From the Land of Long Ago. This series of Famous Five adventures was
written in the 1970s, a few years after Enid Blyton’s death, by the
French author Claude Voilier. I remember devouring a bunch of them at a
go and realising that they were very different in tone from the original
Blyton books — less cosy and provincial, more cosmopolitan and
action-packed — though it was nice to encounter the familiar characters
again. My favourite in the series was Five Versus the Black Mask,
which I read out to my mother and was disappointed when she wasn’t
astonished by the identity of the masked criminal. (These days, of
course, anyone who wanders around mask-less is instantly identifiable as
the bad guy.)
Anyway, my
big revelation on pulling these books out after decades: the English
translations were by Anthea Bell. Anthea Bell! The legend who, in
addition to her celebrated work on Asterix (which I never read as a
child), also translated many "serious", grown-up books I read later in
life, like Sebald’s Austerlitz and Szpilman’s The Pianist. Quite
pleased, with hindsight, that I experienced her work so early without
even knowing it at the time. P.S. These were bought at between Rs 17 and Rs 19 — from Teksons, South Extension, I think; this would have been in around 1983-84. Anthea Bell also translated another Blyton spin-off, a series of new adventures for The Secret Seven. I have a few of those too, though I don’t remember reading them.
This is interesting. I never came across these. The Anthea Bell connection, though - wow!
ReplyDeleteWow, I never knew there were Famous Five and Secret Seven books written by someone other than Enid Blyton! My favorite series was the Five Find-Outers, though I read all her series. They were certainly from another era. I wonder where I can get my hands on the Claude Voilier books. I found a delightful book recently "Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer" that features recipes from children's books, including many from Blyton's. I remember how all the books featured so much food- very exotic to me at the time.
ReplyDeleteAnthea Bell was a talent nonpareil. I have a very rudimentary knowledge of French, enough to realize how different it is from English. Her translation of Asterix was more an act of creation than interpretation, and utterly brilliant at that. Goscinny was also a genius, the books that were both written and illustrated by Uderzo after his death were very meh.