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Path: utzoo!utcs!mnetor!sophie
From: sophie@mnetor.UUCP (Sophie Quigley)
Newsgroups: net.books
Subject: Re: Query regarding author.
Message-ID: <1983@mnetor.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 4-Sep-85 11:24:57 EDT
Article-I.D.: mnetor.1983
Posted: Wed Sep  4 11:24:57 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 4-Sep-85 12:15:39 EDT
References: <497@linus.UUCP> <1839@mnetor.UUCP> <527@linus.UUCP>
Reply-To: sophie@mnetor.UUCP (Sophie Quigley)
Organization: Computer X (CANADA) Ltd., Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Lines: 42
Summary: 

In article <527@linus.UUCP> cv@linus.UUCP (Chris J. Valas) writes:
>In article <1839@mnetor.UUCP> sophie@mnetor.UUCP (Sophie Quigley) writes:
>>Hmmm, I used to love Enid Blyton's stuff too when I was a child.  I have 
>>heard something about those books being banned in some libraries in Sweden
>>because they were considered worthless.   I remember them as being quite
>>racist and sexist, but apart from that pretty ok.  What's wrong with them?
>>
>>I think Dune is pretty racist and sexist too.  Why is it better than Enid
>>Blyton?
>
>Excuse me, but are racism and sexism the only two criteria you use in
>judging the merits of literature?   I hope not.

No, they are not, but they are pretty important in shaping people's
personalities.  When I read Enid Blyton's stuff, I associated very
strongly with the characters, something I never did with Dune because
the female characters were always very peripheral.

>I prefer Dune and Lord of the Rings (among various other reasons) to
>Blytons' works because both Herbert and Tolkien display cogent and
>sweeping imagination, enough to create complete worlds and universes from
>scratch and bring them to life on paper.  A child reading either of these
>books will have his mind stretched in several directions, something
>Blytons' books are too simplistic to provoke.  On the other hand, if the
>objective is to keep the little darlings away from the television until
>after they've had din-din, then Blyton will suffice ....

I think it is silly to compare the two kinds of work, they are not ment
for audiences of the same age.  Enid Blyton's stuff is for much younger
children than either Dune or Tolkien.  Actually, my impression is that
Dune and Tolkien are for adults.  I certainly was never able to read 
them until I was over 20 even though I tried Tolkien when I was younger.
I read Enid Blyton between the ages of 6 and 9.  I like to think I've
evolved since (even though some net readers might not agree <-:).

Again, I don't understand why you are making this comparison.  It's
just as silly as comparing Sheakespeare and Tolkien.  They have nothing
to do with each other.

-- 
Sophie Quigley
{allegra|decvax|ihnp4|linus|watmath}!utzoo!mnetor!sophie