閱讀羅爾德·達爾 Roald Dahl在小说之家的作品!!! | |||
他比較著名的作品有：查理與巧剋力工廠（Charlie and the Chocolate Factory）、詹姆斯與大仙桃（James and the Giant Peach）、瑪蒂爾達（Matilda）、女巫（The Witches）、吹夢巨人（The BFG）和Kiss Kiss。
一、生平
羅爾德•達爾在1916年9月13日出生於韋爾斯卡地夫的蘭達夫，羅爾德的父親是哈拉爾德•達爾（Harald Dahl），母親是蘇菲•瑪德蓮•達爾（Sofie Magdalene Dahl），都是挪威人。達爾一傢在1880年代由挪威遷往卡地夫。羅爾德是因一個當時挪威的民族英雄北極探險傢羅爾德•亞孟森而得名的。他在傢中跟他的父母及姊妹說的是挪威語。達爾和他的姊妹在卡地夫挪威水手的教會施洗及命名，那裏是他們父母上的教會。
在1920年，羅爾德3歲的時候，他7歲的姊姊艾絲翠得（Astrid）死於盲腸炎。大約一個月之後，他父親死於肺炎，時年57歲。他的母親雖然可以選擇回到挪威與親戚一起生活，但她還是决定留在英國，因為羅爾德的父親生前一直十分希望他的兒女能在英國接受教育，他認為英國的教育是最好的。
羅爾德最初就讀於天主教蘭達夫學校（Llandaff Cathedral）。8歲那年，他和四個朋友放了一隻死老鼠在“吝嗇又討人厭”的普萊契太太（Mrs. Pratchett）店中的糖果罐裏，校長為此打了他們一頓。
於是，羅爾德被轉到一所寄宿學校，但在那裏他過得非常不愉快。他十分想傢，幾乎每天都會給傢裏寫信，不過他從來都沒有在信裏顯示出他的不開心。在母親去世後，他纔發現她收藏了所有當時往來的信件。
在德比郡的立普頓公學，他是級長的小跟班，在他的早年比較重要的一部份中，他擁有了他自己的小書桌。他的個子很高，在成年後有1.98米，他擅長運動，因而成為學校的壁手球和回力球隊的隊長，還是學校足球隊的成員，這令他十分受人歡迎。那個時候，他逐漸喜歡上了攝影。在他就讀這所學校期間，吉百利食品公司（Cadbury），一傢巧剋力製造廠，偶爾會寄新的巧剋力産品到他的學校讓學生測試味道。達爾常常想自己發明一些新的巧剋力，希望得到吉百利食品公司的贊揚，而這也觸發了他的靈感，並以此寫出他的第三本書，《查理與巧剋力工廠》。
在童年和青少年時期，他都會在暑假時回他父母親的祖國挪威，多數時間都是去享受海岸邊的峽灣。他自傳體的作品，《男孩：我的童年往事》（Boy: Tales of Childhood）就主要是講述那段童年時光。
在完成學業後，他用了3個月在紐芬蘭與一個稱為公學探險組織（Public Schools' Exploring Society）的隊伍遠足。在1934年7月，他加入了殼牌公司（Shell Petroleum）。經過2年在英國的訓練後，他被調到坦葛尼喀（今屬坦桑尼亞）的達纍斯薩拉姆。他與其它兩位雇員前往那裏，居住在達纍斯薩拉姆外圍地區的高級房屋，有着一個廚師和私傢僕人。在工作上，他得橫越坦葛尼喀提供石油給顧客，他曾在途中遭到樹眼鏡蛇、獅子和其它野生動物的襲擊。
1、第二次世界大戰
在1939年的8月，第二次世界大戰逼近的時候，有一個計劃要將在達纍斯薩拉姆的數百個德國人包圍。達爾和14個達纍斯薩拉姆的英國人，在坦桑尼亞被任命為軍官，每人指揮一組英皇非洲步槍隊（King's African Rifles）民兵。達爾對此和包圍行動感到十分焦慮不安，但他還是完成了這命令。
之後，在1939年11月，他加入了皇傢空軍。在經過達纍斯薩拉姆到奈洛比的600公裏車程後，他獲許與其它20個人進行飛行訓練，他們當中有17人後來死於空戰。他以DH虎蛾式飛機（De Havilland Tiger Moth）進行了7小時40分鐘的單飛實習。在他的飛行過程中，他十分享受鳥瞰那些肯尼亞的野生動物。他繼續往伊拉剋巴格達附近皇傢空軍的海本尼亞空軍基地（RAF Habbaniya）進行高級飛行訓練。駕駛6個月霍剋哈特式雙翼飛機（Hawker Harts）後，他成為了一個空軍少尉，被分派到皇傢空軍第80中隊，駕駛老式的“鬥劍者號”（Gladiator）。達爾在知道自己不會為空戰而受訓，甚至不會接受駕駛“鬥劍者號”的訓練時感到十分驚訝。
在1940年9月19日，達爾被命令駕駛他的“鬥劍者號”由埃及的Abu Suweir到阿米利亞補給燃料，而後又到利比亞Fouka第二次補給燃料，再飛往馬特魯港南方30公裏的第80中隊小型機場。在最後一段航程，他找不到小型機場，而且夜色將近，燃料愈來愈少，他被迫試圖降落在沙漠中。不幸地，起落架撞上巨礫，令飛機墜毀，他的頭骨挫傷，鼻子陷到臉頰之中，兩眼受傷。他勉力把自己拖出那燃燒着的飛機殘骸。後來，他在第一本出版的作品（後敘）中提及過這一次飛機墜毀的事。皇傢空軍發現這一次飛機墜毀是因為達爾被通知的飛行地點完全錯誤，達爾錯誤地飛往英國與意大利勢力範圍間的緩衝地帶，因而導致這次事件的發生。
達爾獲救並被送往馬特魯港（Mersah Matruh）的急救站。他在那裏恢復了知覺，但他的視覺沒有同時恢復。之後他被送到了亞歷山大港的皇傢海軍醫院。他愛上了那裏的一個護士，瑪麗•威蘭（Mary Welland），也是他8星期後恢復了視力後第一個看到的人。（在他還未能看見的時候衹是愛上她的聲音。恢復了視力後他决定不再愛她了）醫生們說他再也沒有機會飛行了，但在1941年2月，他被送往醫院的5個月後，他被允許離開，又投入飛行工作。
在這時候，80中隊在靠近希臘雅典的Elevsis，配備好霍剋型的颶風式戰機在希臘之戰中與英國遠征軍並肩作戰。他在1941年4月駕駛另一種戰機代替颶風式戰機飛越地中海，他衹有少許操作指南和7小時的練習時間。在這個戰爭的階段皇傢空軍衹有18架戰鬥機在希臘，14架霍剋型的颶風式戰機和4架布倫海姆轟炸機。
4月15日，他在高昔斯（Chalcis）進行了他的第一次空戰，與四架正在攻擊船衹的轟炸機對戰，並操縱他的颶風式戰機打下一架容剋88型俯衝轟炸機。在4月16日的另一場空戰中，他打下了另一架容剋88型俯衝轟炸機。在4月20日達爾與空軍中隊長及他的朋友戴維•庫剋（David Coke）繼續參與雅典之戰，打下一些敵機。
在德國仍在對雅典進行壓製時，達爾奉命撤回埃及。
80中隊重新被召集到巴勒斯坦的海法（Haifa）。有四個星期，達爾每天都得進行飛行任務，在6月8日他打下了敵方的偵察型波泰63型戰鬥機；6月15日，打下了敵方的容剋88型俯衝轟炸機，但之後他開始頭痛，而且在飛機急速轉嚮或變速的時候，産生短暫失明或昏眩的癥狀，他因此退役回到英國。這時他的軍階是空軍上尉。
1942年，他在被調往華盛頓後開始寫作。他第一本出版的作品是Shot Down Over Libya，描述他「鬥劍者號」的墜毀事件，在1942年8月1日發表於《星期六晚報》（Saturday Evening Post）。福雷斯特（C.S. Forester）原先是希望達爾能先寫一點皇傢空軍的趣事，他再加以潤飾使其更具故事性。不過當福雷斯特讀了達爾給他的故事後，他决定內文不需再經任何修改。原本的標題是 A Piece of Cake，後來的標題更具戲劇效果，但忽略了飛機墜毀與敵方行動毫無關係的事實。
在戰爭期間，福雷斯特在英國信息服務（British Information Service）工作，並為同盟國撰寫宣傳文宣，主要在於宣傳美國人的消耗。這讓達爾加入了間諜活動，隸屬於英國安全協調處（British Security Coordination），他的上司就是以勇敢聞名的加拿大間諜頭子威廉•史蒂芬遜（William Stephenson，或稱Intrepid）。在戰爭期間，達爾提供華盛頓的情報給史蒂芬遜。當達爾回到英國，由於大使館官員懷疑他對國傢的忠誠，令他受到不合理的對待，達爾回憶道：“那些大男孩把我一腳踢出（情報單位）。”（大男孩此指年輕或經驗不足的官員）。史蒂芬遜之後晉升了他的官職，並把他送回華盛頓的工作崗位。戰後，達爾寫了一些關於神秘組織的歷史，他和史蒂芬遜即使在戰爭結束數十年後仍然維持着朋友關係。
戰爭完結時，達爾是皇傢空軍的中校。他5次空戰勝利的記錄經由戰後調查證實，軸心國的記錄也可以與此互相對照證實。
2、後期的生活
①家庭
達爾曾與奧斯卡金像奬得主的美國女演員派翠西亞•納阿爾（Patricia Neal）共度了30年的婚姻生活（1953年－1983年）。他們有5個孩子：奧莉維亞（Olivia，7歲時死於麻疹）、泰莎（Tessa）、西奧（Theo）、歐菲莉亞（Ophelia）和露西（Lucy）。
當西奧4個月大的時候，坐的嬰兒車被出租車撞到，導致他的腦袋受到重傷，得了腦水腫，眼睛也幾乎瞎掉。羅爾德為此與幾位專傢共同研究出了WDT（Wade-Dahl-Till），一種可以使癥狀減輕的醫療品。西奧因而康復，之後順利長大成人。
1965年，派翠西亞•納阿爾在懷着第五個孩子露西時，曾三度中風。羅爾德試了各種方法讓她慢慢地康復過來，中風一年後，納阿爾又能重新行走、說話了，他們在1983年離婚。他其後娶了芙莉希蒂•剋羅斯蘭（Felicity Crosland），這場婚姻就一直延續至羅爾德逝世為止。
歐菲莉亞•達爾與醫生保羅•法默（Paul Farmer）共同建立了健康夥伴（Partners in Health），一間旨在為那些貧睏的小區提供醫療服務的非營利組織，她同時也是該組織的負責人。露西•達爾，是洛杉磯的一個劇作傢。泰莎的女兒蘇菲•達爾（Sophie Dahl，羅爾德作品吹夢巨人中的夥伴的靈感來源）是一位知名的模特兒與作傢。她描述外祖父為“非常特別的人—非常強壯、總是處於主導地位……他不像米佛姊妹的父親在屋子中大聲叫喊，取而代之的是確鑿而有把握的形式。”
②反猶太主義
達爾宣稱他是反猶太主義者，為此他在以色列遭受到聯合抵製。
1983年夏，他在《文學評論》寫了一篇書評，批評通利•剋裏夫頓（Tony Clifton）發表在《新聞周刊》的《God Cried》——一本具高度爭議性、描述以色列入侵黎巴嫩的圖畫書。達爾的批評指出在1982年6月的黎巴嫩戰爭時，“我們都開始恨以色列人”。這本書容易使讀者采取極端的反猶太立場。根據傳記作者傑瑞米•特雷格羅恩（Jeremy Treglown）的說法，達爾起初寫了“我們都開始恨猶太人”，但《文學評論》的編輯基連•格林威（Gillian Greenwood）把達爾寫的“猶太人”改為“以色列人”。根據此版本的譯文，達爾順理聲稱：“我不是反猶太主義者。我是反猶太復國主義者。”據稱，達爾認為由於發表這些反猶太的言論，使自己不能成為一直很想當上的爵士。根據在2003年披露的政府文件所示，達爾曾經在1986年拒絶接受不列顛帝國官佐勳章，理由可能正是因為他太想要獲得爵士頭銜。
根據至少兩位傳記作傢的說法，在達爾為自己的批評作辯護時，他告訴一位記者：“猶太人有一種特性，他們挑起仇恨……我的意思是，無論在任何地方反對任何東西，總是會有個原因；即使是像希特勒般可鄙的人也不是沒有原因地選擇他們的。”但是根據特雷格羅恩的說法，達爾仍舊與猶太人朋友私下保持友誼。
在晚年，達爾偶爾試圖淡化一些對於反猶太主義的指責，在作品《單飛》（Going Solo）中，有一些插麯同情地描寫了德國猶太人的流亡者；主張也與之前不同，宣稱他反對的是不公正，而不是猶太人。他從不曾從他對於以色列強硬的立場退縮，但是在1990年，離他逝世不遠之前他告訴英國獨立報：“我無疑地是反以色列的，且我逐漸成為反猶太主義。”
③逝世與遺産
1990年11月23日，羅爾德•達爾於自宅死於一種罕見的疾病，白血病前期並發癥（myelodysplastic anaemia），享年74歲。遺體葬於其所屬教區的墓地。據他的孫女表示，傢人為他舉辦了一場北歐海盜式的喪禮。陪葬物有snooker遊戲、紅葡萄酒、巧剋力糖、HB鉛筆和電鋸。為了紀念他，於靠近艾爾斯伯裏的白金漢郡郡立博物館內設立了羅爾德•達爾兒童畫廊。
2002年，一個韋爾斯首府加的夫的地標，Oval Basin plaza，將名稱更改為“羅爾德•達爾廣場”（Roald Dahl Plass）。 “Plass”即挪威語中的廣場，這也是對於作傢挪威籍的認同。也有許多呼聲要求在公衆場合為他竪立永久性的雕像。
達爾對神經學、血液學和文學的慈善捐贈在他過世後，持續由其未亡人藉由“羅爾德•達爾基金會”來給予贊助。在2005年6月，“羅爾德•達爾博物館與故事中心”為了紀念羅爾德•達爾在文學上的貢獻於Great Missenden開幕。
二、寫作
藉由福雷斯特所激發的靈感，達爾出版了第一本作品 Shot Down Over Libya （後改名為A Piece of Cake），描述關於他在戰爭時期的歷險故事。這篇故事被《星期六晚報》以900元買下，這帶領他走嚮成為作傢的道路上。聳動的書名其實與事實並不符合：達爾不是被射傷，而是在缺乏燃料的迫降時撞擊地面而受傷。
他的第一本兒童文學作品是《小頑皮》（The Gremlins），內容講述一種出現在RAF傳統民俗中頑皮的小動物。華特•迪斯尼曾有意將其改編為電影，但終就沒有成功，書於1943年出版。達爾繼續創作一些20世紀兒童喜愛的故事，如《查理與巧剋力工廠》、《瑪迪達》和《怪桃歷險記》。
他在創作可怕而恐怖的成人短篇故事方面亦十分成功，往往都有黑暗的幽默意識及令人驚訝的結局。很多本來發表在美國雜志，就像婦女居傢雜志（Ladies Home Journal）、哈潑雜志（Harper's）、花花公子和紐約客，達爾之後將這些文章收錄於文選集中發表，作品獲得了全球性的贊賞。達爾寫過超於60個短篇故事，這是一個十分巨大的數目，但衹有一部分在他死後出版成書（見羅爾德•達爾短篇故事列表）。他的故事亦給他帶來了三個愛倫•坡奬：在1954年，Someone Like You；1959年，故事The Landlady；1980年，以Skin電影為基礎寫作的的短篇故事Tales of the Unexpected 。
他較著名的成人小說，吸煙者（The Smoker），或稱Man from the South，拍攝成影集Alfred Hitchcock Presents, 並改編成1995年電影Four Rooms中昆廷•塔倫蒂諾（Quentin Tarantino）的部分。他的短篇故事集Tales of the Unexpected 成功地改編為同名的電視影集。短篇故事中有一部分經猜測是出自於他虛構的叔叔奧斯沃的日記，這些故事中的主角，一位富有的紳士。
在達爾相較之下比較沒那麽成功的1960年代，他開始寫電影劇本。其中兩部由伊恩•弗萊明（Ian Fleming）改編為小說：詹姆士•龐德（James Bond）的You Only Live Twice和Chitty Chitty Bang Bang。他也改編自己的作品，如《威利旺卡與巧剋力工廠》（Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory）。
與妻子芙莉希蒂合着的Memories with Food at Gipsy House於過世後在1991年出版，書內穿插着食譜—傢人與達爾共同回想與沉思出的、以喜愛吃的食物為主的食譜，如巧剋力、洋蔥和紅葡萄酒。
他的大部分兒童文學作品的插圖都是昆丁•布雷剋（Quentin Blake）畫的。
達爾的兒童文學作品常常從一個小孩的觀點記述，通常會包括成人反派角色—憎恨並虐待小孩的人，至少有一”好的”大人來減輕反派角色帶來的影響（據一份或許遭到濫用的參考文獻，達爾常將其在寄宿學校的經驗融入作品中）。內容大多包含黑色幽默、古怪的情節和可怕的暴力。《女巫》與《瑪迪達》即套用了這個公式。《吹夢巨人》遵守並加以推廣這個公式：“好巨人”（the BFG或Big Friendly Giant）代表那些“好的”大人的原型，而其它巨人代表着“壞的”大人。這公式也出現在一部分達爾的劇本中，如Chitty Chitty Bang Bang。階級意識的主題，如以是否帶面罩决定身份地位，也出現在一些作品中如《狐狸爸爸萬歲》（Fantastic Mr Fox）和《咱們是世界最佳搭檔》（Danny, the Champion of the World）。在達爾書中的另一特色是，肥胖的角色通常會是兒童，如《查理與巧剋力工廠》的古魯（Augustus Gloop）、《女巫》的布魯諾•詹金斯（Bruno Jenkins）和《瑪迪達》的布魯士•波格托（Bruce Bogtrotter），不過這也有例外：有一位“巨大”的要角Aunt Sponge出現在《怪桃歷險記》。
達爾的母親常常給他和他的姊妹們說故事，說關於傳說中的巨人和其它虛構的挪威的東西，因此有一些他的兒童文學作品如《吹夢巨人》等都會出現這些巨人等虛構之物。
三、作品列表
1、兒童文學作品
①兒童故事
1943年：搗亂小精靈（The Gremlins）
1961年：詹姆斯與大仙桃（James and the Giant Peach）
1964年：查理和巧剋力工廠（Charlie and the Chocolate Factory）
1966年：魔法手指（The Magic Finger）
1970年：了不起的狐狸爸爸（Fantastic Mr Fox）
1973年：查理和大玻璃升降機（Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator），《查理與巧剋力工廠》的續集。
1975年：世界冠軍丹尼（Danny the Champion of the World）
1977年：The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More
1978年：大大大大的鰐魚（The Enormous Crocodile）
1980年：蠢特夫婦（The Twits）
1981年：小喬治的神奇魔藥（George's Marvelous Medicine）
1982年：好心眼兒巨人（The BFG）
1983年：女巫（The Witches）
1985年：長頸鹿、小鵜兒和我（The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me）
1988年：瑪蒂爾達（Matilda），或譯《小魔女》
1989年：喂咕嗚愛情咒（Esio Trot）
1991年：The Minpin
1991年：The Vicar of Nibbleswicke
②兒童詩歌
1982年：Revolting Rhyme
1983年：Dirty Beast
1989年：Rhyme Stew
2、成人小說
①長篇小說
1948年：Sometime Never: A Fable for Supermen
1979年：超完美情夫（My Uncle Oswald）
②短篇小說集
1946年：Over To You: Ten Stories of Flyers and Flying
1953年：Someone Like You
1960年：Kiss Ki
1969年：Twenty-Nine Kisses from Roald Dahl
1979年：達爾驚奇小說選一：南美怪客（Tales of the Unexpected）
1974年：Switch Bitch ISBN 0 1400 4179 6
1980年：達爾驚奇小說選二：開羅豔遇（More Tales of the Unexpected）
1978年：羅爾德•達爾精選集（The Best of Roald Dahl）
1983年：羅爾德•達爾的鬼故事（Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories）
1989年：啊，美妙神秘的生命（Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life: The Country Stories of Roald Dahl）
1991年：達爾短篇故事集（The Collected Short Stories of Dahl）
1986年：Two Fable
1997年：The Great Automatic Grammatizator
2000年：The Mildenhall Treasure
2006年：Roald Dahl: Collected Storie
3、非小說類
1984年：好小子—我的童年故事（Boy – Tales of Childhood）至16歲的生平數據，尤其在20世紀初在英國的學習生涯。
1986年：單飛（Going Solo）自傳的續編，記述了他在貝殼石油公司和在坦尚尼亞戰前的工作。
1986年：Measles, a Dangerous Illne
1991年：Memories with Food at Gipsy House
1991年：Roald Dahl's Guide to Railway Safety
1993年：My Year
1993年：The Roald Dahl Ominibu
4、劇本
1955年：The Honeys 創作於百老匯長畝劇場。
5、電影劇本
1967年：You Only Live Twice
1968年：Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
1971年：The Night Digger
1971年：威利。旺卡與巧剋力工廠（Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory）
Born in Llandaff, Cardiff, to Norwegian parents, he served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, in which he became a flying ace and intelligence agent, rising to the rank of Wing Commander. Dahl rose to prominence in the 1940s with works for both children and adults, and became one of the world's bestselling authors. He has been referred to as "one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century". In 2008 The Times placed Dahl sixteenth on their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". His short stories are known for their unexpected endings, and his children's books for their unsentimental, often very dark humour.
Some of his better-known works include James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr Fox, Matilda, The Witches, and The Big Friendly Giant.
Early life
Roald Dahl was born at Villa Marie, Fairwater Road, Llandaff, Glamorgan, in 1916, to Norwegian parents, Harald Dahl and Sofie Magdalene Dahl (née Hesselberg). Dahl's father had moved from Sarpsborg in Norway and settled in Cardiff in the 1880s. His mother came over to marry his father in 1911. Dahl was named after the polar explorer Roald Amundsen, a national hero in Norway at the time. He spoke Norwegian at home with his parents and sisters, Astri, Alfhild, and Else. Dahl and his sisters were christened at the Norwegian Church, Cardiff, where their parents worshipped.
In 1920, when Dahl was still three years old, his seven-year-old sister, Astri, died from appendicitis. Weeks later, his father died of pneumonia at the age of 57. With the option of returning to Norway to live with relatives, Dahl's mother decided to remain in Wales, because her husband Harald had wished to have their children educated in British schools, which he considered the world's best.
Dahl first attended The Cathedral School, Llandaff. At the age of eight, he and four of his friends (one named Thwaites) were caned by the headmaster after putting a dead mouse in a jar of gobstoppers at the local sweet shop, which was owned by a "mean and loathsome" old woman called Mrs Pratchett. This was known amongst the five boys as the "Great Mouse Plot of 1924". This was Roald's own idea.
Thereafter, he transferred to a boarding school in England: Saint Peter's in Weston-super-Mare. Roald's parents had wanted him to be educated at a British public school and, at the time, because of a then regular ferry link across the Bristol Channel, this proved to be the nearest. His time at Saint Peter's was an unpleasant experience for him. He was very homesick and wrote to his mother every week, but never revealed to her his unhappiness, being under the pressure of school censorship. Only after her death in 1967 did he find out that she had saved every single one of his letters, in small bundles held together with green tape. Dahl wrote about his time at St. Peter's in his autobiography Boy: Tales of Childhood.
From 1929, he attended Repton School in Derbyshire, where, according to Boy: Tales of Childhood, a friend named Michael was viciously caned by headmaster Geoffrey Fisher, the man who later became the Archbishop of Canterbury and crowned the Queen in 1953. (However, according to Dahl's biographer Jeremy Treglown, the caning took place in May 1933, a year after Fisher had left Repton. The headmaster concerned was in fact J.T. Christie, Fisher's successor.) This caused Dahl to "have doubts about religion and even about God". He was never seen as a particularly talented writer in his school years, with one of his English teachers writing in his school report "I have never met anybody who so persistently writes words meaning the exact opposite of what is intended," Dahl was exceptionally tall, reaching 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) in adult life. He excelled at sports, being made captain of the school fives and squash teams, and also playing for the football team. He developed an interest in photography. During his years at Repton, Cadbury, the chocolate company, would occasionally send boxes of new chocolates to the school to be tested by the pupils. Dahl apparently used to dream of inventing a new chocolate bar that would win the praise of Mr. Cadbury himself, and this proved the inspiration for him to write his third book for children, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1963) and include references to chocolate in other books for children.
Throughout his childhood and adolescent years, Dahl spent his summer holidays with his mother's family in Norway. His childhood and first job selling kerosene in Midsomer Norton and surrounding villages in Somerset are subjects in Boy: Tales of Childhood. The main child character in his 1983 book The Witches is a British boy of Norwegian origin; his grandmother is still living in Norway.
After finishing his schooling, he spent three weeks hiking through Newfoundland with the Public Schools' Exploring Society (now known as BSES Expeditions).
Prewar career and fighter ace
In July 1934, Dahl joined the Shell Petroleum Company. Following two years of training in the UK, he was transferred to Dar-es-Salaam, Tanganyika (now Tanzania). Along with the only two other Shell employees in the entire territory, he lived in luxury in the Shell House outside Dar-es-Salaam, with a cook and personal servants. While out on assignments supplying oil to customers across Tanganyika, he encountered black mambas and lions, amongst other wildlife.
Roald Dahl
13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990 (aged 74)
Place of birth Llandaff, Cardiff, Wale
Place of death Oxford, England
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army (August–November 1939)
Royal Air Force (November 1939–1945)
Years of service 1939–1945
Rank Wing Commander
Battles/wars World War II
Other work Author
In August 1939, as World War II loomed, plans were made to round up the hundreds of Germans in Dar-es-Salaam. Dahl was made an officer in the King's African Rifles, commanding a platoon of Askaris, indigenous troops serving in the colonial army.
In November 1939, Dahl joined the Royal Air Force as an Aircraftman. After a 600-mile (970 km) car journey from Dar-es-Salaam to Nairobi, he was accepted for flight training with 16 other men, and was one of only three who survived the war. With seven hours and 40 minutes experience in a De Havilland Tiger Moth, he flew solo; Dahl enjoyed watching the wildlife of Kenya during his flights. He continued to advanced flying training in Iraq, at RAF Habbaniya, 50 miles (80 km) west of Baghdad. He was promoted to Leading Aircraftman on 24 August 1940. Following six months' training on Hawker Harts, Dahl was made an Acting Pilot Officer.
He was assigned to No. 80 Squadron RAF, flying obsolete Gloster Gladiators, the last biplane fighter aircraft used by the RAF. Dahl was surprised to find that he would not receive any specialised training in aerial combat, or in flying Gladiators. On 19 September 1940, Dahl was ordered to fly his Gladiator from Abu Sueir in Egypt, on to Amiriya to refuel, and again to Fouka in Libya for a second refuelling. From there he would fly to 80 Squadron's forward airstrip 30 miles (48 km) south of Mersa Matruh. On the final leg, he could not find the airstrip and, running low on fuel and with night approaching, he was forced to attempt a landing in the desert. The undercarriage hit a boulder and the aircraft crashed, fracturing his skull, smashing his nose, and temporarily blinding him. He managed to drag himself away from the blazing wreckage and passed out. Later, he wrote about the crash for his first published work.
Dahl was rescued and taken to a first-aid post in Mersa Matruh, where he regained consciousness, but not his sight, and was then taken by train to the Royal Navy hospital in Alexandria. There he fell in and out of love with a nurse, Mary Welland. An RAF inquiry into the crash revealed that the location to which he had been told to fly was completely wrong, and he had mistakenly been sent instead to the no man's land between the Allied and Italian forces.
In February 1941, Dahl was discharged from hospital and passed fully fit for flying duties. By this time, 80 Squadron had been transferred to the Greek campaign and based at Eleusina, near Athens. The squadron was now equipped with Hawker Hurricanes. Dahl flew a replacement Hurricane across the Mediterranean Sea in April 1941, after seven hours flying Hurricanes. By this stage in the Greek campaign, the RAF had only 18 combat aircraft in Greece: 14 Hurricanes and four Bristol Blenheim light bombers. Dahl saw his first aerial combat on 15 April 1941, while flying alone over the city of Chalcis. He attacked six Junkers Ju-88s that were bombing ships and shot one down. On 16 April in another air battle, he shot down another Ju-88.
On 20 April 1941, Dahl took part in the "Battle of Athens", alongside the highest-scoring British Commonwealth ace of World War II, Pat Pattle and Dahl's friend David Coke. Of 12 Hurricanes involved, five were shot down and four of their pilots killed, including Pattle. Greek observers on the ground counted 22 German aircraft downed, but because of the confusion of the aerial engagement, none of the pilots knew which plane they had shot down. Dahl described it as "an endless blur of enemy fighters whizzing towards me from every side".
In May, as the Germans were pressing on Athens, Dahl was evacuated to Egypt. His squadron was reassembled in Haifa. From there, Dahl flew sorties every day for a period of four weeks, shooting down a Vichy French Air Force Potez 63 on 8 June and another Ju-88 on 15 June, but he then began to get severe headaches that caused him to black out. He was invalided home to Britain. Though at this time Dahl was only an Acting Pilot Officer, in September 1941 he was simultaneously confirmed as a Pilot Officer and promoted to Flying Officer.
Dahl began writing in 1942, after he was transferred to Washington, D.C. as Assistant Air Attaché. His first published work, in 1 August 1942 issue of The Saturday Evening Post, was "Shot Down Over Libya" which described the crash of his Gloster Gladiator. C. S. Forester had asked Dahl to write down some RAF anecdotes so that he could shape them into a story. After Forester read what Dahl had given him, he decided to publish the story exactly as Dahl had written it. The original title of the article was "A Piece of Cake" but the title was changed to sound more dramatic, despite the fact that he was not actually shot down.
Dahl was promoted to Flight Lieutenant in August 1942. During the war, Forester worked for the British Information Service and was writing propaganda for the Allied cause, mainly for American consumption. This work introduced Dahl to espionage and the activities of the Canadian spymaster William Stephenson, known by the codename "Intrepid".
During the war, Dahl supplied intelligence from Washington to Stephenson and his organisation known as British Security Coordination, which was part of MI6. He was revealed in the 1980s to have been serving to help promote Britain's interests and message in the United States and to combat the "America First" movement, working with such other well known agents as Ian Fleming and David Ogilvy. Dahl was once sent back to Britain by British Embassy officials, supposedly for misconduct – "I got booted out by the big boys," he said. Stephenson promptly sent him back to Washington—with a promotion to Wing Commander. Towards the end of the war, Dahl wrote some of the history of the secret organisation and he and Stephenson remained friends for decades after the war.
Upon the war's conclusion, Dahl held the rank of a temporary Wing Commander (substantive Flight Lieutenant). Owing to his accident in 1940 having left him with excruciating headaches while flying, in August 1946 he was invalided out of the RAF. He left the service with the substantive rank of Squadron Leader. His record of five aerial victories, qualifying him as a flying ace, has been confirmed by post-war research and cross-referenced in Axis records, although it is most likely that he scored more than that during 20 April 1941 when 22 German aircraft were shot down.
Postwar life
Family
Patricia Neal and Roald Dahl
Dahl married American actress Patricia Neal on 2 July 1953 at Trinity Church in New York City. Their marriage lasted for 30 years and they had five children: Olivia, Tessa, Theo, Ophelia, and Lucy.
On 5 December 1960, four-month-old Theo Dahl was severely injured when his baby carriage was struck by a taxicab in New York City. For a time, he suffered from hydrocephalus, and as a result, his father became involved in the development of what became known as the "Wade-Dahl-Till" (or WDT) valve, a device to alleviate the condition.
In November 1962, Olivia Dahl died of measles encephalitis at age seven. Dahl subsequently became a proponent of immunization and dedicated his 1982 book The BFG to his deceased daughter.
In 1965, wife Patricia Neal suffered three burst cerebral aneurysms while pregnant with their fifth child, Lucy; Dahl took control of her rehabilitation and she eventually relearned to talk and walk, and even returned to her acting career.
Following a divorce from Neal in 1983, Dahl married Felicity "Liccy" Crosland the same year at Brixton Town Hall, South London, with whom he was in a relationship prior to this. According to a biographer, Donald Sturrock, Liccy gave up her job and moved into 'Gipsy House', Great Missenden, which had been Dahl's home since 1954.
He is the father of the author Tessa Dahl, grandfather of author, cookbook writer, and former model Sophie Dahl (whom Sophie in The BFG is named after) and father-in-law to actor Julian Holloway (son of actor Stanley Holloway).
Death and legacy
Dahl's gravestone, St. Peter and St. Paul's Church, Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire
Roald Dahl died on 23 November 1990, at the age of 74 of a blood disease, myelodysplastic syndrome, in Oxford, and was buried in the cemetery at St. Peter and St. Paul's Church in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, England. According to his granddaughter, the family gave him a "sort of Viking funeral". He was buried with his snooker cues, some very good burgundy, chocolates, HB pencils and a power saw. In his honour, the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery was opened in November 1996, at the Buckinghamshire County Museum in nearby Aylesbury.
In 2002, one of Cardiff Bay's modern landmarks, the historic Oval Basin plaza, was re-christened "Roald Dahl Plass". "Plass" means "place" or "square" in Norwegian, referring to the acclaimed late writer's Norwegian roots. There have also been calls from the public for a permanent statue of him to be erected in the city.
Dahl's charitable commitments in the fields of neurology and haematology have been continued by his widow since his death, through Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's Charity, formerly known as the Roald Dahl Foundation. In June 2005, the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre opened in Great Missenden to celebrate the work of Roald Dahl and advance his work in literacy education.
In 2008, the UK charity Booktrust and Children's Laureate Michael Rosen inaugurated The Roald Dahl Funny Prize, an annual award to authors of humorous children's fiction. On 14 September 2009 (the day after what would have been Dahl's 93rd birthday) the first blue plaque in his honour was unveiled in Llandaff, Cardiff, Wales. Rather than commemorating his place of birth, however, the plaque was erected on the wall of the former sweet shop (and site of "The Great Mouse Plot of 1924") that features in the first part of his autobiography Boy. It was unveiled by his widow Felicity and son Theo.
In honour of Roald Dahl, Gibraltar Post issued a set of four stamps in 2010 featuring Quentin Blake’s original illustrations for four of the children’s books written by Dahl during his long career; The BFG, The Twits, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda. Dahl's influence has extended beyond literary figures, and he connected with film director Tim Burton with his "mixture of light and darkness, and not speaking down to kids, and the kind of politically incorrect humour that kids get". Regarded as "one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century", Dahl was listed as one of the greatest British writers since 1945. He ranks amongst the world's bestselling fiction authors, with sales estimated at over 100 million. In 2003, the UK survey entitled The Big Read carried out by the BBC in order to find the "nations best loved novel" of all time, four of Dahl's books were named in the Top 100, with only works by Charles Dickens and Terry Pratchett featuring more.
Roald Dahl Day
The anniversary of Dahl's birthday on 13 September is celebrated as "Roald Dahl Day" in Africa, the United Kingdom, and Latin America.
Writing
Roald Dahl's story "The Devious Bachelor" was illustrated by Frederick Siebel when it was published in Collier's (September 1953).
Dahl's first published work, inspired by a meeting with C. S. Forester, was "A Piece Of Cake." in August 1, 1942. The story, about his wartime adventures, was bought by The Saturday Evening Post for $1000 (a substantial sum in 1942) and published under the title "Shot Down Over Libya".
His first children's book was The Gremlins, about mischievous little creatures that were part of RAF folklore. All the RAF pilots blamed the gremlins for all the problems with the plane. The book, which First Lady of the U.S. Eleanor Roosevelt read to her grandchildren, was commissioned by Walt Disney for a film that was never made, and published in 1943. Dahl went on to create some of the best-loved children's stories of the 20th century, such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, The Witches, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, The BFG, George's Marvellous Medicine and Fantastic Mr Fox.
Dahl also had a very successful parallel career as the writer of macabre adult short stories, usually with a dark sense of humour and a surprise ending. The Mystery Writers of America presented Dahl with three Edgar Awards for his work, and many were originally written for American magazines such as Collier's, Ladies Home Journal, Harper's, Playboy and The New Yorker. Works such as Kiss Kiss subsequently collected Dahl's stories into anthologies, gaining worldwide acclaim. Dahl wrote more than 60 short stories; they have appeared in numerous collections, some only being published in book form after his death (See List of Roald Dahl short stories). His three Edgar Awards were given for: in 1954, for the collection Someone Like You; in 1959, for the story "The Landlady"; and in 1980, for the episode of Tales of the Unexpected based on "Skin".
One of his more famous adult stories, "The Smoker" (also known as "Man From the South"), was filmed twice as both 1960 and 1985 episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and also adapted into Quentin Tarantino's segment of the 1995 film Four Rooms. This bizarre, oft-anthologised suspense classic concerns a man residing in Jamaica who wagers with visitors in an attempt to claim the fingers from their hands. The 1960 Hitchcock version stars Steve McQueen and Peter Lorre.
His short story collection Tales of the Unexpected was adapted to a successful TV series of the same name, beginning with "Man From the South". When the stock of Dahl's own original stories was exhausted, the series continued by adapting stories by authors that were written in Dahl's style, including the writers John Collier and Stanley Ellin.
He acquired a traditional Romanichal Gypsy wagon in the 1960s, and the family used it as a playhouse for his children. He later used the vardo as a writing room, where he wrote the book Danny, the Champion of the World.
A number of his short stories are supposed to be extracts from the diary of his (fictional) Uncle Oswald, a rich gentleman whose sexual exploits form the subject of these stories. In his novel My Uncle Oswald, the uncle engages a temptress to seduce 20th Century geniuses and royalty with a love potion secretly added to chocolate truffles made by Dahl's favourite chocolate shop, Prestat of Piccadilly.
Memories with Food at Gipsy House, written with his wife Felicity and published posthumously in 1991, was a mixture of recipes, family reminiscences and Dahl's musings on favourite subjects such as chocolate, onions, and claret.
Children's fiction
Dahl's children's works are usually told from the point of view of a child. They typically involve adult villains or villainesses who hate and mistreat children, and feature at least one "good" adult to counteract the villain(s). These stock characters are possibly a reference to the abuse that Dahl stated that he experienced in the boarding schools he attended. They usually contain a lot of black humour and grotesque scenarios, including gruesome violence. The Witches, George's Marvellous Medicine and Matilda are examples of this formula. The BFG follows it in a more analogous way with the good giant (the BFG or "Big Friendly Giant") representing the "good adult" archetype and the other giants being the "bad adults". This formula is also somewhat evident in Dahl's film script for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Class-conscious themes – ranging from the thinly veiled to the blatant – also surface in works such as Fantastic Mr Fox and Danny, the Champion of the World.
Dahl also features in his books characters that are very fat, usually children. Augustus Gloop, Bruce Bogtrotter, and Bruno Jenkins are a few of these characters, although an enormous woman named Aunt Sponge is featured in James and the Giant Peach and the nasty farmer Boggis in Fantastic Mr Fox features as an enormously fat character. All of these characters (with the possible exception of Bruce Bogtrotter) are either villains or simply unpleasant gluttons. They are usually punished for this: Augustus Gloop drinks from Willy Wonka's chocolate river, disregarding the adults who tell him not to, and falls in, getting sucked up a pipe and nearly being turned into fudge. Bruce Bogtrotter steals cake from the evil headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, and is forced to eat a gigantic chocolate cake in front of the school. Bruno Jenkins is turned into a mouse by witches who lure him to their convention with the promise of chocolate, and, it is speculated, possibly disowned or even killed by his parents because of this. Aunt Sponge is flattened by a giant peach.)
Dahl's mother used to tell him and his sisters tales about trolls and other mythical Norwegian creatures and some of his children's books contain references or elements inspired by these stories, such as the giants in The BFG, the fox family in Fantastic Mr Fox and the trolls in The Minpins.
Screenplay
For a brief period in the 1960s, Dahl wrote screenplays. Two – the James Bond film You Only Live Twice and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang – were adaptations of novels by Ian Fleming, though both were rewritten and completed by other writers. Dahl also began adapting his own novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which was completed and rewritten by David Seltzer after Dahl failed to meet deadlines, and produced as the film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971). Dahl later disowned the film, saying he was "disappointed" because "he thought it placed too much emphasis on Willy Wonka and not enough on Charlie". He was also "infuriated" by the deviations in the plot devised by David Seltzer in his draft of the screenplay. This resulted in his refusal for any more versions of the book to be made in his lifetime.
Influence
Not surprisingly, a major part of Dahl's literary influences stemmed from his childhood. In his younger days, he was an avid reader, especially awed by fantastic tales of heroism and triumph. Amongst his favourite authors were Rudyard Kipling, William Thackeray, Frederick Marryat and Charles Dickens and their works went on to make a lasting mark on his life and writing. Dahl was also a huge fan of ghost stories and claimed that Trolls by Jonas Lie was one of the finest ghost stories ever written. While he was still a youngster, his mother, Sofie Dahl, would relate traditional Norwegian myths and legends from her native homeland to Dahl and his sisters. Dahl always maintained that his mother and her stories had a strong influence on his writing. In one interview he mentioned, "She was a great teller of tales. Her memory was prodigious and nothing that ever happened to her in her life was forgotten." When Dahl started writing and publishing his famous books for children, he created a grandmother character in The Witches and later stated that she was based directly on his own mother as a tribute.
Television
Way Out
In 1961, Dahl hosted and wrote for a science fiction and horror television anthology series called Way Out, which preceded the Twilight Zone series on the CBS network for 14 episodes from March to July. Dahl's comedic monologues rounded off the episodes, frequently explaining exactly how to murder one's spouse without getting caught. In one introduction, Dahl ruminated about the popularity of the crewcut at the time and how it seemed to make some men feel tougher. The former fighter pilot dryly observed that "....it really doesn't help when the chips are down, though, does it?"
One of the last dramatic network shows shot in New York City, the entire series is available for viewing at The Paley Center for Media in New York City and Los Angeles.
Tales of the Unexpected
Tales of the Unexpected is a British television series that originally aired between 1979 and 1988, made by Anglia Television for ITV. The series had been released to tie in with Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected, which had introduced readers to many motifs that were common in his writing.
The series was an anthology of different tales, initially based on Dahl's short stories. The stories were sometimes sinister, sometimes wryly comedic, and usually had a twist ending. Dahl introduced on camera all the episodes of the first two series, which bore the full title Roald Dahl's Tales Of The Unexpected. Dahl also chose the stories not written by him to be adapted for the second series, and a small number of additional Dahl stories were adapted for the third series onwards following his departure.
List of work
Children's storie
The Gremlins (1943)
James and the Giant Peach (1961) — Film: James and the Giant Peach (live-action/animated) (1996)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964)[nn 1] — Films: Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
The Magic Finger (1 June 1966)
Fantastic Mr Fox (9 December 1970) — Film: Fantastic Mr. Fox (animated) (2009)
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (9 January 1972)[nn 1] A sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Danny, the Champion of the World (30 October 1975) — Film: Danny the Champion of the World (TV movie) (1989)
The Enormous Crocodile (24 August 1978)
The Twits (17 December 1980)
George's Marvellous Medicine (21 May 1981)
The BFG (14 October 1982) — Film: The BFG (animated) (1989)
The Witches (27 October 1983) — Film: The Witches (1990)
The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me (26 September 1985)
Matilda (21 April 1988) — Film: Matilda (1996)
Esio Trot (19 April 1989)
The Vicar of Nibbleswicke (9 May 1990)
The Minpins (8 August 1991)
Children's poetry
Revolting Rhymes (10 June 1982)
Dirty Beasts (25 October 1984)
Rhyme Stew (21 September 1989)
Adult fiction
Novel
Sometime Never: A Fable for Supermen (1948)
My Uncle Oswald (1979)
Short story collection
Over To You: Ten Stories of Flyers and Flying (1946)
Someone Like You (1953)
Lamb to the Slaughter (1953)
Kiss Kiss (1960)
Twenty-Nine Kisses from Roald Dahl (1969)
Switch Bitch (1974)
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More (1977)
The Best of Roald Dahl (1978)
Tales of the Unexpected (1979)
More Tales of the Unexpected (1980)
Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories (1983). Edited with an introduction by Dahl.
The Roald Dahl Omnibus (Dorset Press, 1986)
Two Fables (1986). "Princess and the Poacher" and "Princess Mammalia".
Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life: The Country Stories of Roald Dahl (1989)
The Collected Short Stories of Dahl (1991)
The Roald Dahl Treasury (1997)
The Great Automatic Grammatizator (1997). (Known in the USA as The Umbrella Man and Other Stories).
Skin And Other Stories (2000)
Roald Dahl: Collected Stories (2006)
See the alphabetical List of Roald Dahl short stories. See also Roald Dahl: Collected Stories for a complete, chronological listing.
Non-fiction
The Mildenhall Treasure (1946, 1977, 1999)
Boy – Tales of Childhood (1984) Recollections up to the age of 20, looking particularly at schooling in Britain in the early part of the 20th century.
Going Solo (1986) Continuation of his autobiography, in which he goes to work for Shell and spends some time working in Tanzania before joining the war effort and becoming one of the last Allied pilots to withdraw from Greece during the German invasion.
Measles, a Dangerous Illness (1986)
Memories with Food at Gipsy House (1991)
Roald Dahl's Guide to Railway Safety (1991)
My Year (1993)
Roald Dahl's Revolting Recipes by Felicity Dahl, et al. (1994), a collection of recipes based on and inspired by food in Dahl's books, created by Roald & Felicity Dahl, and Josie Fison
Roald Dahl's Even More Revolting Recipes by Felicity Dahl, et al. (2001)
Play
The Honeys (1955) Produced at the Longacre Theater on Broadway.
Film script
The Gremlins (1943)
36 Hours (1965)
You Only Live Twice (1967)
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)
The Night Digger (1971)
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
Television
Way Out (1961) Horror series hosted by Roald Dahl and produced by David Susskind
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: "Lamb to the Slaughter" (1958)
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: "Dip in the Pool" (1958)
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: "Poison" (1958)
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: "Man from the South" (1960) with Steve McQueen and Peter Lorre
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: "Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat" (1960)
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: "The Landlady" (1961)
Tales of the Unexpected (1979–88), episodes written and introduced by Dahl
^ a b Published in 1978 in an omnibus edition titled The Complete Adventures of Charlie and Willy Wonka
Controversie
In 1983 Dahl reviewed Tony Clifton's God Cried, a picture book about the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon depicting Israelis killing thousands of Beirut inhabitants by bombing civilian targets. Dahl's review stated that this invasion was when "we all started hating Israel", and that the book would make readers "violently anti-Israeli", writing, "I am not anti-Semitic. I am anti-Israel." Dahl told a reporter in 1983, "There’s a trait in the Jewish character that does provoke animosity... I mean there is always a reason why anti-anything crops up anywhere; even a stinker like Hitler didn’t just pick on them for no reason." Dahl maintained friendships with a number of Jews, including philosopher Isaiah Berlin, who said, "I thought he might say anything. Could have been pro-Arab or pro-Jew. There was no consistent line. He was a man who followed whims, which meant he would blow up in one direction, so to speak." In later years, Dahl included a sympathetic episode about German-Jewish refugees in his book Going Solo, and professed to be opposed to injustice, not Jews.