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.
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