Enid Mary Blyton
11 augusti - 28 november 1968
Vad man än tycker om Enid, så får man konstatera att hon med sina över 600 böcker, översatta till mer än 90 språk, var en framgångsrik författare.
Jag som inte gillar spänning, läste bara några få av Fem-böckerna och de andra ungdomsdeckarna. Däremot tyckte jag om hennes internatskoleböcker. I dag kan jag inte, utan att leta fram några av böckerna, uttala mig om huruvida språket var så torftigt, som ofta sägs i debatten. Däremot minns jag att alla flickorna var präktiga och rättrådiga — utom problemflickorna, som i regel var präktiga och rättrådiga, innan boken var slut.
Läser i en artikel från 2010 att man då var i färd med att se över språket i Fem-böckerna. Man stryker inte bara det rasistiska och sextistiska — man byter ut föråldrade uttryck, som man inte tror barn av i dag begriper.
"Children who read [the Famous Five books] need to be able to easily understand the characterisations and easily to get into the plots. If the text is revised [they're] more likely to be able to engage with them."
Other changes include "housemistress" becoming "teacher", "awful swotter" becoming "bookworm", "mother and father" becoming "mum and dad", "school tunic" becoming "uniform" and Dick's comment that "she must be jolly lonely all by herself" being changed to "she must get lonely all by herself".
McNeil said references to a "tinker" have also been changed to "traveller". "Enid Blyton wouldn't have meant that ['tinker'] pejoratively. It's a description of a person, in order to place the character. So 'dirty tinker' has become traveller."
Tony Summerfield, who runs the Enid Blyton Society, said he was "thoroughly against unnecessary changes just for the sake of it, from adults who underestimate the intelligence of children".
He added: "I am in approval of changing language which has perhaps become offensive or has different meanings, or any racist references," he said. "And certain words such as 'gay' or 'queer' obviously have different meanings nowadays and it's fair enough to change them. But changes for the sake of them, I disapprove of."
"Why does Blyton have to be so heavily altered when other authors from the same era aren't changed at all? No one's going to change E Nesbit's Railway Children ... Children can appreciate these books were written in a different time."
Kanske blir jag tvungen att läsa någon av de biografier om Enid som finns — hon tycks ha varit en komplicerad person, inte särskilt omtyckelig. Hennes ena dotter skrev i en bok om sin mor:
"The truth is Enid Blyton 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 pitied her."Her elder daughter, Gillian, did not hold the same view toward their mother, and Imogen's biography of Blyton contains a foreword by Gillian to the effect that her memories of childhood with Enid Blyton were mainly happy ones.
På Bokus får man över tusen träffar, om man söker på Enid Blyton — både hennes böcker och böcker om henne. Och vill du veta ännu mer så besök ”The Enid Blyton Society”.