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Noddy Goes To Woketown.
Now Enid Blyton is cancelled: Children's author's work is 'racist, xenophobic and lacking literary merit' says English Heritage in 're-appraisal' sparked by Black Lives Matter protests
The English children's author (left in 1962) has enchanted millions of young readers with tales of adventure, ginger beer and buns. But Ms Blyton, whose books have been among the world's best-sellers since the 1920s, has been linked to racism in updated Blue Plaque information produced by charity English Heritage. In a new section on the EH website it says: 'Blyton's work has been criticised during her lifetime and after for its racism, xenophobia and lack of literary merit. In 2016, Blyton was rejected by the Royal Mint for commemoration on a 50p coin because, the advisory committee minutes record, she was 'a racist, sexist, homophobe and not a very well-regarded writer'. English Heritage vowed to review all plaques for links to 'contested' figures following last year's Black Lives Matter protests. It stated that objects 'associated with Britain's colonial past are offensive to many'. Blyton wrote over 700 books and approximately 4,500 short stories but faced very little criticism during her early years. Her work, including The Secret Seven (right), the Famous Five, the Faraway Tree, and Noddy, has been sold more than any other children's author. Her books have sold 600milllion copies and have been translated into 90 languages. Her work is still popular, and she is number 11 in the top 20 best bestselling children's writers of last ten years - despite her death in 1968. But her use of the term 'Golliwogs' in Noddy has now been changed to 'Goblins' in recent editions and other books where she is accused of racism are largely of print.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9695159/Enid-Blytons-work-racist-xenophobic-lacking-literary-merit-says-English-Heritage.html
The English children's author (left in 1962) has enchanted millions of young readers with tales of adventure, ginger beer and buns. But Ms Blyton, whose books have been among the world's best-sellers since the 1920s, has been linked to racism in updated Blue Plaque information produced by charity English Heritage. In a new section on the EH website it says: 'Blyton's work has been criticised during her lifetime and after for its racism, xenophobia and lack of literary merit. In 2016, Blyton was rejected by the Royal Mint for commemoration on a 50p coin because, the advisory committee minutes record, she was 'a racist, sexist, homophobe and not a very well-regarded writer'. English Heritage vowed to review all plaques for links to 'contested' figures following last year's Black Lives Matter protests. It stated that objects 'associated with Britain's colonial past are offensive to many'. Blyton wrote over 700 books and approximately 4,500 short stories but faced very little criticism during her early years. Her work, including The Secret Seven (right), the Famous Five, the Faraway Tree, and Noddy, has been sold more than any other children's author. Her books have sold 600milllion copies and have been translated into 90 languages. Her work is still popular, and she is number 11 in the top 20 best bestselling children's writers of last ten years - despite her death in 1968. But her use of the term 'Golliwogs' in Noddy has now been changed to 'Goblins' in recent editions and other books where she is accused of racism are largely of print.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9695159/Enid-Blytons-work-racist-xenophobic-lacking-literary-merit-says-English-Heritage.html
Comments
Whole families would be taken from their homes in Africa against their will and moved in dreadful cramped, diseased conditions on ships. Many died during the voyage.
The people would then be sold as slaves - separated from their family - and become the property of someone, just like you would own a bicycle or a car. They had no rights at all.
This would mean they might have to change their name to that of their owner, and work really hard for up to 18 hours a day in terrible conditions.
They had a poor diet and no care for their health, often walking for miles in the hot sun and living in rough huts and sleeping on a dirt floor.
Hard life
Masters would control their slaves by whipping them.
Once a slave started work on a plantation they usually only lived for about seven years because they were worked so hard. If the plantation was run by a church they usually died after three years.
Being a slave was a hard, miserable life.
There is little need for much corrective action regarding Blyton's legacy because it has already happened. Various racist words and depictions have been removed from her books in recent editions, xenophobic descriptions have been sanitized, numerous instances of sexism and anti-semitism have been edited out. This was for the most part done quietly and without fanfare and I'm sure none of the people commenting negatively on this story were even aware of it.
This isn't "cancel culture" or "wokeness" gone mad, either. Blyton had manuscripts rejected by publishers as far back as the 1960s for being too racist even for the sensibilities of that day and age; in 1966, she was criticised in the press for a story about a black-faced doll nobody liked until the rain washed its face pink again. Many libraries reportedly banned or removed her books from their collections around this time for their offensiveness. It is very well known in the literary world that Enid Blyton is an incredibly problematic writer, with scholarly debate on the matter dating back at least to the 50s. Here is an article listing some of the most well-known examples that made it to print, but there are quite a lot more examples of racism, classism, xenophobia, and sexism to find should you choose to dig deeper. She was also rather litigious, preventing a lot of criticism from entering the public consciousness through legal force.
Is this all fine? Nothing to see here?
Despite all of this, Enid Blyton remains a beloved and popular writer. She also made some undeniable positive impacts on the world, doing a lot of charity work focused on children, raising a lot of money for positive causes, and was almost certainly an educationalist at her core. Like some of the people in this thread, a lot of people couldn't care less how incredibly problematic she was as a writer, or perhaps think it is outweighed by her positives. They don't care how that might impact the development of the children and adults reading her books. They don't care that children's literature is incredibly influential in shaping the cultural values of children. They don't care that her popularity is owed mostly to the fact that her writing is incredibly simplistic and unchallenging, devoid of almost any literary or pedagogical merit.
Her books, now that most of that has been removed, are short, easy reads that won't make anyone think too much. I can see why many of the people in thread are evidently such big fans. I suspect the truth is most people here simply know Enid Blyton as a popular author through cultural osmosis and are not aware, or interested in, the facts of her legacy.
And that's all absolutely fine. Enid Blyton being a racist and an unremarkable writer can coexist with Enid Blyton being a popular author. That Blyton was a product of a different time remains a convenient excuse for forgiving her more problematic writing. Nobody credible is demanding her books be taken off the shelves (anymore) and people who want to read her books will continue to be able to do so.
So what exactly is the problem?
I also think that attempting to joke about slavery is abhorrent.
Its just not funny, however much you cough.
As a kid I had a gollywog, does that mean that either myself or my parents were racist.
Guess what if you answer yes to that question YOU ARE THE PROBLEM
Slang fact check.
See: You just defused the situation with humour. click!
I'm curious to know what 'woke' means to you?
Genuine question btw.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=woke
He may well answer in the same response but I'm sure he doesn't need you to speak for him.
Give it another 50 years and all our history will be deleted in the name of political, racial or diverse correctness.
Then the roles will be reversed ala Rhodesia oh sorry Zimbabwe.
If I've done wrong then I will be the first to apologise, but I WILL NEVER APOLOGISE OR TAKE ON "WHITE GUILT" FOR STUFF THAT HAPPENED WHEN THE WORLD AND ITS ATTITUDES WERE DIFFERENT.
Actually according to statistics I am a minority. As a white, hetrosexual, practising Christian I am in fact in a percentile of less than 20%.
I await your guilt and shame for everything bad that's ever happened to me whilst insisting that you change history to delete anything I consider to be offensive and calling on society to boycott vast swathes of everything on my behalf.
Pretty ridiculous yes. EXACTLY but wait that's actually what you're supporting.