Roald Dahl

Which other authors do you enjoy? Discuss them here.
User avatar
Courtenay
Posts: 19275
Joined: 07 Feb 2014, 01:22
Favourite book/series: The Adventure Series, Galliano's Circus
Favourite character: Lotta
Location: Both Aussie and British; living in Cheshire

Re: Roald Dahl

Post by Courtenay »

Here's something interesting for all those who (like me) enjoyed Roald Dahl's autobiography Boy — an exploration of the real sweet-shop owner who was the target of the famous Great Mouse Plot, along with insights into how incidents like that one shaped Dahl's writing career... :wink:
Society Member

It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
User avatar
Fiona1986
Posts: 10527
Joined: 01 Dec 2007, 15:35
Favourite book/series: Five Go to Smuggler's Top
Favourite character: Julian Kirrin
Location: Dundee, Scotland
Contact:

Re: Roald Dahl

Post by Fiona1986 »

Very interesting! And published on what would have been his 100th birthday, too!
"It's the ash! It's falling!" yelled Julian, almost startling Dick out of his wits...
"Listen to its terrible groans and creaks!" yelled Julian, almost beside himself with impatience.


World of Blyton Blog

Society Member
User avatar
Courtenay
Posts: 19275
Joined: 07 Feb 2014, 01:22
Favourite book/series: The Adventure Series, Galliano's Circus
Favourite character: Lotta
Location: Both Aussie and British; living in Cheshire

Re: Roald Dahl

Post by Courtenay »

I'm now remembering how, when I was in Year 10 (GCSE equivalent), we were looking specifically at autobiographies in English class and were each required to read one of our choice and pick a chapter from it to read aloud to the class. I chose Boy by Roald Dahl and for my reading to the class, did the episode where young Roald and his siblings play a rather dirty trick on their oldest half-sister's pretentious boyfriend. It's an absolute cracker, but I won't give it away for those who haven't read it... :wink: :mrgreen:
Society Member

It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
User avatar
Machupicchu14
Posts: 2031
Joined: 06 Feb 2016, 15:57
Favourite book/series: The Famous Five/The Naughtiest Girl
Favourite character: George Kirrin/ Elizabeth Allen
Location: Sweden

Re: Roald Dahl

Post by Machupicchu14 »

That article was very interesting Courtenay! :D Boy is a book I simply love!! I had great craic reading it. But, again, it's a beautiful book. I still have to read Flying Solo though. I guess it's as interesting!!

Has any of you done the quiz to find out which Roald Dahl's are you ?
I came out to be Willy Wonka!! :lol:
"All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love."
(все, что я понимаю, я понимаю только потому, что люблю)
Lev Tolstoy


You can call me Machupicchu14 or María Esther

Society Member
User avatar
Courtenay
Posts: 19275
Joined: 07 Feb 2014, 01:22
Favourite book/series: The Adventure Series, Galliano's Circus
Favourite character: Lotta
Location: Both Aussie and British; living in Cheshire

Re: Roald Dahl

Post by Courtenay »

I have to admit I haven't read Going Solo either! :lol: One of the other girls in my class did, and read us a chapter from the start of the book when he was on board ship, with some of the interesting passengers he met — Mr U.N. Savory of the multiple wigs and the lady who never touched any food with her fingers (and had an even greater horror of toes)... :shock: :P I wanted to read it next, but we had so much else to read for English class and I just never got to it. I should, really, some time.
Society Member

It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
User avatar
Billy Farmer
Posts: 334
Joined: 27 May 2016, 13:35

Re: Roald Dahl

Post by Billy Farmer »

Roald Dahl, will be featured on tonight's episode of Countryfile - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07wzzpt" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Society Member
User avatar
Anita Bensoussane
Forum Administrator
Posts: 26775
Joined: 30 Jan 2005, 23:25
Favourite book/series: Adventure series, Six Cousins books, Six Bad Boys
Favourite character: Jack Trent, Fatty and Elizabeth Allen
Location: UK

Re: Roald Dahl

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Thanks, Billy. I watched Countryfile and enjoyed seeing the places in Great Missenden and the surrounding countryside which inspired Roald Dahl.
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


Society Member
User avatar
Daisy
Posts: 16632
Joined: 28 Oct 2006, 22:49
Favourite book/series: Find-Outers, Adventure series.
Location: Stoke-On-Trent, England

Re: Roald Dahl

Post by Daisy »

I saw it too... beautiful country. I'm looking forward to the day when Enid gets similar treatment! Small steps in the right direction though with the latest Hachette decision.
'Tis loving and giving that makes life worth living.

Society Member
User avatar
floragord
Posts: 2322
Joined: 31 Jul 2013, 14:41
Favourite book/series: THE FARAWAY TREE SERIES
Favourite character: Silky
Location: Pembrokeshire "Little England Beyond Wales"

Re: Roald Dahl

Post by floragord »

Lovely tribute on COUNTRYFILE, I always enjoy the show though, and maintain their weekly weather forecast is more accurate than the usual daily ones, it used to be a programme for farmers at one time, broadcast about midday on Sunday.
"Its a magic wood!" said Fanny suddenly.
User avatar
Billy Farmer
Posts: 334
Joined: 27 May 2016, 13:35

Re: Roald Dahl

Post by Billy Farmer »

Yesterday, I read an interesting two page article (about the TV series Tales of the Unexpected), in the latest issue of Let's Talk Magazine, of course, Roald Dahl's, involvement with the series, was detailed, Roald Dahl, introduced the episodes of Tales of the Unexpected, in the early series, of the programme.

http://www.letstalk24.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Roald Dahl, on Wogan, in December 1984 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-oCoPFuK0w" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Society Member
User avatar
Anita Bensoussane
Forum Administrator
Posts: 26775
Joined: 30 Jan 2005, 23:25
Favourite book/series: Adventure series, Six Cousins books, Six Bad Boys
Favourite character: Jack Trent, Fatty and Elizabeth Allen
Location: UK

Re: Roald Dahl

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

There's a long and detailed article on pages 20-21 of The Telegraph today with the title 'How "sensitivity readers" rewrote Roald Dahl'. It shows that Enid Blyton isn't the only popular children's author of yesteryear to have undergone extensive editing. Several other newspapers have written up the findings from The Telegraph, and some of the articles are available to read online.

Apparently, modern Puffin editions of Roald Dahl's books contain a notice stating that "This book was written many years ago, and so we regularly review the language to ensure that it can continue to be enjoyed by all today."

The Telegraph claim to have found "hundreds of changes to Dahl's stories." Some seem bizarre, e.g. in The Witches "chambermaid" has become "cleaner", "You must be mad, woman!" is now "You must be out of your mind!" and "the old hag" has been altered to "the old crow." Looking at those alone (59 edits were found altogether in The Witches, some involving whole chunks of text), I find it depressing that children are no longer encouraged to widen their vocabulary. A word like "chambermaid" may be regarded as old-fashioned but it's more specific than "cleaner". "You must be mad, woman!" sounds more forceful and rhythmic than its replacement, and "old hag" seems more fitting than "old crow" if we're talking about a witch. Updates of this sort affect the historical content and the tone, pulse and flow of a book, as we've seen with Enid Blyton.

Numerous edits have been made to Dahl's other books too, and Matilda is no longer allowed to read Joseph Conrad and Rudyard Kipling - they've been replaced by Jane Austen and John Steinbeck. This is a pity as an author's choices matter, reflecting his/her own interests and influences. In the same book, Miss Trunchbull's "great horsey face" is now simply her "face", so we lose the image that Dahl intended us to see and the writing is made blander.

Any mention of "black" or "white" is forbidden, it seems. A character in Matilda who turned "white" now turns "quite pale", while a description of tractors in Fantastic Mr Fox which said that "the machines were both black" has been cut! Oh, and a comment on the front page of the newspaper ('Sensitivity readers take the gnarl out of Dahl') reports that the BFG can no longer wear a black cloak. Honestly, this all sounds crazy to me ("crazy" and "mad" being among the words that have been removed from the stories)!

I was surprised to read that "The Dahl estate owned the rights to the books until 2021, when Netflix bought them outright...The US streaming service now has overall control over the book publishing, as well as various adaptation projects that are in the works. These are the first new editions since the deal, but the review began before the sale. 'The current review began in 2020, before Dahl was acquired by Netflix,' said a spokesperson for the Roald Dahl Story Company. 'It was led by Puffin and [the] Roald Dahl Story Company together.'" The Telegraph goes on to say that the changes were made by Puffin and the Roald Dahl Story Company in conjunction with Inclusive Minds, an organisation which employs "Inclusion Ambassadors" who work mainly on new texts in the process of being published, but also on older titles that are being reprinted.

Matthew Dennison, who published a biography of Roald Dahl last year, is quoted by The Telegraph as saying that Dahl "was particular about the language he used", deliberately including "some of the interwar slang of his childhood" and overruling a number of proposed changes suggested by American editors. Dennison remarks, "I'm almost certain that he would have recognised that alterations to his novels prompted by the political climate were driven by adults rather than children, and this always inspired derision, if not contempt, in Dahl."

I suspect the prices of secondhand Roald Dahl books are about to rise!
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


Society Member
User avatar
Kate Mary
Posts: 1918
Joined: 20 Apr 2007, 06:25
Favourite book/series: The Treasure Hunters/ Five Find Outers
Favourite character: Barney
Location: Kent

Re: Roald Dahl

Post by Kate Mary »

It's a mad world out there! I saw a short piece about this in my mother-in-law's Daily Mail this morning. What's wrong with the BFG wearing a black coat? How can anyone possibly be offended by that? The answer is of course nobody is offended by it but in the febrile atmosphere of publishing today they can't run the slightest risk.
"I love everything that's old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wines." Oliver Goldsmith

Society Member
User avatar
Anita Bensoussane
Forum Administrator
Posts: 26775
Joined: 30 Jan 2005, 23:25
Favourite book/series: Adventure series, Six Cousins books, Six Bad Boys
Favourite character: Jack Trent, Fatty and Elizabeth Allen
Location: UK

Re: Roald Dahl

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

I'm reminded strongly of Nineteen Eighty-Four - assuming George Orwell hasn't now been censored too! :wink:
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


Society Member
Katharine
Posts: 12284
Joined: 25 Nov 2009, 15:50

Re: Roald Dahl

Post by Katharine »

That's an interesting and mind-boggling piece Anita.

I don't know the context of the book, but personally I would have thought a chambermaid would probably be a better description of a job role than a cleaner. A cleaner suggests someone whose job solely consists of mopping, polishing etc, whereas a chambermaid would probably make beds and undertake a few additional tasks. My job title is a 'Holidays Operation Assistant' which sounds very grand, but it's just a posh way of saying someone who changes sheets, empties bins and scrubs toilets!

With all the awareness about mental health these days, I wouldn't have thought saying that someone was 'out of their mind' was any more acceptable that saying they were mad!

Again, with all the emphasis nowadays on non-offensive/non-judgemental comments, surely calling someone an old crow isn't much better than a hag? Especially as it is describing a (presumably) fictitious character.

I can't understand the choice of Matilda's reading either - I've not heard of either Joseph Conrad or John Steinbeck, so would only be aware of one author in each version.

I suppose the change of 'horsey' face might be because it's not acceptable to describe someone in presumably an unflattering way? But I agree with Anita that the end result is very bland - couldn't they have found a 'better' descriptive term?

I don't understand the removal of the words white and black either, although I haven't read them in context.

I'm not a massive fan of Roald Dahl, but I don't agree that his work should be censored in such a way - surely if there is a note at the start of the book to say they text has been updated, they could have left it alone and put a disclaimer in that some phrases/words reflect the time it was written.
Society Member
Viv of Ginger Pop
Posts: 2902
Joined: 11 Jul 2005, 04:56
Favourite character: LEAST liked - Wilfred (FF 20)
Location: Dorset
Contact:

Re: Roald Dahl

Post by Viv of Ginger Pop »

Anita Bensoussane wrote: 18 Feb 2023, 14:51 I'm reminded strongly of Nineteen Eighty-Four - assuming George Orwell hasn't now been censored too! :wink:
Historian Dr David Starkey thinks that 1984 is highly pertinent for our times, from the three great powers (Anglosphere, Russia, China) to Newspeak. It's on my list (ie on my floor!) of books I must re-read this year.

Here is a tv rant against the changes in Roald Dahl (the bit with Sam Smith about fishing does make itself clear - he's trying to say fisherthem)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv-N34a-nZM
The Ginger Pop Shop closed in Feb 2017
Post Reply