Enid Blyton

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Lore & Background

Enid Blyton was born on 11 August 1897 in East Dulwich, south London, the only daughter and eldest of three children, to Thomas Carey Blyton, a cutlery salesman, and his wife Theresa Mary. Her father ignited her interest in nature; in her autobiography she wrote that he 'loved flowers and birds and wild animals, and knew more about them than anyone I had ever met.' He also passed on his interest in gardening, painting, music, literature, and theatre. Enid was devastated when her father left the family shortly after her 13th birthday to live with another woman. She despised her mother so much that after she left home, she never saw her mother again and gave people the impression that her mother was dead. Enid did not attend either of her parents' funerals. From 1907 to 1915, Blyton attended St Christopher's School in Beckenham, where she became school tennis champion and lacrosse captain. She excelled in writing and, in 1911, entered Arthur Mee's children's poetry competition. Mee offered to print her verses. After finishing school in 1915 as head girl, she moved out of the family home. She trained as a teacher at Ipswich High School, enrolling in a National Froebel Union teacher training course in September 1916. Her first poems were published in Nash's Magazine in March 1916. She completed her teacher training in December 1918 and obtained a teaching appointment at Bickley Park School. In 1920, she moved to Surbiton as nursery governess to four sons of architect Horace Thompson. Her first book, *Child Whispers*, a 24-page collection of poems, was published in 1922. Following the commercial success of her early novels, such as *Adventures of the Wishing-Chair* (1937) and *The Enchanted Wood* (1939), Blyton went on to build a literary empire, sometimes producing fifty books a year. Her writing was unplanned and sprang largely from her unconscious mind; she typed her stories as events unfolded before her. The sheer volume of her work led to rumours that she employed an army of ghost writers, a charge she vehemently denied. She also wrote educational texts, including the three-volume *The Teacher's Treasury* (1926) and the six-volume *Modern Teaching* (1928).

Reader's Guide

Enid Blyton's significance lies in her extraordinary commercial success and enduring popularity in children's literature. Her books have sold more than 600 million copies and been translated into ninety languages. As of June 2019, she was the fourth-most translated author. Her work, however, became increasingly controversial among literary critics, teachers, and parents beginning in the 1950s due to the alleged unchallenging nature of her writing and her themes, particularly in the Noddy series. Some libraries and schools banned her works, and from the 1930s until the 1950s, the BBC refused to broadcast her stories because of their perceived lack of literary merit. Her books have been criticised as elitist, sexist, racist, xenophobic, and at odds with the more progressive environment that was emerging in post-World War II Britain, but updated versions of her books have continued to be popular since her death in 1968. She felt she had a responsibility to provide her readers with a strong moral framework, so she encouraged them to support worthy causes. In particular, through the clubs she set up or supported, she encouraged and organised them to raise funds for animal and paediatric charities. The story of Blyton's life was dramatised in *Enid*, a BBC television film featuring Helena Bonham Carter in the title role, first broadcast in the U.K. on BBC Four in 2009. Her first book, *Child Whispers*, a 24-page collection of poems, was published in 1922. Early commercial success came with novels such as *Adventures of the Wishing-Chair* (1937) and *The Enchanted Wood* (1939). The first of twenty-eight books in her Old Thatch series, *The Talking Teapot and Other Tales*, was published in 1934, the same year as *Brer Rabbit Retold*. *The Enchanted Wood*, the first book in the Faraway Tree series, published in 1939, is about a magic tree inspired by the Norse mythology that had fascinated Blyton as a child.

Did You Know?

• Blyton's first book, *Child Whispers*, was a 24-page collection of poems published in 1922.
• As of June 2019, Blyton was the fourth-most translated author in the world.
• From the 1930s until the 1950s, the BBC refused to broadcast her stories because of their perceived lack of literary merit.
• Blyton's father left the family shortly after her 13th birthday to live with another woman, and she never attended either parent's funeral.
• Her writing was unplanned and sprang largely from her unconscious mind; she typed her stories as events unfolded before her.