Culture Vulture

Darkness lurks in children's literature

Revisiting the stories written by Roald Dahl and Enid Blyton, one finds cruelty, spite, racism and sexism in the tales

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While rummaging through a cupboard at home recently, I stumbled across some old paperbacks by Roald Dahl and Enid Blyton.

These two authors were responsible for countless hours of unadulterated joy while I was growing up - and so I decided the best thing to do would be to shatter my childhood illusions by revisiting them with all the hard scrutiny of a cynical adult.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on February 19, 2019, with the headline Darkness lurks in children's literature. Subscribe