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Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl, known for his ridiculous children’s stories, was born in Wales in

1916, to Norwegian parents. His father died when Dahl was at a young age. He was a

troubled child, and being beaten severely by his headmaster at nine years old made it

worse for him. This experience led to many abusive headmasters in his later books. After

the beating, his mother decided to move him to a prestigious boarding school called

Repton. Dahl was able to survive the rough manner of the boarding school particularly

because he was talented at sports. Repton had many opportunities for Dahl. The one he

was most interested in was one that happened regularly. A representative from Cadbury

Chocolate Company would come in and bring a new sample of the latest flavor of

chocolate for the boys to taste and critique. This opportunity inspired the popular

children’s story Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Dahl’s life events are the pathway

for all of his books, and all of his books can be traced back to an event in his life

(Rockman).

Personal tragedy would always seem to find a way into Dahl’s life. After his only

daughter died of a sudden illness, his son was maimed horribly in a car crash and Dahl’s

wife had a massive stroke that weakened her to the extent where she was helpless for

several months. Dahl had to watch these tragedies firsthand, yet he used these losses and

just kept writing books and screenplays through these times (Encyclopedia of British

Writers). This is how Dahl’s trademark came to be (Wilson).


Dahl served a few years in the British Air Force before becoming a writer

(LitFinder Contemporary Collection). While in the Air Force, he met and befriended the

writer of the James Bond series, Ian Fleming. One of Dahl’s most famous screenplays

was for one of Fleming’s books, You Only Live Twice. He was then inspired to write

screenplays for his own books, the first one being Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.

But before Dahl starting writing popular screenplays and books, he started small by

writing a column about his war escapades for the magazine Colliers (LitFinder

Contemporary Collection). His first book, written for Walt Disney, was largely

unsuccessful. The Gremlins (1943) was its name. Dahl then achieved bestseller status

with his adult book Someone Like You. He wrote one more adult book titled Kiss, Kiss,

and finally moved on to his first children’s book. James and the Giant Peach was

originally written for his own children, but when it got published it was a huge success

(Encyclopaedia Britannica). Dahl was then using his life experiences to make books and

screenplays left and right.

Supplement praised Dahl as "a social satirist and a moralist at work behind the

entertaining fantast.” “A reviewer for the Times of London called one of his books "the

funniest book I have read in years" (Bloom’s Literary Reference Online).

I consider Roald Dahl to be one of the most influential children’s writers of all

time; his skill with screenplays and books will be missed after his death in the year 1990.
Works Cited

Enclyopedia of British Writers. “Roald Dahl.” Bloom’s Literary Reference Online. Facts on File,

2010. Web. 15 Apr. 2010. <http://www.fofweb.com/‌Lit/‌default.asp?ItemID=WE54>.

Encyclopædia Britannica. “Roald Dahl.” Encyclopaedia Britannica Online School Edition.

Encyclopædia Britannica, n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2010. <http://school.eb.com/‌all/‌eb/‌article-

9028532?query=Roald%20Dahl&ct=#citehttp://school.eb.com/‌all/‌eb/‌article-9028532?

query=Roald%20Dahl&ct=#cite>.

LitFinder Contemporary Collection. “Roald Dahl.” LitFinder For Schools. N.p., 2007. Web. 16

Apr. 2010. <http://go.galegroup.com/‌ps/‌retrieve.do?

sgHitCountType=None&sort=RELEVANCE&inPS=true&prodId=LITFS&userGroupNa

me=ranney&tabID=T001&searchId=R1&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&contentSegm

ent=&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=1&contentSet=GALE|

LTF0000016171BI&&docId=GALE|LTF0000016171BI&docType=GALE&role=>.

Rockman, Connie C, ed. Tenth Book of Junior Authors and Illustraions. N.p.: The H. W. Wilson

company, 2008. N. pag. Wilson Biographies. Web. 14 Apr. 2010.

<http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/‌hww/‌results/‌getResults.jhtml?

_DARGS=/‌hww/‌results/‌results_common.jhtml.33>.

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