British writer, famous for his ingeniousshort stories and macabre children's books. Dahl's taste for cruelty,rudeness to adults, and the comic grotesque fascinated young readers,but upset many adult critics. Several of Dahl's stories have been madeinto films, includingMatilda, dir. by Danny DeVito (1996).
Roald Dahl was born in Llandaff, Wales, of Norwegian parents. Hisfather, Harald Dahl, was the joint owner of a successful ship-brokingbusiness, "Aadnesen& Dahl" with another Norwegian. Beforeemigrating to Wales, Harald had been a farmer near Oslo. He married ayoung French girl named Marie in Paris; she died after giving birth totheir second child. In 1911 he married Sofie Magdalene Hesselberg.Harald died when Dahl was four years old, and three weeks later hiselder sister, Astri, died from appendicitis. The family had to selltheir jewellery to pay for Dahl's upkeep at a private school inDerbyshire. When Dahl was 13 he went to a public school named Repton. His years at public schools in Wales and England Dahl laterdescribed without nostalgia: "I was appalled by the fact that mastersand senior boys were allowed literally to wound other boys, andsometimes quite severely. I couldn't get over it. I never got overit..."Dahl especially hated the matron who ruled the school dormitories.These experiences later inspired him to write stories in which childrenfight against cruel adults and authorities. "I have never met anybodywho so persistently writes words meaning the exact opposite of what isintended," one of Dahl's English teachers commented. "Parents and schoolteachers are the enemy," Dahl once said. "Theadult is the enemy of the child because of the awful process ofcivilizing this thing that when it is born is an animal with nomanners, no moral sense at all." In Witches (1973) behind the mask of abeautiful woman is an ugly witch, and in Matilda (1988) Miss Turnbullthrows children out of windows. Both parents are eaten inJames and the Giant Peach (1961), but the real enemies of the hero of the story, a little boy, are two aunts. At eighteen, instead of entering university, Dahl joined anexpedition to Newfoundland. Returning to England he took a job withShell, working in London (1933-37) and in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania(1937-39). During World War II he served in the Royal Air Forces inLibya, Greece, and Syria. Dahl hadn't had much training. He crashlandedin the desert in Libya and was wounded in Syria. After severe headachesand a blackout and some time recovering in England he was posted toWashington as an assistant air attaché to BritishSecurity (1942-43). In 1943 he was a wing commander and worked until1945 for British Security Co-ordination in North America. In the crash Dahl had fractured his skull, and said later: "You do get bits of magic from enormous bumps on the head." While he was recovering from his wounds, Dahl had strange dreams, which inspired his first short stories. Encouraged byC.S. Forester,Dahl wrote about his most exiting RAF adventures. Forester replied withthe question: "Did you know you were a writer?" Dahl's first story, 'APiece of Cake,' retitled as ' Shot Down in Libya,' was published verbatim in August 1942 in theSaturday Evening Post. It earned him $1,000. The same story was later included inOver To You: Ten Stories of Flyers and Flying (1946).
Dahl's first children's book,The Gremlins (1943), about mischievous little creatures, who eventually join the Allied forces in the Battle of Britain, caught also Walt Disney's attention. Later it inspired a popular movie. Dahl's collection of short stories,Someone Like You (1954), gained world success, as did its sequel,Kiss Kiss (1959). The two books were serialized for television in America. A number of the stories had appeared in theNew Yorker. Dahl's stories were seen inAlfred Hitchcock Presents (1955-61) and in the Tales of the Unexpected (1979) series. In 1953 Dahl married the successful and wealthy actress PatriciaNeal; they had one son and four daughters – the eldest daughter Oliviadied of measles when she was eight. Dahl's wife suffered a series ofbrain hemorrhages at the age of 38; while pregnant with their fifthchild she had a stroke. She described her recovery and her husband'ssolicitous help in the autobiographyAs I Am(1988). The marriage endedafter other family tragedies; she also discovered that Dahl had beenhaving an affair with her friend, Felicity Ann Crossland, who was 22years his junior. Dahl married her in 1983. Patricia Neal received in1964 an Oscar for her performance inHud. She died in 2010. Famously, Dahl wrote in a writing hut, built for him by a mannamed Wally Saunders in Great Missended, a village in Buckinghamshire.He sat in his wingback chair, which had been his mother's, and on thetable he had a mug containing yellow HB pencils. He wrote with thepencils on yellow A4 paper imported from America. On the walls he hadtaped letters and other things he loved.
The only stageplay Dahl ever wrote,The Honeys, failed in New York in 1955. After showing little inclination towards children's literature, Dahl publishedJames and the Giant Peach. The book came out first in the United States, but it took six years before Dahl found a published in Britain.James and the Giant Peach was followed by the highly popular taleCharlie and the Chocolate Factory(1964), which has inspired two film adaptations. The story dealt withone small boy's search for the ultimate prize in fierce competitionwith other, highly unpleasant children, many of whom come to stickyends as a result of their greediness. It presented the central theme inDahl's fiction for young readers: virtue is rewarded, vice is punished.In the end the fabulous chocolate factory is given to Charlie, thekind, impoverished boy.
Dahl made many drafts of the book. Initially he had wantedMaurice Sendak to illustrate the work but in the end Joseph Schindelmanmade the drawings. Most of the reviews were highly favorable. TheNew York Timesnamed it as one of the books of the year. A number of librarians hadreservations about the literary conventions that it broke.The Library Journalwrote that while Mr. Dahl's "facility with the pen is unquestioned, histaste and choice of language leave something to be desired." An unusedchapter from 1961, which had been deemed too vulgar and was cut fromthefirst US edition, was not published until 2014.
The Witches(1983) won the Whitbread Children's Book Award in 1983. The judgesdescribed the book as "deliciously disgusting". Later Felicity Dahlcollected her husband's culinary "delights", such as "Bird Pie", "HotFrogs", and "Lickable Wallpaper" inRoald Dahl's Revolting Recipes(1994). My Uncle Oswald (1979) wasDahl's first full-length novel, a bizarre story of a scheme forprocuring and selling the sperm of the world's most powerful andbrilliant men. Dahl received three Edgar Allan Poe Awards (1954, 1959,1980). In 1982 he won his first literary prize with The BFG,a story about Big Friendly Giant, who kidnaps and takes a little girlto Giantland, where giants eat children. In 1983 he received WorldFantasy Convention Lifetime Achievement award. Dahl died of aninfection on November 23, 1990, in Oxford. Dahl's autobiographicalbooks,Boy: Tales of Childhood andGoing Solo,came out in 1984 and 1986 respectively. The success of his booksresulted in the foundation of the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery inAylesbury, not far from where he lived.
Dahl's stories have unexpected endings and strange, menacingatmospheres. The principle of "fair play" works in unconventional butunavoidable ways. Uncle Oswald, a seducer from 'The Visitor', getsseduced. In 'Parson's Pleasure' an antique dealer tastes his ownmedicine and the Twits fromThe Twits(1980) use glue to catch birds and meet their own gluey ends. In 'Lambto the Slaughter' the evidence of a murder, a frozen leg of lamb, iseaten by officers who in vain search for the murder weapon. The storywas inspired by a meeting with the writerIan Flemingat a dinner party. Puns, word coinages, and neologism are more oftenused in the children's stories, whereas in adult fiction the emphasisis on imaginative plots. In addition to his children's books, Dahl alsoaroused much controversy with his politically incorrect opinions – hewas accused of anti-Semitism and antifeminism and when a prowlermanaged to get into Queen Elizabeth's bedroom, Dahl was wronglysuspected of giving to the unwanted guest the whole idea in one of hisbooks,The BFG (1982).
Selected works: - The Gremlins, 1943
- - Over To You: Ten Stories of Flyers and Flying, 1945
- Helppo nakki ja muita kertomuksia (suom. Erkki Haglund, 1992) - Sometime Never: A Fable for Supermen, 1948
- Someone Like You, 1953 (rev. 1961)
- Rakkaani, kyyhkyläiseni: jännityskertomuksia (suom. Pentti Saarikoski, 1961); Joku kaltaisesi (suom. Pentti Saarikoski, 1970)
- - Lamb to the Slaughter, 1953
- The Honeys, 1955 (play, prod. in New York City)
- Kiss Kiss, 1959
- Rakkaani, kyyhkyläiseni: jännityskertomuksia (suom. Pentti Saarikoski, 1961) / Joku kaltaisesi (suom. Pentti Saarikoski, 1970) - James and the Giant Peach, 1961 (illustrated by Nancy Ekholm Burkert)
- Jaakko ja jättipersikka (suom. Kimmo Pietiläinen, 1995) / Jaakko ja jättipersikka (suom. Peikko Pitkänen, 2009)
- - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, 1964 (illustrated by Joseph Schindelman)
- Jali ja suklaatehdas (suom. Aili Nissinen, 1971)
- - Jali ja suklaatehdas - 36 Hours, 1965 (screenplay, based on 'Beware of the Dog', film dir.by George Seaton, starring James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, Rod Taylor;TV film Breaking Point, 1989, dir. by Peter Markle, starring CorbinBernsen, Joanna Pacula, John Glover, David Marshall Grant)
- The Magic Finger, 1966 (illustrated by William Pène Du Bois)
- Taikasormi (suom. Päivi Heininen, 1998) - You Only Live Twice, 1967 (screenplay, with Harry Jack Bloom based onIanFleming's novel)
- Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, 1968 (screenplay, with Ken Hughes, based on Ian Fleming's children's book)
- Twenty-Nine Kisses from Roald Dahl, 1969
- Fantastic Mr Fox, 1970 (illus. by Donald Chaffin)
- Kekseliäs kettu (suom. Panu Pekkanen, 1978)
- - Selected Stories, 1970
- The Night Digger, 1971 (screenplay based on Joy Cowley's novel, film dir. by Alastair Reid, starring Patricia Neal, Pamela Brown, Nicholas Clay, Jean Anderson)
- Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, 1971 (screenplay)
- Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, 1972 (illustrated by Joseph Schindelman)
- Jali ja lasihissi (suom. Päivi Heininen, 2000) / Jali ja mahtavalasihissi: seitsenosainen lastenkuunnelma (suom. Pekka Ojalehto) - Penguin Modern Stories 12, 1972 (with others)
- Switch Bitch, 1974
- Alahuuli (suom. Raija Mattila, 1975) - Danny, the Champion of the World, 1975 (illustrated by Jill Bennett)
- Me salamestarit (suom. Eeva Heikkinen, 1977) / Iskä ja Danny maailmanmestari (suom. Päivi Heininen, 1999)
- The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More, 1977
- Henry Sugarin ihmeellinen tarina ja kuusi muuta (suom. Jaana Kapari, 2003) - The Complete Adventures of Charlie and Mr Willy Wonka, 1978
- The Enormous Crocodile, 1978 (illustrated by Quentin Blake)
- Suunnattoman suuri krokotiili (suom. Panu Pekkanen, 1978) - The Best of Roald Dahl, 1978
- Tales of the Unexpected, 1979
- - Taste and Other Tales, 1979
- My Uncle Oswald, 1979
- Oswald-eno (suom. Pentti Nieminen, 1981) / Oswald-eno (suom. Seppo Heikinheimo, 1992) - The Twits, 1980 (illustrated by Quentin Blake)
- Nilviöt (suom. Sami Parkkinen, 1991 - George's Marvellous Medicine, 1980 (illustrated by Quentin Blake)
- Ilmarin ihmelääke (suom. Asser Korhonen ja Antti Mäkinen, 1989) - More Tales of the Unexpected, 1980
- - The Way up to Heaven and Other Stories, 1980
- A Roald Dahl Selection: Nine Short Stories, 1980 (edited and introduced by Roy Blatchford with photographs by Catherine Shakespeare Lane)
- The BFG, 1982 (illustrated by Quentin Blake)
- Iso kiltti jätti (suom. Tuomas Nevanlinna, 1989)
- - Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes, 1982 (illustrated by Quentin Blake)
- Tautisia tarinoita (suom. Kimmo Pietiläinen, 1996) - Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories, 1983
- Two Fables, 1983 (Princess and the Poacher; Princess Mammalia; with illustrations by Graham Dean)
- The Witches, 1983 (illustrated by Quentin Blake)
- Kuka pelkää noitia (suom. Sami Parkkinen, 1990)
- - Boy: Tales of Childhood, 1984
- Poika; Yksinlentoon (suom. Seppo Sipilä, 2004) - Dirty Beasts, 1984 (illustrated by Quentin Blake)
- The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me, 1985 (illustrated by Quentin Blake)
- Kirahvi, Kaani ja minä (suom. Kimmo Pietiläinen, 1996) - Going Solo, 1986
- The Roald Dahl Omnibus, 1986
- The Second Roald Dahl Selection, 1987
- Matilda, 1988 (illustrated by Quentin Blake)
- Matilda (suom. Eeva Heikkinen, 1990)
- - Measles, a Dangerous Illness, 1988
- Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life: The Country Stories of Roald Dahl, 1989
- Rhyme Stew, 1989 (illustrated by Quentin Blake)
- Riimihärkää muusilla (suom. Tuomas Nevanlinna, 2001) - Roald Dahl: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlies and the Great Glass Elevator, The BFG, 1989
- Esio Trot, 1990 (illustrated by Quentin Blake)
- Annok iplik (suom. Sami Parkkinen, 1993) - The Minpins, 1991 (illustrated by Patrick Benson)
- Tynkätyiset (suom. Päivi Heininen, 2002) - The Vicar of Nibbleswick, 1991 (illustrated by Quentin Blake)
- Memories with Food at Gipsy House, 1991 (with F. Dahl)
- The Collected Short Stories of Roald Dahl, 1991 (an omnibus volumecontaining Kiss, Kiss, Over to You, Switch bitch, Someone Like You, andEight Further Tales of the Unexpected)
- Roald Dahl's Guide to Railway Safety, 1991
- The Dahl Diary 1992, 1991 (illustrated by Quentin Blake)
- The Dahl Collection of Nursery Verse, 1992 (ed., illustrated by Quentin Blake)
- My Year, 1993 (illustrated by Quentin Blake)
- Roald Dahl's Revolting Recipes, 1994 (illustrated by Quentin Blake; with photographs by Jan Baldwin; recipes compiled by Josie Fison and Felicity Dahl)
- The Great Automatic Grammatizator, 1997 (US title: The Umbrella Man and Other Stories, 1998)
- The Roald Dahl Treasury, 1997
- Roald Dahlin maailma (suom. Eeva Heikkinen, et al.) - Skin and Other Stories, 2000
- Nahka ja muita novelleja (suom. Pentti Saarikoski, 2007)
- Roald Dahl's Even More Revolting Recipes, 2001 (introduced by Felicity Dahl; illustrated by Quentin Blake; photographs by Jan Baldwin; recipes by Lori-Ann Newman)
- Roald Dahl: Collected Stories, 2006 (edited and introduced by Jeremy Treglown)
- More About Boy: Roald Dahl’s Tales from Childhood, 2009
- The Missing Golden Ticket and Other Splendiferous Secrets, 2010 (illustrated by Quentin Blake)
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