Friday, July 11, 2008
Islands, castles, tunnels... and UFOs
I've been amazed at the number of comments I've received about playhouses, not just through this blog but via email and so on. I had no idea the building of a playhouse would excite so many adults! Teehee! Well, I've done nothing to it since Lily's birthday, but need to get back out there sometime and do a few things. Meanwhile, I've been working like a beaver this week and have got a lot done, catching up with my website work. This has nothing to do with Enid Blyton, except that the more work I clear from my desk, the more I can concentrate on EnidBlyton.net! I did in fact get a rare update out the other day, featuring Secret Seven reviews, a FanFic short story, and a list of Dutch Five Find-Outer titles. But there's a ton more I'd like to be getting on with... if I could only find the time!
Hot on my list is to re-open the Talk About Blyton section. I had considered a number of changes to combat all the silliness, but really it all boils down to one fairly simple alteration: to manually approve new topic suggestions. Before I closed it down, it had been too easy to ignore the list of existing topics and just start a new one, and unfortunately that meant repeating a lot of what had already been discussed. Plus, it may be interesting for children (and some adults) to discuss, "Who's your favorite character?" but I yawn wide at these kinds of discussions, as they normally consist of, "Mine is George," or "I like Julian best," or "I think Bets is great." So if I moderate the initiation of new topics, that might help. And beyond that, there's nothing like a firm Dame Slap standing by for children who threaten to bring their playground brawls onto my site!
I also need to do some work on the Enid Blyton Society site, as Tony, Anita and I have been discussing a revamp for some time. Not a complete overhaul, just a refresh, and a spot of housekeeping to see if we can organize things in a better manner — much as Anne might organize tins and jars of food on a shelf so the sardines and potted meat can more easily be found.
Meanwhile, I decided to dive into The Island of Adventure. I was running my finger along my bookshelves and thinking, "Hmm, what Blyton can I read...?" and rather fancied the idea of re-reading one of the adventure or mystery novels. But which one? In the end I went with an Adventure (with Jack, Philip, Lucy-Anne and Dinah) because I'm shortly going to be involved in a chapter for the new Round Robin on the Yahoo Group. Since this Round Robin is about the same characters, I felt it was worthwhile refreshing myself with the team. Good job too — I'd forgotten just how much Philip and Dinah argued in that first book, and how violent they were towards each other! A box on the ears here, a slap on the arm there... And that's just between the brother and sister. Jo-Jo's temper is another matter entirely.
While reading this, it occurred to me that it might be quite a good lark to follow up with other island-based adventures. There are quite a few, but if I was to pick two others it would probably be Five On a Treasure Island and The Secret Island. And The Adventurous Four. Okay, so that makes four in total. Hrrumph! Well, in any case, I had this idea that it would be good to pick three themed books, starting with islands and moving on to castles. There's certainly no shortage of castle books to choose from, including The Castle of Adventure and The Secret of Moon Castle to name but a few.
After that, well, perhaps tunnels and catacombs — and here the choice really becomes daunting! Then maybe a triplet of books featuring circuses and fair folk. And another featuring mountains... In fact, now think about it, each topic here is present in the Adventure series. I could pretty much use the Adventure series as a pointer, so start out with islands, then castles, then caves and tunnels, then shipwrecks and being marooned (which perhaps has a different flavor to simply visiting nearby islands), then mountain-based adventures, then holidays on board a boat or ship, then mystery and intrigue involving circuses and fair folk, and finally — well, I guess books that involve rivers and riverboats! I would guess that I wouldn't be too hard pushed to find three books that relate to each topic, and still end up with twenty-four different books.
However, it would be a little harder to find three books that have something in common with a paperback I received from eBay the other day. The Seven and the UFOs is not one of Blyton's, but is a continuation novel based on the Secret Seven. I'll read it next, I think, just out of curiosity... but it does make me wonder what other Enid Blyton books have a hint of the other-worldly about them. Obviously Enid had no particular interest in science fiction, as surely she would have touched on UFOs in at least one book during the 1950s! This was, after all, the age of The Mekon; what young boy wasn't thrilled to read about Dan Dare and his exploits in space?
But Blyton did have some futuristic strangeness going on in The Mountain of Adventure, and a number of books warmed (or rather cooled) to the idea of ghosts. Other than that, there's really nothing remotely paranormal except for a plethora of spine-tingling scenes that send villains scuttling away in fright — such as Kiki screeching like a banshee or Fatty moaning mournfully about his aunt.
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Don't know if you ever catch BBC7's DAB radio station on the internet Keith? (They broadcast old BBC radio archive shows and programmes on a loop, repeating 3 times in 24 hours). Mention of the Mekon reminded that they're re-running the 1950's Charles Chilton radio serial, Journey into Space from today. A bit clunky, but interesting historically as early British radio sci-fi.
The "Listen Again" option lets you hear most programmes up to 7 days after broadcast anytime. Not sure if Lily is yet a 'listener', but she might like to now and again catch the novelty of the odd songs, rhymes and stories in the old Eng accent, as they have 3 hours daily output for children. Wonder if they schedule any Enid Blyton stories? Last week found 3 Famous Five audios in Oxfam -- am listening to the pacy thrills and spills, 5 Have a Wonderful Time (with young Gypsy Jo), superbly narrated by Jan Francis.
p.s. Jane -- if you consult the newest library of the Internet, called Torrent, you'll find heaps of old Famous Five audio files. Thanks to the torrent innovation, a lot of very scarce material is available that would otherwise stay buried. And thanks to incompetent marketing, one is unlikely to ever see it for sale on the high street. [ I exclude Disney -- they know what they're doing ]
Rogoz -- thanks so much for the steer in the Torrent direction. Truly an a-mazing (in every sense) concept and innovation. Found the F.F. audios -- plus, plus, plus...
I always thought that Blyton did often hint of the other worldly in her books -- only in a different sense! We have Fairyland and Toyland, and the enchanted forests and magic castles! Putting it into perspective -- getting whisked off to a land dwelled by goblins is just pretty much the same as getting transported to a planet inhabited by say, Martians. The only difference is in the setting, and the characters, and the adventure.
Okay okay -- so maybe not quite... but then again -- I'm not much of a science fiction fan. I'm not really fond of spooky stories either. So Blyton's books are just perfect for me. :)
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