In Defence of the Indefensible? Some Grounds for Enid Blyton's Appeal
BY David Rude
·
Blyton's books are hugely
popular despite the fact that she died in 1968.
·
Blyton's books were under
criticism which has generally been negative, seeking to belittle her achievement,
seeing her as a mere writing machine.
·
With the advent of social criticism,
it was not just her literary qualities that were suspects; she was also seen as
being racist, sexist, or classist.
·
Blyton claimed to be a storyteller
rather than a writer. Her real passion lay in storytelling.
· In her stories for the younger ages, these children tend to comfort with
the imaginary figures based on folk and fairy tales.
· After the Second World War, CHILDREN'S LITERATURE was becoming more
respected. This period initiated a change with the rise of social criticism, challenging
the format for their middle-class elitism, their norm of whiteness and their denigration
of all things foreign, their marginalization of females in favour of the male.Despite
socially concerned adults seeking to remove Blyton from their children's
bedrooms, schools and libraries, her works continued to be immensely popular,
why?
Evaluate Blyton's
books:
·
Her language is not figurative
rich. She uses oral strengths of cliché colloquialism and collocation. But her
vocabulary is not limited.
·
Blyton's characters are flat
and unmemorable. Her figure readily fit the types of heroes, villains, victims,
helpers..
·
Narrative codes: neutral
description of character in terms of semic elements (tall, dark..)
·
Plot: full of flaws by which
they seem to mean contrivances.
·
Her storytelling: the story
itself and how it is related (plotted) is paramount with setting and characters
taking second place in making her tales easily transportable across cultural
and classes, each providing their local colouring.
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ما من عبد مسلم يدعو لأخيه بظهر الغيب إلا قال الملك ولك بمثل.
