The Twins at St Clare's

[donnaimmaculata]

There's been some discussions on Enid Blyton on my flist lately, and then shocolate linked to this article, on which I wanted to comment, but then the comment kinda expanded...

So, I'm bringing you a post instead. Here are some titbits which you Blyton readers from English-speaking countries may not be aware of:

The St Clare's series is wildly popular in Germany. In fact, it has been almost entirely germanised, with the twins being renamed "Hanni" and "Nanni" (I've no idea which one's supposed to be Pat and which Isabel) and going to a school named "Lindenhof". The other characters' names have been changed, too. There's a Heidi, if I'm not mistaken, and Alison's been turned into "Ellie".

Also, I've only just learned that the St Clare's series originally included only six books. The German series has, like, two hundred, most of which were written in the 1970s/1980s by German authors employed by the publishing house. Seriously, there seems to be an endless supply of "Hanni und Nanni" books, with all sorts of adventures in a castle haunted by ghosts (IIRC), a stay in a school hostel in the country, Pat (or Isabel) being kidnapped in a Philippine princess's stead, and many more. St Clare's fanfiction, if you will - albeit very, very gen. I supposed none of the ghostwriters dared tread the femmeslash path. At least one of the books has horses.

At their midnight parties they have cake, sausages and lemonade; I understand that the food selection is much more multi-varied and out-there in the original?

Instead lacrosse, they play handball. And even though it's never explicitly stated, I think the new books are contemporary - i.e. set in the 1970s/80s. It's definitely heavily implied in the illustrations: I re-read one of the books only last week, and it's got very 70s illustrations, including a poster of a long-haired, bearded rock singer on the common room wall.

There's a film being currently made: Hanni & Nanni, scheduled for release in 2009. And did you know there's a Japanese series?

Just a thought, but: if the German publisher actually employed people to continue writing books for a popular British boarding school series - why not do the same with Harry Potter? Maybe I should put the idea forward and see what they think.

ETA: Um, is the embedding working? I can see the embedded video in the preview and on my LJ, but it doesn't show up in my f-list view.

ETA 2: Nevermind, it does now.

ETA 3: From the Wikipedia entry on Malory Towers:

"The German translation of the series adds twelve books occurring after the sixth, with Darrell (in the German version: Dolly Rieder) returning to a college associated with Malory Towers ("Burg Möwenfels"), the "Möwennest" (Malory Nest). As the story develops she returns to Malory Towers, first as educator, then she becomes matron of the famous 'North Tower' where she resided as a child. She marries her former "Möwennest" teacher in German and Literature, has a baby girl (Katharina) and finally becomes headmistress of Malory Towers, after Miss Grayling (Frau Greiling) had been seriously injured in a traffic accident, and is unable to work any longer." (emphasis mine)

Reads somewhat like a Harry/Snape fanfic, doesn't it?

Comments

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

I don't think we did. The title doesn't sound familiar, which, admittedly, isn't saying much, as I would know the German title anyway, but there isn't a German Wiki page, either.

I would actually love to read a good boarding school story targeted at older readers. St Clare's & Co. are nice enough, but neither the characters nor the plot are terribly complex. The only "adult" boarding school novel that leaps to mind it The Confusions of Young Törless, but surely there must be more!

[rosina-alcona.livejournal.com]

we had the Trebizon books, which were slightly more adult...

And the Chalet School were Elizabeth M Brent-Dyer, if that helps. Millions of them.

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

One major reason why Harry Potter appeals to me so much is that it's set in a boarding school. I don't actually care all that much about the whole Voldemort conflict - I'd happily watch a never-ending Harry Potter series about his adventures at school! Kinda like "Little House on the Prairie", but in wizard Britain.

I looked up Elizabeth M Brent-Dyer, but the name doesn't ring a bell and there isn't a German Wiki page, either. Probably not at all known here :-(

[rosina-alcona.livejournal.com]

I think the Chalet School novels went through quite an anti-German phase (I remember them having to escape Austria - where the school was based - running from Nazis) but at the same time there were German pupils at the school, so...hmmm...

They did have a proud 'Prussian' girl who was mean to everyone and ended up getting expelled. But the American and Australian pupils were the naughtiest, if I remember!

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

So I understand from the Wiki page. Somehow, I think they simply didn't find a publisher in Germany. Maybe the German market wasn't all that interested in boarding-school novels? I'd really like to dig up some information now, but knowing myself, I get distrac... Ooh, food! *goes off to lunch*

[lyras.livejournal.com]

It's Elinor M Brent-Dyer, which is why googling wouldn't help! Hmm, where's my Jo Bettany icon got to?

Her books are still pretty popular. *g* Obviously the morals have dated, and the books got very repetitive towards the end (there are over 60, spanning two generations), but the early ones especially are very readable, and left me with a lifelong desire to see Austria, Switzerland and Guernsey!

Rosina, did you ever read The Chalet Girls Grow Up? I love it, but the Amazon reviews are a good indication of the way it polarises Chalet fans!

One of the reasons I fell for the HP books so much was the boarding school trope - I couldn't get enough of school stories as a child.

I loved the Trebizon books, too! Agree that they were slightly more adult, if only because set more recently and therefore with less Victorian morals. I was disappointed when she stopped writing them.

(Sorry to be confusing; parts of this comment are directed at both of you, but splitting up the comment would make no sense!)

[rosina-alcona.livejournal.com]

oh my god, you're RIGHT, what a twat I am!

No, I've never read it, although I've heard of it. I always wanted to read every Chalet School book before I started on the tribute ones. Although the plot sounds a little scary! Mary-Lou a maneater???

I really must sit down at some point and make a list of the ones I haven't read so that I can trawl Amazon/Ebay/the local library for them!

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

Okay, I don't know who Mary-Lou is, but the "man-eater" thing made me think of Sparkly! Twilight has taken over my brain - I will never be clean again.

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

*facepalms* I actually found her Wikipedia page without even realising that Rosina's supplied the wrong name! My reading skillz obviously fail.

They do sound very much like something I would like to read, because, like you, I love the boarding school trope. There isn't much of a boarding school tradition in Germany, which is probably why we don't get boarding school stories here. But as I said in a comment above: if someone ever decided to turn Harry Potter into an endless series - book or television - of adventures in a wizard boarding school, I'd be lapping them up. I know many people complain the books are too long and we don't really need the descriptions of Neville's time tables etc., but the everyday school life is the reason why I read these books in the first place. The whole Voldemort conflict is quite irrelevant.

I don't mind the Victorian morals. In fact, a nice plotty novel in a Victorian boarding school would exactly cater to my taste.

[lyras.livejournal.com]

From what you say, I highly recommend at least the first few Chalet School books - then if you hate them you can give up. :).

Reading order: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elinor_Brent-Dyer

(Just for your information, there's a fairly biased depiction of a Prussian girl who they give up on at about book eight), but I think the war books are fairly pacific, although obviously they have the clear anti-German sentiments of anything written at the time.)

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

I think Rosina mentioned the Prussian girl somewhere upthread. I'm pretty sure my German sensibilities would not be insulted by a biased description of a Prussian girl. I understand that some Enid Blyton books have been censored later to take out some racist or classicist sentiments, but I think that these things should be left in, as they reflect the era in which a book was written.

There's a German series written between 1913 and 1925 about a young girl ("Nesthäkchen") growing up in the Wilhelminian and Weimar Republic periods, and one of the books gives the German perspective of the First Wolrd War. It has been ouf of print in Germany since 1945, which I think is an example of censorship going overboard. It would have made such a fascinating document of a period.

[lyras.livejournal.com]

Personally I'd love to read something giving a German perspective of WWI, so I'm sorry to hear it's out of print (although I suspect it was never translated anyway).

Although, hey, I've just googled, and I think this must be it?

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

It is. The book was released in English, but never in German.

[lyras.livejournal.com]

That's such a shame. Self-censorship taken to extremes indeed.

[missingkeys.livejournal.com]

I just realised that the Chalet School books have a lot about World War II, so Germany's censorship may have prevented the series from being published there. Which is a bugger, because they were the best school stories ever. :)

It ended up being over sixty books long and followed one of the main characters into adulthood and I think until the eldest of her thirteen children were prefects or something. So trashy, so good.

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

I also thought that might have been the reason, but the books were first published in 1925, and I'm not sure that censorship was all that firmly in place then. But I might be completely wrong.

Over sixty books sounds like the German version of the St Clare's series! I am seriously tempted to try and hunt them down now - they sound exactly right for the long autumn and winter evenings ahead.

[missingkeys.livejournal.com]

I used to have a fair number of them as ebooks, which was great. I just went to offer them to you, except they were lost along with my current wip when my computer died *cry*.

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's a shame. But it's the thought that counts, so thank you nevertheless :-)

[missingkeys.livejournal.com]

Not a problem!

I have a friend who may be able to access them. I'll see if I can contact her. If I can, do you want me to forward them to your email address? (We didn't have all the books as ebooks, so quite a few terms were missed and it's a little patchy, but when I was growing up they only had twelve of the 62-odd at the library and I got by.)

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

Oh, that would be great! No problem if there are any missing - 60 books would be a lot to read anyway.