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Roald Dahl – the storyteller as benevolent sadist (2010)
- libeclipse 10y agoThe storyteller as God.
- justinator 10y agoI found a copy of, "Over To You" in a backpackers in New Zealand. I read, and had read to me, most of Dahl's children's books, but I never knew him as a writer of adult books, let alone non fiction books on war. But there his writing was, narrating about fining prostitutes in Cairo during WWII. It's a great book, by the way.
- ageofwant 10y agoYou aught to read "Boy" then, I think "Over to you" follows up on Boy. I envy you, your in for a good time.
- koolba 10y agoAnd after that "Going Solo". Coming from the magic of the rest of his books both are quite a shift but they give you clue into the events that shaped his mind for the rest of his stories.
- technicalities 10y agoThe most sadistic and surprising of Dahl's novels is the totally overlooked My Uncle Oswald. https://www.wikiwand.com/en/My_Uncle_Oswald https://www.wikiwand.com/en/My_Uncle_Oswald It is a real-person slashfic about raping famous men for money. (Freud, Picasso, Shaw, all by name.) Seriously.
- silentsea90 10y agoDahl was what I grew up reading. He was amazing, and I remember spending days just being captured in the delight of his books and the illustrations on the side.
- erickhill 10y agoThe illustrations were done by Sir Quentin Blake, who was knighted in 2013 for his work in children's lit. Pretty powerful one-two punch, Dahl and Blake.
- silentsea90 10y agoIndeed! That combination was pure magic as a kid.
- retrogradeorbit 10y agoI can't recommend enough for kids who grew up reading Dahl like I did, who are now adults, to read his adult short story collections. "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar", "Switch Bitch" and "Kiss Kiss" are all excellent.
- sundvor 10y agoAh, I will have to do that. Thanks!
- _mhr_ 10y agoI had no idea The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar was for adults. I read that when I was only eight or so after reading other Dahl books like Matilda and The Witches. I loved the premise.
- junto 10y agoHenry Sugar is a wonderful story. I spent ages staring into candles as a kid hoping that would work!
- jbeales 10y agoCandles are still magical. Henry Sugar is part of the reason.
- rukuu001 10y agoThey're good, but very dark and uncomfortable. My favourites were the WWII based stories.
- Bartweiss 10y agoIf you're enjoying those, check out his two autobiographies too - they're great reads, even as someone who doesn't tend towards the genre!
- cableshaft 10y agoJust got Henry Sugar. It'll give me something to read during the 8 hour trip I'm about to take.
- sundvor 10y agoI'm fairly sure I have been criticized by one of my 5 year old son's teachers for reading him Roald Dahl books. However they are such magic stories; he loves listening to them just as much as I love reading them for him.
- sundvor 10y agoTo whomever downvoted me: Would love to know the reason for the downvote; am I a bad father for reading Roald Dahl, one of my own childhood favourites? There are obviously a few (many?) who think less of Roal Dahl's books.. I guess he's not PC enough
- fractallyte 10y agoThere seems to be more of this happening lately, and it's really annoying. If someone's incensed enough to downvote a perfectly reasonable, sane comment, at least have the decency to write a reason. That's what the system of downvoting and comments is for, after all: expanding and/or elucidating a discussion. Your original comment is echoed in various mentions of Dahl I've heard over the years: that he's overly cruel, and therefore unsuitable for kids. But these adults often miss the fact that he's delightfully cruel (with justice coming to the people who deserve it!), and ironic in way that a younger audience enthusiastically responds to.
- sundvor 10y agoThanks; appreciated, and that's a great explanation which I'll remember next time someone is questioning my choice! There is clearly a common thread of morality through his books which is rare these days. My son responds well to it, and wants to be one of the good guys! (I should be so lucky.. but still :)) My other, non-hereto-mentioned reason is that Dahl is of direct Norwegian ancestry, and so is my son (well, with an Australian mum) - so I take that as a bonus.
- dragonwriter 10y agoActually, the system of down voting is to reduce the inappropriate and/or off-topic noise. Responses with dowvotes, in most cases, increase the off-topic noise, defeating the purpose.
- jestinjoy1 10y agoNow reading his book "The Great Automatic Grammatizator" which is a short story collection. It has got the short story by the book title name. Written in 1954, the story revolves around a machine which automatically writes articles. Reading in 2016 this story gives an interesting read. BTW this is the first Roald Dahl book I am reading
- ssttoo 10y agoI remember reading some of the kid's books and I think it was BFG with so many made-up words that I was thinking "here's a start up name, and another one, and for sure no one has bought this domain. Good times :)
- nsxwolf 10y agoAs a child I read "George's Marvellous Medicine" and its lighthearted condoning of murder left an impression on me.
- ptha 10y agoI'll have to re-read "George's Marvellous Medicine", that was my first Roald Dahl book. My dad bought it for me on a journey across the Irish Sea on a holiday trip. He bought my sister "The Magic Finger", which she finished quite quickly and was impatiently waiting for me to finish mine so she could read it. She was 2 years younger than me but reading at a level quite a bit older than me. I was reading at a age younger than I was (this is based on our school reports). "George's Marvellous Medicine" actually kickstarted my reading and love of books, so I'll always be very grateful for that.
- SocksCanClose 10y agoThose interested in Dahl might also be keen to note his career as a World War I flying ace, and then (again as a Military officer), World War II espionage agent sent by the British to nudge the Americans into war. As a member of the British Diplomatic Legation in Washington, DC he gained access to the Georgetown cocktail party circuit, and from there, helped build social consensus among many (including Mrs. Roosevelt) about the importance of an American entry into the War. No need to trust my word for it, check out Jennet Conant's fantastic book on the matter, "The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington" https://www.amazon.com/Irregulars-Roald-British-Wartime-Washington/dp/0743294599 https://www.amazon.com/Irregulars-Roald-British-Wartime-Wash...
- redcap 10y ago(World War 2 flying ace)
- fractallyte 10y agoAnother famous childrens' author, Arthur Ransome (of 'Swallows and Amazons'), and a contemporary of Dahl, was at one time a British agent in revolutionary Russia! He even found himself inadvertently involved in the formation of the Red Army; during his subsequent escape from Russia, he narrowly avoided their clutches by employing his wit and intelligence - the stuff of fiction, but this was for real. He had a genuinely fascinating life.
- Bartweiss 10y agoAlso worth a look are Boy and Going Solo, Dahl's autobiographies of some of those events. Both excellent, aimed at adults, and a surprising little window into the forces that shaped Dahl-the-author.
- chris_wot 10y agoI loved those books, but I'm not sure how much was exaggerated. Dahl was a shockingly compulsive liar all his life, which somewhat unsurprisingly also made him an excellent author.
- SocksCanClose 10y agoThose uninterested can also consult his wikipedia entry, posted here for ease of access. Though I highly recommend the book. It is quite good. And available on tape for those with long commutes, and Audible accounts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roald_Dahl https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roald_Dahl
- saucymew 10y agoThough he is probably more well known for his fiction, his memoirs (Boy, Going Solo) were my first reads of Dahl as a child. That man could tell a fantastic story within a chapter.
- danielnixon 10y agoThe first paragraph mentions Salman Rushdie, which reminded me of this[0]. For anyone interested in free speech, victim blaming and such, these Dahl quotes are interesting: 'In a letter to The Times of London, Dahl called Rushdie "a dangerous opportunist," saying he "must have been totally aware of the deep and violent feelings his book would stir up among devout Muslims. In other words, he knew exactly what he was doing and cannot plead otherwise. This kind of sensationalism does indeed get an indifferent book on to the top of the best-seller list, — but to my mind it is a cheap way of doing it." The author of dark children's books and stories for adults (who himself once had police protection after getting death threats) also advocated self-censorship. It "puts a severe strain on the very power principle that the writer has an absolute right to say what he likes," he wrote. "In a civilized world we all have a moral obligation to apply a modicum of censorship to our own work in order to reinforce this principle of free speech."' [0] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/04/arts/04iht-15donadio.6482640.html http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/04/arts/04iht-15donadio.64826...
- Jun8 10y agoSadly, Dahl was not the only one attacking Rushdie: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/nov/12/salman-rushdie-john-le-carre https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/nov/12/salman-rushdie.... Christopher Hitchens was a staunch defender of him during the Satanic Verses debacle and was disgusted by the lack of reaction (or, when there is a reaction, the lack of bravery to make it public) in the religious and literary communities: "One might have thought that such arrogant state-sponsored homicide, directed at a lonely and peaceful individual who pursued a life devoted to language, would have called forth a general condemnation. But such was not the case. In considered statements, the Vatican, the archbishop of Canterbury, the chief sephardic rabbi of Israel all took a stand in sympathy with–the ayatollah. So did the cardinal archbishop of New York and many other lesser religious figures. While they usually managed a few words in which to deplore the resort to violence, all these men stated that the main problem raised by the publication of The Satanic Verses was not murder by mercenaries, but blasphemy. Some public figures not in holy orders, such as the Marxist writer John Berger, the Tory historian Hugh Trevor-Roper, and the doyen of espionage authors John Le Carré, also pronounced that Rushdie was the author of his own troubles, and had brought them on himself by “offending” a great monotheistic religion. There seemed nothing fantastic, to these people, in the British police having to defend an Indian-born ex-Muslim citizen from a concerted campaign to take his life in the name of god."
- dekhn 10y agoIt's worth reading My Uncle Oswald, which is a mildly amusing story about sex and Nobel prizewinner sperm banks.