Should racist, sexist Enid Blyton be cancelled? Or can we keep her for long car trips?

On a recent long car trip, I introduced my four-year-old to the delights of Enid Blyton, in audiobook form. I downloadedI was vaguely aware that Blyton had recently been the subject of a culture war in Britain but I didn’t think it relevant for our purposes or, rather, my purpose, which was to afford myself a window of peace.The story begins when three children move with their parents to a country cottage near a magical wood.

Later I read about why Blyton had been in the news. Recently the Royal Mint halted its plans for a 50-pence coin commemorating the 50th anniversary of her death, on the grounds that she “is known to have been a racist, sexist, homophobe and not a very well-regarded writer”. As we have more transparent public conversations about who our great artists really were, and are, these are moral accommodations individuals make for themselves., I switch off the radio when a Michael Jackson song comes on. I note his music is still played.

Shriver made this point in 2016 at the Brisbane Writers Festival and caused controversy, partly, it seems to me, because she did it in a deliberately provocative way, meaning to offend, while reserving the right to mock those who were duly offended.Shriver’s main point is about artistic freedom, which should be close to absolute. Writers and other artists should be afforded radical breadth of imagination, which should never be clipped by prevailing fashions of thought.

JacquelineMaley Grow up SMH

JacquelineMaley Your question by definition is a query of burning 99.999999% of the written human historical record... are you sure thats what you want ?

JacquelineMaley How is Enid Blyton seperate from any historical culture ? The question by definition is a query of burning 99.999999% of the written human historical record... are you sure thats what you want ?

JacquelineMaley Banning books from the human historical record on grounds of sexism, racism and nonsense means (as a minutue start) bye bye 1st fleet journals

JacquelineMaley If inclined to appraise historical fiction with the keenest and unwavering eyes that 2019 allows, wouldn’t it be prudent to first run the comb through written history, deal with those lies first, to understand what authors past were surrounded by and bouncing off ? Why trash em ?

JacquelineMaley She was a terrific kids’ author who sold by the million. Some judicious editing and she is fine for these woke times. She was flawed by today’s standards as was slave owning George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. I for one still admire all three while recognising their foibles.

JacquelineMaley Maybe the brother seemed to be in charge, because being the eldest, he was more mature? No, couldn’t be! It MUST be sexism!

JacquelineMaley Since when is a children's author racist when it's a children's story most of us grew up with? Golliwogs are an innocent story line that militant PC radicals are now touting because it's deemed offensive. Bad enough the Noddy books were interfered with!! Back off, you nutcases!!

JacquelineMaley JacquelineMaley I found your comment about Michael Jackson, in your 'Should we cancel Enid Blyton?' article, to be a bit behind the times. The lies of Leaving Neverland have been exposed. You have based your opinion on a one sided movie. LiesOfLeavingNeverand

JacquelineMaley So unintelligent, to expect writers, historians, artists, cartoonists, movie makers etc of 50+ years ago to have had the same sensibilities & awarenesses as we have now. PCism at its ridiculous worst. Revisionism must not be allowed to rule. OK?

JacquelineMaley Oh ffs, spare me! Can't say nursery rhymes because they are racist, can't watch Disney movies because the Princess didn't give consent to be kissed and now one of the greatest children's author's books shouldn't be read. Stop projecting onto kids, they can figure it out surely?

JacquelineMaley We keep them as a reminder of how far we’ve come.

JacquelineMaley

JacquelineMaley Oh ffs! Give it a rest.

JacquelineMaley

JacquelineMaley So you’re saying we should start altering literature history to suit modern means. Yeah, you can’t do that

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