Sample Article
NEWS OF OLD GIRLS
The triplets are still at school.
Elisaveta is living at Arosa in Switzerland.
Robin is a member of the La Sagesse Order.
As Helen McClelland comments on these extracts from the Chalet Club newsletters: "It all becomes disconcertingly like the 'News of our Old Girls' in some real-life school magazine" (Behind the Chalet School, 1996). The phenomenon of the Chalet Club, run by Chambers during the 1960s, is a curious one. Brent-Dyer's last 10 books rate amongst her very worst, yet the club newsletter proves again and again readers' anxiety to pass on their love of the series. Belief in the reality of the Chalet School was for some an absolute - one girl wrote for a prospectus. For 58 books, Brent-Dyer satisfied the needs of the serial reader with her incessant cry - "Ye-ee-s, but what happened next?"
While Brent-Dyer was alive she acted as a reality checkpoint supplying definitive answers. With her death, another stage began. Wish fulfillment became a possibility. Readers were free to follow their characters into adult life - giving Joey great-grandchildren - widowing Madge. Literary worlds from Star Wars to Malory Towers are continually rewritten - by fans from a love of their shared reality, and by market-conscious publishers. Susan Hill's Mrs de Winter and Emma Tennant's Pemberley, explore the creations of Daphne du Maurier and Jane Austen.
The development of the fanzines and light literary journals in the late 1980s offered increasing opportunity to share the dream, leading to the development of a commonly accepted future myth. Who would doubt that in a literary world, far, far away, Joey did indeed have her quads? But, why do we care whether Len's marriage to Reg was a success? Why do we carry on reading excellent but not classic children's fiction. Why don't we read decent literature? Perhaps because, we sympathize with that young reader of Charlotte Yonge who, when told that Little Women was a work of art, whimpered "I don't want works of art - I want Ethel and Dr May." What Chaletomanes want is more and more Jo Bettany.
Without daydreaming, there might be no creative process. Perhaps reading novels and juvenile fiction is not an escape from reality, but a form of process meditation, providing a framework to explore ideas about ourselves and our situation and gain a grasp on reality. So, accepting that one should take time to "Escape from Reality", step across the borders of convention into Chalet lands. Join Ros Lilley on the Eurostar train. Watch Jo struggle with the technological marvel that is Rosalie's electric typewriter. Ponder just what damage Margot's separation from her triplet sisters may have done her developing psyche. Reflect on the creative process that made Mary-Lou a less than lovable plaster saint.
Joy Wotton, England
Note: This article is reproduced with permission from the author and the Editor of the New Chalet Club Journals and originally appeared in Journal 8.