
The Fantastic Mr. Dahl (2016) - indigodaddy
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/fantastic-roald-dahl-BFG-180959487/
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justinator
I like the stories in, "Over to You" \- especially about going to Cairo to
pick up prostitutes!

But other than those young escapades, he doesn't come across as the most
pleasant of people. He did basically make a living writing story after story
of children in abusive relationships.

~~~
layoutIfNeeded
Probably because he had his own share of abuse as a kid:

“From 1929, when he was 13, Dahl attended Repton School in Derbyshire. Dahl
disliked the hazing and described an environment of ritual cruelty and status
domination, with younger boys having to act as personal servants for older
boys, frequently subject to terrible beatings. His biographer Donald Sturrock
described these violent experiences in Dahl's early life. Dahl expresses some
of these darker experiences in his writings, which is also marked by his
hatred of cruelty and corporal punishment.”

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roald_Dahl](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roald_Dahl)

~~~
ianbicking
"Dahl expresses some of these darker experiences in his writings, which is
also marked by his hatred of cruelty and corporal punishment."

It's interesting that in his children's books it seems he still believes in
moral reformation through cruelty and corporal punishment, as he frequently
has the underdog do cruel things under the guise of knocking the other person
down a notch, or otherwise cowing them into improvement. He doesn't just
present it as justice or revenge, but as a kind of education, and specifically
it's okay if the victim doesn't understand why they are being punished or that
it is punishment at all. (I'm thinking of Matilda, The Twits, George's
Marvellous Medicine, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the BFG, and probably
others)

I suppose it's no surprise that even when you hate your upbringing, it still
becomes part of you and your moral vision of the world.

~~~
kick
Getting revenge is something that almost everyone in those situations wants to
do; it satisfies deeply. What you describe is by many people called "hitting
back," which is hard to see as something negative, and _definitely_ not
equivalent to what he went through as a child.

"Bully beats victim," "Victim retaliates;" one is obviously less bad than the
other. It's not like the victims in his story are hurting random, innocent
people.

~~~
ianbicking
My point is that there's an underlying moral lesson to the bullying he
received: the idea that the pain and abuse will lead to positive results in
the child. And further that the abuse isn't just punishment, but that abuse
itself can lead to virtue. That's why it's applied to every young boy
systematically.

In his books Dahl doesn't just describe revenge, but describes it as a way to
actually correct behavior, as a way for the universe to give the powerful a
lesson. He's certainly turning around the power dynamic, but the moral
justification for abuse remains intact.

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jacobkg
After reading all the classic Ronald Dahl stories as a child I more recently
discovered “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar”. The titular tale is great
entertainment, especially in light of the current trendiness of meditation.
Another story in that book “The Hitch-hiker” is also good fun.

On the other hand I would not particularly recommend “Skin and other stories”
which I also discovered recently but did not connect with.

~~~
dano
You might enjoy this book about his pursuits during WWII, The Irregulars [1]

1\.
[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001FA0HXY](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001FA0HXY)

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jgrahamc
I saw him speak at the Oxford Union. He told stories of his childhood and was
both dark and funny. He answered questions afterwards. Almost all the answers
he gave insulted or ridiculed the questioner.

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neonate
He was also a spy.

[https://www.google.com/search?q=roald+dahl+spy&oq=roald+dahl...](https://www.google.com/search?q=roald+dahl+spy&oq=roald+dahl+spy)

~~~
gregknicholson
He also endorsed antisemitism:

[http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160912-the-dark-side-
of-r...](http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160912-the-dark-side-of-roald-
dahl)

> “Hitler didn’t just pick on them for no reason.”

~~~
chalst
> If Dahl had been a nice man, I don’t suppose he would have been able to
> inflict such refreshingly transgressive views on his young readers.
> Christopher Hitchens once wrote an essay examining the truth of the
> accusation that Dahl was an adulterer, bully and anti-Semite. “Of course
> it’s bloody well true,” he concluded. “How else could Dahl have kept
> children enthralled and agreeably disgusted and pleasurably afraid? By being
> Enid Blyton?”

From "Roald Dahl’s troubling legacy - much-loved author stands accused of
racism" \- [https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books/roald-
dahls-t...](https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books/roald-dahls-
troubling-legacy-much-loved-author-stands-accused-of-racism-37508035.html)

~~~
rsynnott
> By being Enid Blyton?

Who, interestingly, had her own issues, which are far more visible in the
actual books (I think it'd be hard to find anti-semitic themes in most of
Dahl's kids' books):
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enid_Blyton#Racism,_xenophobia...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enid_Blyton#Racism,_xenophobia_and_sexism)

(Blyton probably wasn't that much worse than was standard for her time, but
largely lacked Dahl's redeeming qualities)

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billfruit
When U.S. publishers altered his spelling, he demanded: “Do they Americanize
the Christmas Carol, or Jane Austen?”

Do they really?

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DanBC
We need to remember that childrens books are mostly not bought by children,
but by adults for children.

Dahl is often in the "most read" lists, because adults keep buying the books.
But when we ask children what books they love he stops appearing. (Sadly, this
info is buried in old reports from "What kids are reading", which is hard to
find now).
[https://web.archive.org/web/20140603135101/http://whatkidsar...](https://web.archive.org/web/20140603135101/http://whatkidsarereading.co.uk/the-
books-children-love/)

If your child enjoys reading Dahl that's great, keep buying them. But there
are so many books that are just better than Dahl and that don't come with all
the baggage.

~~~
lordfoom
>If your child enjoys reading Dahl that's great, keep buying them. But there
are so many books that are just better than Dahl and that don't come with all
the baggage.

I agree there's a lot of baggage, but I'm interested in what books you think
are "just better"?

~~~
DanBC
Anything in the Carnegie Medal short lists (and probably the long list too).
For younger children anything in the Greenaway short lists.

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k__
I was thinking Ryan Dahl.

"Wow, first he did Node.js and then also Deno! How does he do it?!"

But, yes, the other Dahl is much more exciting! Thanks :)

