Rediscovering Nancy Drew

by Carolyn Stewart Dyer (Editor), Nancy Tillman Romalov (Editor)

"Rediscovering Nancy Drew is a rich collection of literary memories and insightful cultural comments."--Journal of Children's Literature "Nancy, especially the Nancy of the original story, is our bright heroine, chasing down the shadows, conquering our worst fears, giving us a glimpse of our brave and better selves, proving to everybody exactly how admirable and wonderful a thing it is to be a girl. Thank you, Nancy Drew."--Nancy Pickard "Nancy Drew belongs to a moment in feminist history; it is a moment, I suggest, that we celebrate, allowing ourselves the satisfaction of praising her for what she dared and forgiving her for what she failed to undertake or understand."--Carolyn G. Heilbrun "Rediscovering Nancy Drew lights up the territory. It informs, delights, and acknowledges through love and scholarship a debt long overdue."--Dale H. Ross In 1991, women staff and faculty at the University of Iowa discovered that the pseudonymous author of the original Nancy Drew books, Carolyn Keene, was none other than Mildred Wirt Benson, the first person to earn a master's degree in journalism at Iowa. The excitement caused by their discovery led to the 1993 Nancy Drew Conference, which explored the remarkable passion for Nancy Drew that spans a wide spectrum of American society. The a lively collaboration of essays by and interviews with mystery writers, collectors, publishers, librarians, scholars, journalists, and fans which presents a spirited, informative, totally enjoyable tribute to the driver of that blue roadster so many readers have coveted.

Genres: Nonfiction, Books About Books

297 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1995

Reviews

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a birthday gift from my sister and it has taken me 8 months to begin the read. This book presents a record of the first ever Nancy Drew Conference at the University of Iowa in April 1993. The catalyst for the conference and associated activities was to recognize and honour the work of Mildred Wirt Benson, the author of the first 23 of the 30 original Nancy Drew books. Authors wrote under a syndicated pen name, Carolyn Keene and were not allowed under contract to reveal their real names as authors. Mildred Wirt Benson was a graduate of the University of Iowa and they celebrated her contribution to the Nancy Drew character and series at this conference.

I grew up reading the Nancy Drew series and loved the books. I read the yellow covered books which I have just learned were re-writes of the initial blue covered books.

Read Rediscovering Nancy Drew was an incredible eye-opener for me. I thought Carolyn Keene was a real person, I thought I was reading the only Nancy Drew series, I had no idea that the books were re-written to reflect and educate readers into the social mores of the 1950s, I hadn't really paid attention as a younge reader to the issues of class in the series and so much more revealed in this book.

The book presents short presentations made at the conference by a wide range of presenters and experts, including authors, editors, librarians, artists, book collectors, historians, readers.

The end notes include a full list of titles from 1930 to 1994 as well as a list of other books written by Mildred Wirt Benson under 12 names.

Mildred Wirt Benson was alive at the time of the 1993 conference. She died in 2002 at the age of 96.

There were a number of favourite parts of this book for me including a piece written by Mildred Wirt Benson (Chapter 6), Translating Nancy Drew from Print to Film (Cchapter 23), all of Part 2: Reading Nancy Drew: Reading Stereotypes. I was really shocked to learn how the school and public libraries excluded series books from their collections during the time I would have been reading the series.

A really educational read this was for me!

I will be re-reading Nancy Drew books going forward - searching for the original versions. I wonder how hard they will be to find!

[Zoann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some food for thought here--the perennial argument of is reading anything worthwhile? Or is reading only a noble pursuit when one is reading noble literature? And once those questions are answered, who defines noble literature? I long ago fell on the side of any reading is good reading. If your tastes are defined as "high brow" and mine "low brow", so be it. We can share the love of reading and what we like about it. These philosophies are at the core of a librarian's work and there is some good history in this anthology, to wit: "The public library movement in the United States was established in the mid-nineteenth century on the principles of Americanizing foreigners, controlling social and urban problems and uplifting readers. According to recent library histories, the public library was originally subsidized by capitalists and political leaders who saw it as a way of extending genteel culture to workers and their children."

"If they [children} were not allowed full library privileges, librarians argued, children would be limited to reading dime novels and similar "immoral literature" which they felt incited readers to disrespect authority and created a taste for the sensational, the ugly, or the merely mediocre. Their mission was to get children into the library, where their reading could be carefully guided."

Also good essays on the role of women throughout the last century or so and how Nancy Drew reflected (or didn't) that role. Not easy or fast reading (12 days to read 238 pages is very slow for me) but worthwhile. And another book off my TBR pile! This one has been there for 20 years!

[Leslie Goddard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd call this collection of essays from the landmark 1993 Nancy Drew Conference held at the University of Iowa essential to any understanding of the powerhouse that is Nancy Drew. Simply as a document of what occurred at that conference, it's essential historical information. And many of the essays are unquestionably compelling and insightful, even more than 25 years later.

The challenge for a modern reader is that so much of this information is now common knowledge (librarians' long-standing disdain for series books) or easily accessible (Melanie Rehak's book) and that the essays cover such a vast range of topics, some of it undoubtedly only appealing to die-hard fans.

So I'd say, essential for a die-hard fan but not the best introduction to Nancy Drew today. I recommend Rehak's Girl Sleuth for that.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Glad some of the essays discussed the problematic elements of this childhood favorite. As a lifelong fan of Nancy Drew, the racist elements have always bugged me. (Then again, that could be said of a lot of so-called “classics.”😐) I didn’t know the earlier editions had Black characters who were portrayed negatively; obviously I read the whitewashed versions. I would have liked someone to mention the exotification of the few Asian characters, to say nothing of the yellowface both George and Nancy donned in separate books.

[Wendy Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you loved Nancy Drew as kid, this is a must read

[James Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very interesting book. It is about Nancy Drew, yes, but it also covers behind-the-scenes manipulations in the publishing of her books, The book consists of a series of essays by different people and are divided into the following sections:

Creating and Publishing Nancy Drew
Reading Stereotypes
Collecting and Studying Nancy Drew
Transforming Nancy Drew.

There's so much information in this book that I consider it a must-read for anyone interested in Nancy Drew books.

[Rochelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting collection of articles addressing fandom fever, the maligned series genre, Syndicate secret debunking, collectors and their acquisitions, racial and gender impact, and finally the writers of and influential readers inspired by Nancy Drew. Oh, how this collaboration makes me wish that I could have attended the 1993 Nancy Drew Conference as the interested adult I am today.