Enid Blyton and the Mystery of Children's Literature

DAVID RUDD is Senior Lecturer in Communication and Research Skills at Bolton Institute. He has published articles in the fields of education, librarianship, media and cultural studies, but mostly in children's literature, with an earlier book looking at Roald Dahl's work, A Communication Studies Approach to Children's Literature (1992), and an enthusiast's guide to the Famous Five .

• Introduction Theory and Methods: Literature, Discourse and the Constitution of the Child Person and Persona: The Construction of Blyton as Cultural Icon The Pied Piper Among the Critics Noddy : Discursive Threads and Intertextuality The Famous Five : From Discursive Threads to Cultural Readings Sexism or Subversion? Querying Gender Relations in the Famous Five and Malory Towers Golliwogs, Racism and Blyton: From Preferred Readings to Cultural Effects The Mystery Explained (I): Writer of (and on) The Oral Stage The Mystery Explained (II): Writer of Passage Conclusion: Is Blyton Bad for You? Notes References Appendices Index

'That it is possible to work out a subtle, interdisciplinary, lightly empiric study of what children's reading experience feels like from the inside has been demonstrated brilliantly in Rudd's remarkable book, which combines attention to historical, social, ideological, psychoanalytical matters, uniting them in a basically discursive perspective.' - Professor Susan R. Gannon, Signal 'Not only is [this book] a spectacularly knowledgeable study of Blyton, but it is also an excellent handbook on some of the most knotty issues of children's literature criticism...This book represents what many people think children's literature criticism should be: impeccably scholarly and deeply knowledgeable about its subject, engaging with both theorists and child readers, treating them with equal respect (or skepticism), and accessible to the intelligent reader, specialist or not.' - Children's Literature Association Quarterly 'In the decades to come, this book will take its place as a courageous study that faces the uncomfortable facts squarely, refuses to accept the literary put-downs of the past, gives a fair hearing to the voices of children, and (rightly, in my view) seeks in Blyton's own inner life the key to the magic spell she was able to weave over so many child readers.' - Signal 'The survey alone was a mammoth undertaking, but it is matched in scale by Rudd's mastery of critical theory in general and of Blyton criticism in particular and, of course, by his knowledge of Blyton's vast oeuvre.' - Children's Books History Society Newsletter 'A thorough, sensible and balanced defence of Blyton. This is a work of judicious advocacy. Some of its best sections demonstrate the blatant misreadings, contradictions and emotional animus which have characterised so many attacks on Blyton...Overall this is a timely and competent corrective study.' - Books For Keeps '...if 'academic' is associated with boring, then this book will come as a surprise. Rudd's enthusiasm for his subject makes a riveting read...David Rudd clearly has a brilliant mind, which together with an infectious enthusiasm, and a dislike of poor scholarship, has helped to produce a book that is one of the most important contributions to the study of children's literature ever published.' - Brian Stewart, Antiques & Collectables 'It is a fresh and very exciting approach to Blyton that is likely to re-ignite (let alone kindle) interest in her work...The book is an enormously innovative study of Blyton...David Rudd has re-evaluated Blyton and her work in a much more sensitive light than previous critics...In doing so he has provided a fresh approach for the study of children's literature in general.' - Sophie Smallwood, The Enid Blyton Society Journal 'His study, witty as well as scholarly, is the best book written about British children's literature for some time.' - Nicolas Tucker, Times Educational Supplement