian painted a somewhat different picture.
Boa tarde minha querida amiga. Através do seu maravilhoso trabalho aprendo muito.
Well, in a case like this where there's controversy over the writer's views such as racism, xenophobia, sexism - I'm for not publishing certain books and and/or passages which contain the above views.. That's all.
Luiz
thank you. Did you read Enid Blyton in childhood? I found many of the Portuguese translations
quite easily eg Os Cinco Salvam o Tio
https://www.amazon.com/Os-Cinco-Salvam-Tio-Portuguese/dp/989555902X
DUTA
right! And if I was a young parent or a school teacher, I would not set Blyton's original books for the children either. Even though she wrote very interesting stories, I would insist on publishers only producing cleaned up versions.
White people won't at all connect with "Sambo the doll was ostracised by his owner for its ugly black face and ran away!", and I can't see that it harms the image in white eyes of black people. What it may do to black and dark skinned people is increase the chemicals they apply and their scrubbing to make their faces more white.
I read Famous Five and Secret Seven books and I don't think I ever really took their idealised lives seriously. English life for children as depicted in Blyton's books was very remote to my childhood life in Australia.
I wonder if Blyton had she still been living, would now apologise for the extremities of her writing. Dame Joan Sutherland never apologised for what she said: 'I don't really feel comfortable at being served by a black Indian person in my local post office', and that seems to have had no effect on her operatic singing respect or general admiration.
Blyton's original writing was of its time. No one took offence then. Things are happening now and said that will be regretted in historical context.
Keep Blyton's books as they are but lightly edited versions for young readers would be ok too.
Andrew
although I understand well that writers, musicians, artists, politicians, academics, sportsmen etc worked in their own eras and reflected those eras, it didn't mean that noone took offence back then. Offended minorities knew to keep their objections to themselves, if they were smart. The price of objecting loudly was not worth paying.
Although we all read the Famous Five and Secret Seven and Malory Towers books as children in my school, no Enid Blyton book was ever set as a book for us to read. This was in the 1950s. Our teachers did expect us to read the classics of the day, especially Dickens, and quite advanced ones for our young years but never ever an Enid Blyton. We kept a book called My Miscellany where we had to write down what we were reading and a short review. Nobody ever dared to record an Enid Blyton.
Rachel
Well done, to your teachers and fellow students! Reading the classics in primary school in the 1950s was a big expectation, but it clearly worked. Our generation is better at writing, spelling and enjoying literature than the next generation and MUCH better than the grandchildren's generation.
But if nobody ever dared to record an Enid Blyton book in your Miscellany, there must have already been some sort of understanding about her books being not top notch.
I don't but the racist, sexist thing. Times were different then, as you have explained. I loved her books as a child and my sons' both loved The Famous Five when they were younger.
Lisa
I also loved Blyton's books because they were unlike anything I had experienced in real life in Melbourne. Her rural settings were totally different from those of us living in big cities and the parents didn't seem to control or limit the children's adventures.
Another thing I had forgotten. My beloved and his parents didn't speak a word of English when they got to Australia in the 1950s, so his teachers were delighted to share Blyton books as an easy way of learning the language. He still quotes Five Go to Billycock Hill (1957) today :)
Our teachers were exclusively for us reading the classics. I remember the teacher responsible for introducing the My Miscellany being very strict. One would get a ticking off for reading a book not on her list of reading. Enid Blyton was not the only author we didn't dare list. I suppose the teacher viewed her books as more like leisure reading than scholarly.
Yes, she was racist, sexist, all of that - and classist. The Naughtiest Girl books were set in a boarding school with upper middle class kids. The Famous Five were upper middle class too, and lower class characters were not very bright at best. I HATED Julian, and wished Anne would stop being the group’s cook and housekeeper. Personally, I preferred the Five Findouters series for its humour, and its young Sherlock Holmes-style leader. It was also rather subversive about the police, with the dim witted Mr Goon, always having his heels nipped by the dog and competing with the children for who got to solve the mystery. And “Goon” was a slang word for “police”. I do have to wonder.
I enjoyed the Faraway Tree books, though admittedly those were sexist too. They were my introduction to “strange new worlds”. What irritated me was the Americanisation in later editions. I hunted up original editions for myself. Blyton was also my introduction to crime fiction. I’m still reading mysteries, though mostly cozies.
I don’t excuse anything she wrote just because of the era. And she wasn’t the only one. Have you read any of the Doctor Dolittle books? I managed to get through one full book, the first, and half of the second before concluding that Hugh Lofting was unbelievably racist and I wasn’t going to read any more. I do still read Agatha Christie, though there is one Poirot novel I will never read again, due to the fun made of the African student who was not even considered as a potential murderer - too dimwitted! Antisemitism is quieter but characters are described as “He’s Jewish, but he’s quite nice.” No, Agatha, that is not a compliment.
Rachel
I think you are probably right about the teacher viewing Blyton's books as more like leisure reading than scholarly. It suggests that scholarly reading did not need to meet quality and historical standards, but leisure reading need not meet the same standards. People say that about pop culture today.
Sue
I am not sure how old you were, when you originally read Blyton (or Hugh Lofting, Frances Burnett or Rudyard Kipling for that matter) but most children are not experienced enough or sensitive enough to detect subtle racism, sexism and anti-Semitism. Even if we don’t excuse anything she wrote just because of her era, we still have to make decisions about Blyton's books today. You will know, for example, that some primary schools removed Enid Blyton classics from their libraries.
Bom dia minha querida amiga. Passando para desejar um bom final de semana.
Hi Hels! I admit I read Hugh Lofting and Christie as an adult, but I was a child with the others and I did notice the sexism and classism. It’s why I didn’t care for the Famous Five.
Luiz
thank you. I hope you had/have access to these books.
Sue
I hear you, sister. My 18 year old granddaughter reads all the books she has to, or wants to, but she is well aware beforehand which authors have a reputation for racism, sexism or anti-Semitism. She marks any problematic paragraphs in the margin eg T.S Eliot
It an interesting and perennial topic particularly when we look at JK Rowling and the furor around her supposed Transphobic views. No to mention the statues and memorials to slave traders which are being toppled into the sea in Bristol.as they fall from grace ( literally and quite rightly in my opinion). It seems to me that the views we give our children are incredibly important as they can be embedded in an impressionable mind and leave us with a generation blighted with bigotry's of which they are often not aware . I have an elderly relative who is a dear soul, a kind loving person and yet hold views which are now seen as racist and sexist .This isn't because she is an intrinsically bad person , it is because she grew up in the 1940s and 50s when there were books for children which categorized people into races and gave them a hierarchy which gave white people the top billing . I think it is incredibly important to make a fuss about these views BUT not to engage in the cancel culture that is an easy way out . Personally I would be putting all the sculptures of people with very questionable past in a particular place , create a museum of of them along with a good explanation of why they are there . This could become a tourist attraction and so educate us all to be more mindful of the assumptions we walk around with and may be unaware of .As for Enid , it was never great literature and personally I found her stories boring . I never read y=them to my children and my sons would give me a stern talking to if I ever presented them to my grand children .Don't ban them but don't promote the w=either . They are a relic and need to be seen that way . .
mem
Yes. I would also be putting all the sculptures of people with a dodgy past in a special collection. Only a museum could preserve the statues celebrating the old heroes, surrounding them with detailed, up-to-date information and explaining why the original information was immoral or racist. Photos of the oppressed communities (eg slaves) should be included on the walls of his museum.
But literature is rarely visual. And if one home or one school bans racist authors, will the world notice the difference? I don't think so. Perhaps it would be possible to create a literature museum, with each dodgy author being analysed, critiqued and displayed for families to discuss.
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