Historical Atmosphere / Literary Milieu

Throughout Dahl's writing years, 1942 - 1990, there were several things that influence his writings.  His childhood life greatly influenced many of his children's stories.  His parents used to tell him bedtime stories that he later elaborated on for his children and within some of his books.

Dahl was also a Wing Commander in the British Royal Air Force.  He was stationed in several places including parts of Africa and the Middle East.  When being force to make an emergency landing, the belly of his plane hit a boulder causing a crash resulting in a fractured skull, broken nose, and temporary blindness.  He later when on to write about it in his first publication, A Piece of Cake, also known as Shot Down Over Lybia.

After he had married his first wife, Patricia Neal, they had five children, two of which had medical problems, and he dedicated himself to the development of a medical valve and immunization regulations, as well as dedicating his book The BFG to his daughter Olivia after she died from a preventable disease.

As I stated earlier, his first publication, A Piece of Cake, is based on his time at war, as well as numerous other adult short stories that he wrote.  He also used Royal Air Force folklore in his children's novels such as The Gremlins, which they frequently blamed for any plane problems.  In the 1960's the family bought a Romanichal Gypsy Wagon which gave him inspiration in some of his books, such as Danny, the Champion of World.  The British Colonization of India has a small presence in The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.


Dahl's experiences in the British Education System also had a significance in his writing.  Almost every one of his children's stories had some sort of evil, mean, forceful adult figure just like a public teacher could have been.

Both C. S. Forester and Charles Dickens had big impacts on Roald's writing.

Overall his best known books are his child literature novels.  They brought the issue of British public school brutality to the forefront, and things were forced to change.

When Dahl began writing, he was just leaving the British Air Force, so war and some of his experiences were part of his writings.  He also had a late empirical mindset that influenced many, if not all, of his writing.  Along with that, Charles Dickens and C. S. Forester influenced his writing because he read their works, and met Forester when he was writing his first short story, A Piece of Cake.  He also wrote about spies and mysteries because he was a spy for the British Intelligence, and loved mystery (and it was quite popular).

Dahl was well known for his adult short stories.  They were and are very dark, disturbing, and vivid.  He was creative and talented and managed to make one's skin crawl in nearly every story - sometimes several times.  However, towards the end of his short story career, he grew weary and his writing reflected that.  His heart was no longer 'in it,' so to speak.  He became very angry, violent, and rash.  It wasn't creative, and his readers noticed.  This was a dark time in his life.  He had lost two children, was divorcing his wife, and was unable to find inspiration.  To his dismay, a children's literature novel that he had written was a hit.  Adult literature was trending, but he had a niche in the children's industry - which was up and coming.  He did not want to write for children - he liked writing perverse stories about psycho killer wives.  Naturally, he allowed some of this darkness to seep into his children's stories.

Criticisms

Leigh Kimmel criticized the ending to Dahl's "Lamb to the Slaughter," saying that it was a surprisingly genius ending, especially because one can side with the woman because she has an unborn child that would have been abandoned by his or her father, she is being abandoned in a vulnerable stage of pregnancy, and he was unfaithful to her.  But one is surprised because it is a murder mystery and normally, the murderer is revealed to the characters and the case is close, but in "Lamb to the Slaughter," she gets away with it.


Linda Pavonetti criticized Dahl's James and the Giant Peach stating that he is able to entertain both adults and children alike with his witty sense of humor.  She thought that James and the Giant Peach was a classic child's story in the sense that a lonely, sad child was rewarded with love and happiness at the end of the story.  She also noted that he had many elements from other fairy tales and Hollywood woven into the story to appeal to the children listening to the story and the adults reading to their children.  And instead of vulgarity and witchcraft, he included revenge on his evil aunts.  Pavonetti noted that this is the perfect read-aloud-book because the chapters are short and always end on a question, causing readers to read on.


Katharine Herzog criticized Dahl's The Magic Finger, about a hunting trip gone wrong.  She believed it raises some moral and legal questions about hunting, age regulations, and guns.  Herzog believed there to be much dark humor and animal wickedness written into this tale.  She did not seem to enjoy reading The Magic Finger.

According to Donald Sturrock in the November / December 2010 The Horn Book Magazine, Dahl draws a fine line where reality and fiction are concerned.  He knows how to evoke any emotion from his readers, and he does it in a superb fashion.  Yet, Sturrock also managed to find autobiographical similarities between Dahl and his characters Willy Wonka, Charlie Bucket, and his stories, such as Fantastic Mr. Fox.  I can understand where some of these findings may have some truth to them, but most of it may be due to willful imagination.

In the February 2007 issue of The New Criterion, David Propson states that most all of Dahl's works (adult stories, that is) have something to do with gambling lives or body parts for some sort of twisted game he had invented.  He also noted that Roald created characters that were highly clever, only to use his power as the storyteller to "dole out their deserving fates."Although Propson gives high praise to Dahl he notes that it is just as ease for Dahl to write a great story as it was to write a flop.  Propson also notes that after 1960, Dahl's career as an adult short story author ended abruptly and sloppily.  He had lost the capability of creating a good plot, and after writing James and the Giant Peach, reluctantly fell into the career of children's stories.  

Author Sites

http://www.roalddahl.com/

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Roald_Dahl

http://www.us.penguingroup.com/nf/Author/AuthorPage/0%2C%2C1000008184%2C00.html

This one is cool.  It has his biography but also some of his books lining the right side of the page.
http://www.biblio.com/roald-dahl~103733~author

Influences and Historical Atmosphere

Roald Dahl wrote poems, screen plays, short stories, fiction and non-fictional works, and television segments.  He stated that his favorite and most influential writers were Kipling, Thackeray, Marryat, and Dickens.  He said his mother would recite Norwegian stories to him and his siblings, daily, and he started to make up his own stories.

Historically, Dahl was a part of the British Air Force during World War II.  He was promoted through the ranks, and eventually was discharged after surviving a plane crash / attack in Lybia.  He was then sent to Washington D.C. to work (possibly as a British spy).

Hey Diddle Diddle 
by:  Roald Dahl

Hey diddle diddle
We're all on the fiddle
And never got up until noon.
We only take cash
Which we carefully stash
And we work by the light of the moon.


I had a Little Nut-tree
by:  Roald Dahl

I had a little nut-tree,
Nothing would it bear.
I searched in all its branches,
But not a nut was there.

'Oh, little tree,' I begged,
'Give me just a few.'
The little tree looked down at me
And whispered, 'Nuts to you.'

Fame & Fortune

Roald is probably best known for his children's stories.  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, The BFG, and Matilda along with, The Twits, The Witches, and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.  He is less known for his adult stories, such as The Omnibus, Skin, and The Umbrella Man.

Dahl also has written poetry such as "Hey Diddle Diddle," "Cinderella," "I had a Little Nut-tree," and "The Pig."

Conkers, what?

Apparently, they are the seeds from horse chestnut trees.  Most children would dry them for a year before playing, but others used shortcuts to help speed the process along.  Soaking in vinegar  or baking them in ovens also were sufficient means to harden them.

A conker:
 

The game: