In 1942, having been invalided out of the RAF in 1942 at the aged of 26, the writer C.S. Forester sought Dahl out to write about his heroic and daring combat flying exploits. His first story, titled A Piece of Cake was published in the Saturday Evening Post, and many others followed in national magazines.
When Dahl had run out of true stories, he started making them up. He enjoyed writing his children's stories the best, and the popularity of these are probably down to his never patronising his audience; acknowledging children's ability to understand dark humour involving rudeness, naughtiness, nastiness, and a fascination for the scatological. He also dared to show just how beastly adults can be to children.
When my children were at preparatory school, they were given a reading list for the Summer holiday, which to their disgust banned all Roald Dahl books. ...Why? Not because the stories were shocking or lacking in literary merit, but because his were the only ones the pupils read, given a choice.
1 comment:
I wonder if RD was simply bad at tedious grammatical exercises, only to realise his ability as a writer when allowed free rein?
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