Women's Day Special- Enid Blyton

Today on Women’s day, Librarywala writes about a female writer  who is accredited for animating millions of childhoods with her skillfully spun stories. 

To the epitome of success in the land of books- Enid Blyton

The famous writer Enid Blyton a.k.a Mary Pollock.whose books many a million have spent their childhoods reading was born on 11th August 1897 to Thomas Carey Blyton and Theresa Mary Harrison Blyton

Blyton's books are completely works of her unbound imagination. Her series of books roof a variety of sorts.

What makes Blyton so successful is her imaginative, exciting and magical style. Her writing has sent countless young readers on thrilling adventures and generations will continue to enjoy her enchanting stories.

The Early Years:

From an early age, she liked making up stories better than anything else. As a child she would go to bed at night and stories would flood into her mind "all mixed-up, rather like dreams are, but yet each story had its own definite thread—its beginning and middle and ending."

The ENID BLYTON approach to writing:

Enid explains in “The Story of My Life” that she simply relied on her fertile imagination rather than on conscious invention. It was like viewing "a private cinema screen inside my head... and what I see, I write down." she adds: "But it's a 3-dimensional screen, complete with sound, smell and taste—and feeling!"

Enid Blyton's writing displays an appealing freshness and spontaneity. Enid has a knack of painting apt, imaginative word-pictures without resorting to lengthy descriptions or complicated phrasing.  If she sometimes fails to stretch her readers' vocabulary, she definitely does not fail in stretching their imaginations.

Inspirations:

She sought inspiration from her favourite books as a girl.  What appealed to her "wasn't so much the story as the strange 'feel' of the tale, the 'atmosphere' as we call it. It hung over me for a very long time, and gave me pleasant shivers."

Her senior school days inspires many anecdotes in her series of books St Clare’s and Malory Towers.

In her times, she was popular, full of fun and threw herself wholeheartedly into school life.

Other sources of inspiration for her books were her pets. She wrote letters for her Teacher's World column about family life as seen through the eyes of Bobs - her fox-terrier.

Her fascination with animals of different kinds is particularly evident in her various books – where fairy tales and fantasies have been spun around animals & creatures adapted from them.

The Ladder to Success

As a teen, Enid received countless rejection slips from publishers. However, that only made her more determined to persevere with her writing.

Enid Blyton took a great interest in children of all ages.  Therefore she wrote for a wide age-range.

Altogether, Enid Blyton is believed to have written around 700 books She earned a fortune from her writing and in 1950 she set up her own limited company, Darrell Waters Ltd., to manage the financial side of things.

Beyond the Writer:

Enid Blyton married Kenneth Fraser Darrell Waters after the sad disintegration of her first marriage to Major Hugh Alexander Pollock. Blyton's second marriage was very happy. Both were immensely proud of one another's achievements and she moved smoothly into her role as a devoted doctor's wife, living with him and her two daughters at Green Hedges – dedicating her life to her family and writing.

Enid Blyton – The Legend:

Several decades after her death in 1968 , Enid Blyton is not forgotten. The best of her lives on in her books, many of which are still in print. Her storytelling is timeless and this result confirms that her books are still a firm favourite today.

In her words,

"Even if you have never met me, you know me very well because you have read so many books of mine... I am sure that you know exactly what I stand for, and the things I believe in, without any doubt at all.”

Librarywala

Celebrating Womanhood this Woman's Day (8th March)

Celebrating the existence of the Venusians –

Yes, the so much talked about, the so-much called for, the one’s that more-often-than-not leave your mouths open with the phenomenal change that they bring about, the only one’s that can work with astute shrewdness in the office but can play Juliet to their spouses back home, the gender that was once called weaker but is now audaciously rising to the peak of its strength………………yes, the women,…

The Women’s Day celebrates mothers, daughters, sisters, wives, grandmothers, all over the world……….

Here’s to the essentials of being a lady,

to our multitasking abilities

to our patient natures, to our mood swings

to our fear of cockroaches, to the thriving audacities

to the gossip, to the work meetings that we conduct

to the tomboyish natures, to the transformation to beautiful ladies,

to the stifled laughs, to the hysterical laughter,

to the wailing cry on breaking a nail, to bearing the pain of labour,

to the livid faces at the eve-teaser, to the miss-goody-two-shoes look

to the flea-market chappals, to the drunk dancing with 6-inch Jimmy Choos

to black nail paints, to the liberty to wear pink

to bad hair days, to the looks that kill

to challenging ourselves, to our love of being pampered

to the ability to stun-gun people with all the things we do……….

To all the female readers, writers, publishers, women celebrities who have been written about, including fictional protagonists…

Cheers to Womanhood! 

Happy Woman's Day :)

Rikta Doshi -
A Librarywala fan