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Enid Blyton? She gave me my sense of social justice Enid Blyton? She gave me my sense of social justice
(1 day later)
“Change” is a word that has always caused me difficulty. The truth is, I feel that I have changed very little in the last 54 years. Of course, I have changed physically – but on the inside? There have been tiny shifts, I would say, in my personality and consciousness, but nothing radical. Nothing that would really justify using the word change. That sounds like a damning statement, I know, and I feel defeated rather than smug about it. A lot of these shifts, admittedly, have been brought about by books. “Change” is a word that has always caused me difficulty. The truth is, I feel that I have changed very little in the last 54 years. Of course, I have changed physically – but on the inside? There have been tiny shifts, I would say, in my personality and consciousness, but nothing radical. Nothing that would really justify using the word change. That sounds like a damning statement, I know, and I feel defeated rather than smug about it. A lot of these shifts, admittedly, have been brought about by books.
Related: Enid Blyton’s Faraway Tree series inspires new film It wasn’t until my early twenties that books began to have an effect on my politics. Had I been a few months older, I would undoubtedly have voted for Margaret Thatcher in the 1979 general election. Four years later, I voted for Michael Foot. What had happened in the meantime? I seem to remember that reading Tony Benn’s Arguments for Socialism was something of a watershed, but really I think it had more to do with leaving home for university and escaping the shadow of my father’s ultra-conservatism more than anything I was reading.
It wasn’t until my early twenties that books began to have an effect on my politics. Had I been a few months older, I would undoubtedly have voted for Margaret Thatcher in the 1979 general election. Four years later, I voted for Michael Foot. What had happened in the meantime? I seem to remember that reading Tony Benn’s Arguments for Socialism was something of a watershed, but really I think it had more to do with leaving home for university and escaping the shadow of my father’s ultra-conservatism more than anything I was reading.
As a postgrad I encountered Alasdair Gray’s magnificent novel 1982, Janine, and that perhaps influenced me more than anything. Not only did its hard-headed political analysis reinforce my burgeoning socialism, but it taught me something more profound: it is a deeply, harrowingly emotional book, and it made me see that political allegiances derive from emotional sources rather than rational ones. Conservatism and socialism are not competing belief systems between which one might vacillate according to reasoned argument: for the vast majority of people, including myself, they are gut instincts. This is why election campaigns can be so exhausting and, ultimately, futile.As a postgrad I encountered Alasdair Gray’s magnificent novel 1982, Janine, and that perhaps influenced me more than anything. Not only did its hard-headed political analysis reinforce my burgeoning socialism, but it taught me something more profound: it is a deeply, harrowingly emotional book, and it made me see that political allegiances derive from emotional sources rather than rational ones. Conservatism and socialism are not competing belief systems between which one might vacillate according to reasoned argument: for the vast majority of people, including myself, they are gut instincts. This is why election campaigns can be so exhausting and, ultimately, futile.
To find a book that truly changed me, though, I have to go back to my very earliest memories; back to the days when I was an infant, endlessly pliable and susceptible to every influence. Perhaps what I’m really talking about is a book that formed me rather than a book that changed me: and that book would have to be The Teacher’s Treasury, volume I, one of the first books to bear the name of Enid Blyton on its cover and spine.To find a book that truly changed me, though, I have to go back to my very earliest memories; back to the days when I was an infant, endlessly pliable and susceptible to every influence. Perhaps what I’m really talking about is a book that formed me rather than a book that changed me: and that book would have to be The Teacher’s Treasury, volume I, one of the first books to bear the name of Enid Blyton on its cover and spine.
Related: Jonathan Coe: a bit of a rotter
The copy that my family possesses belonged to my grandmother, who must have used it when she was working as a primary school teacher in Shifnal, Shropshire, in the 1920s and 30s. It is falling apart and half the pages are imperfectly held in place by sticky tape. It is a bulky volume in navy blue, resembling a family bible more than anything else. The pages are pleasantly thick to the touch as you turn them.The copy that my family possesses belonged to my grandmother, who must have used it when she was working as a primary school teacher in Shifnal, Shropshire, in the 1920s and 30s. It is falling apart and half the pages are imperfectly held in place by sticky tape. It is a bulky volume in navy blue, resembling a family bible more than anything else. The pages are pleasantly thick to the touch as you turn them.
The book consists of three sections. Number two is Rhythm and the Dance, which contains various music and movement exercises such as “pawing, high-stepping and galloping movements” and A-Hunting We Will Go. Section three is Nature Notes, a collection of short descriptive essays on birds and flowers. Both were invaluable to the village schoolteacher, I’m sure, but I’ve never read either of them.The book consists of three sections. Number two is Rhythm and the Dance, which contains various music and movement exercises such as “pawing, high-stepping and galloping movements” and A-Hunting We Will Go. Section three is Nature Notes, a collection of short descriptive essays on birds and flowers. Both were invaluable to the village schoolteacher, I’m sure, but I’ve never read either of them.
The important section, for me, is the first: Stories. Here are all the titles that I remember from my infancy: Peronel’s Polish, The Magic Easter Egg, King Strawberry-Head, The Pedlar’s Needle. Just making a list of these titles is enough to transport me back to my grandparents’ house in Shropshire in the mid-1960s, the narrow upstairs bedroom I would share with my brother, the benign, loveable figure of my grandfather sitting on one of our twin beds and reading these stories to us as a prelude to sleep. He was an engaging, animated reader, never more so than when he tackled Redcap and the Broomstick Witch. The important section, for me, is the first: Stories. Here are all the titles that I remember from my infancy: Peronel’s Polish, The Magic Easter Egg, King Strawberry-Head, The Pedlar’s Needle. Just making a list of these titles is enough to transport me back to my grandparents’ house in Shropshire in the mid-1960s, the narrow upstairs bedroom I would share with my brother, the benign, loveable figure of my grandfather sitting on one of our twin beds and reading these stories to us as a prelude to sleep. He was an engaging, animated reader, never more so than when he tackled Redcap and the Broomstick Witch.
Other people will cite, as their earliest memory of evil incarnate, the wicked witch in Disney’s Snow White: but to me she has always been a pussycat compared to the gnarled old witch in this story, turning up uninvited at people’s cottages to sell them her malevolently enchanted brooms.Other people will cite, as their earliest memory of evil incarnate, the wicked witch in Disney’s Snow White: but to me she has always been a pussycat compared to the gnarled old witch in this story, turning up uninvited at people’s cottages to sell them her malevolently enchanted brooms.
People should always behave kindly to one another and greed, above all, must always be punishedPeople should always behave kindly to one another and greed, above all, must always be punished
In her introduction Blyton says of these stories that “there is a definite lesson to be found in each, and it should be the aim of the teacher to see that every child has grasped it”. Well, it would be a dim child indeed who could not grasp the lesson visited upon King Strawberry-Head, whose lust for the eponymous fruit makes his head turn into a giant strawberry. It’s a perfect example of Blyton’s unsubtle moralising but also her genius for memorable imagery. In her introduction Blyton says of these stories that “there is a definite lesson to be found in each, and it should be the aim of the teacher to see that every child has grasped it”. Well, it would be a dim child indeed who could not grasp the lesson visited upon King Strawberry-Head, whose lust for the eponymous fruit makes his head turn into a giant strawberry. It’s a perfect example of Blyton’s unsubtle moralising but also her genius for memorable imagery.
In that respect, the story that has stuck with me most vividly for the last fifty-odd years is The Land of Ps and Qs, in which rude children who will not say please and thank you get swept off (via a circle of magic toadstools and an underground railway) to the Castle Courteous. Here, if they forget to say thank you for any item of food they are given, it sticks to their bodies, so that they are soon walking around covered in lamb chops and apple pies.In that respect, the story that has stuck with me most vividly for the last fifty-odd years is The Land of Ps and Qs, in which rude children who will not say please and thank you get swept off (via a circle of magic toadstools and an underground railway) to the Castle Courteous. Here, if they forget to say thank you for any item of food they are given, it sticks to their bodies, so that they are soon walking around covered in lamb chops and apple pies.
I realise now that, for me, the didactic intent and the narrative invention of these tales are inseparable, and provide equal pleasure. Heavy-handed though Enid Blyton’s polemics were they worked, and the crude sense of social justice they embodied – in which people should always behave kindly to one another, and greed, above all, must always be punished – has profoundly influenced not just my own value system, but my own fiction. I realise now that, for me, the didactic intent and the narrative invention of these tales are inseparable, and provide equal pleasure. Heavy-handed though Enid Blyton’s polemics were they worked, and the crude sense of social justice they embodied – in which people should always behave kindly to one another, and greed, above all, must always be punished – has profoundly influenced not just my own value system, but my own fiction.