Biography of roald dahl in English. All Roald Dahl books

24.03.2019

Roald Dahl(in some translations - Roald Dahl; English Roald Dahl; September 13, 1916 - November 23, 1990) - English writer of Norwegian origin, author of novels, fairy tales and short stories, poet and screenwriter. His stories are famous for their unexpected endings, and his children's books for their lack of sentimentality and often dark humor. Winner of numerous awards and prizes in literature.

Biography

Childhood and youth

Roald Dahl was born at Villa Marie on Fairwater Road in Llandaff (Cardiff, Wales, British Empire) on 13 September 1916 to Norwegian parents Harald Dahl and Sophie Magdalena Dahl (née Hesselberg). My father was from Sarpsborg and moved to England in the 1880s. Sophie moved there in 1911 and married Harald the same year. Roald is named after polar explorer Roald Amundsen, national hero Norway. He had three sisters - Astri, Alhild and Elsa. Born in England and speaking English since childhood, Dahl and his sisters spoke Norwegian at home with their parents. At birth, all four were baptized in the Cardiff Norwegian Church, of which their parents were parishioners.

In 1920, when Roald was 3 years old, his older sister, 7-year-old Astri, died of appendicitis, and a few weeks later, while fishing in Antarctica, at the age of 57, the father of the family died of pneumonia. Roald's widowed mother, Sophie, who was carrying Asta at the time, is left alone with four daughters and two sons. Sophie did not return to her relatives in Norway and remained in England, since Harald really wanted his children to be educated in English schools, which he considered the best.

When Roald was seven, his mother sent him to Llandaff Cathedral School, where he spent two years. However, child abuse by the headmaster forces Sophie to transfer the boy to St. Peter's boarding school in Weston-Super-Mare, where he studied until the age of 13. It was the closest private school, which could be reached by ferry across the Bristol Channel. The time spent at this school was difficult for Roald. He was very homesick and wrote to his mother every week, but he never told her about it, being under pressure from school censorship. It was only after his mother's death in 1967 that he learned that she had saved all of his letters by tying stacks of envelopes with green ribbons. All his childhood adventures - bullying of teachers, staff, Roald described in the book "Boy" (1984).

The boy stood out among his peers for his high stature (adult Roald Dahl was 6 feet 6 inches, or 1.98 m), success in cricket and swimming, but not in school. Roald read Kipling, Haggard, Henty, absorbing the heroism, masculinity and love of adventure that later influenced his life and work.

In 1929, when Roald was thirteen, the family moved to Kent. Dahl continued his studies at Repton School (Derbyshire). Repton was even worse than St. Peter's. Hazing flourished here - junior schoolchildren went to the personal slaves of high school students who organized bullying and torture. The fact that the former headmaster, Geoffrey Fisher (later Archbishop of Canterbury), a sadist who beat children with a wooden cooper's mallet, crowned Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey twenty years later (1953), made Dahl doubt the existence of God. The morals that reigned in Repton will be described by Dahl in the story " Foxley the Horse».

Of course, it wasn't all bad. Repton students received from time to time a whole box of chocolates from the Cadbury company for testing, and Roald even got excited about the idea of ​​​​working in the chocolate company's invention department. Memories of chocolate led him to create famous book "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".

After graduating from college (1934), the future writer, as part of a group of schoolchildren, went to explore Newfoundland as a photographer. Photography is another serious hobby of Dahl in subsequent years. Dahl's university education was not seduced, he chose a career business man. After a two-year study in England at the oil company Shell, he received an offer to go to Egypt, but refused. In 1936, as an employee of Shell, Dahl went where he wanted - to East Africa, to Tanganyika (now Tanzania).

As Dahl writes "Going Solo" - "Flying alone"), East Africa gave him a lot of adventures. A poisonous snake (green or black mamba, whose bite is deadly) could crawl into the house, and lions attacked people every now and then. It was in Africa that Dahl received his first fee by publishing a story in a local newspaper about how a lion attacked a woman.

War time

In 1939, the Second World War began, all the British were registered and temporarily turned into soldiers of Britain, supervising immigrants from Germany. The outbreak of World War II caught Dahl in Dar es Salaam. From there, after traveling six hundred miles in an old Ford, he made his way to Nairobi, Kenya, and volunteered for the British Air Force. Dahl began to learn how to fly military aircraft. After eight weeks of basic training and six months of flight briefing, the RAF considered Dahl ready for battle. Unfortunately, Dahl's first flight in 1940 into the war zone resulted in a crash in the Libyan desert. He flew his Gladiator plane to join 80 Squadron in the Western Desert (story "Pushover"). But the coordinates given to him were erroneous, and Dahl made an emergency landing, running out of fuel. The biplane's undercarriage hit a boulder and the Gladiator's nose hit the sand. Dahl was able to get out of the burning plane, but his skull was pierced, he was blind for many days. He was rescued by three brave men from the Suffolk Regiment. After lying for many months in various army hospitals, he returned to service only in the spring of 1941. Dahl flew in the skies of Greece, where he shot down two German bombers, in Egypt, in Palestine. Dahl made several sorties on other days, but more and more often he was tormented by headaches. Of the twenty people who were trained with Dahl, seventeen were later killed, and Roald could be among them, but fate saved him - not for the military, but for literary exploits.

Soon, Dahl was declared unfit to continue flying service due to a wound received in Libya. He was sent home to England, where in 1942 he was assigned to depart for Washington as assistant military attache at the British Embassy. It was there that his writing career began. The famous novelist S. S. Forester prompted him to write, suggesting that Dahl try to write about his adventures in the air and on the ground. Several stories by the aspiring writer were published first in the Saturday Evening Post, and then in Harper's Magazine, Ladies' Home Journal, Town and Country, and others.

Among Dahl's duties was anti-fascist propaganda - in order to interest American allies in helping the British. Roald writes his story about an "unknown pilot" who crashed ( "Shot down over Libya", 1942), with the editors convincing him that the pilot must be shot down by enemy fire. another story ( "Gremlin Lore") talked about gremlins, mythical creatures that damage RAF aircraft. Disney liked this story, and he even wanted to make a movie, but only a book for children appeared. Walt Disney: The Gremlins (A Royal Air Force Story by Flight Lieutenant Roald Dahl) Dahl's first book. About pilots and Dahl's first book for adults ("Over to You" - "Going to the reception", 1945). Noel Coward wrote about her in his diary that she "stirred up the deepest feelings that owned me during the war and which I was very afraid of losing." The war also inspired Roald Dahl to write his autobiographical book, Flying alone».

post-war period

In 1945 Dahl returned to England to live with his mother. Living a rustic life next to Sophie, he writes a novel about a possible nuclear war ( "Sometime Never", 1948). The novel failed, but it was the first book on the nuclear threat published in the US since Hiroshima. This is Dahl's only book that has never been reprinted.

In 1953, the publisher Alfred Knopf became interested in Dahl's stories and published a book of his short stories ("Someone Like You" - a series of short stories "Claude's Dog" and etc.). Critics drew attention to Dahl, who unanimously noted the “demonic” vision of the world, akin to what is characteristic of the works of the classic English Literature Saki (Hector Hugh Munro, 1870-1916), master of mystification and absurdity. The New York Times saw Dahl as a writer with "a grotesque imagination, the ability to see an anecdotal situation turn out in the most unexpected ways, a cruel sense of humor, with which it is better to inflict wounds, and a precisely calculated, economical style." Dahl gets prestigious award Edgar Poe (1954).

Since the late 1950s, Dahl continued his attempts at the start of his creative career to establish himself as a screenwriter. He wrote scripts for the films You Only Live Twice (1967) with Sean Connery as James Bond (based on the novel by Ian Fleming, a great friend of Dahl) and Chitty-chitty-ban-ban (" Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, 1968). In total, about twenty television and feature films were shot based on scripts or works by Dahl (among the directors are Alfred Hitchcock and Quentin Tarantino).

With the publication in 1959 of another collection of short stories "Kiss Kiss" ("Kiss") Dahl has firmly established a reputation as a master of black humor - the word "master" in this definition plays, of course, a decisive role, because, first of all, he is a wonderful storyteller. Dahl receives the prestigious Poe Prize for the second time (1959). Dahl's stories began to appear in translations into Italian, Dutch, French, German languages. Collections of his short stories appear in countless editions. In 1961, Dahl participated in the creation of the television series "Way Out" (14 episodes).

Family

In the early 1950s, Dahl moved to New York and began to publish periodically in The New Yorker and Collier, he rotates among celebrities. At a party in 1951, he meets rising Hollywood star Patricia Neal (who won an Oscar in 1964), whom he marries in 1953 (they subsequently had five children - Olivia, Tessa, Theo, Ophelia and Lucy).

When four-month-old Theo's stroller was hit by a New York taxi in December 1960, the baby developed hydrocephalus, which led his father to become involved in the development of the WDT valve, a device that relieves painful conditions.

In November 1962, daughter Olivia died of measles encephalitis, after which Roald became a supporter of immunization and dedicated his book to the deceased daughter. (1982).

In 1965, Patricia's wife suffered a cerebral aneurysm while pregnant with their fifth child, Lucy. loving husband took control of his wife's rehabilitation, so that the actress was able not only to walk and talk again, but also revived her career.

However, in 1983, Roald and Patricia divorced (B. Farrell wrote the book “Pat and Roald” about the difficult life together of the spouses, which served as the basis for the film “The Story of Patricia Neal”), and later that year Dahl married Felicity D'Abro, with which he lived to the end of his life.

The father of the family, Roald Dahl, writes a lot for children. Book "James and the Giant Peach"(1961) Dahl was not going to publish, but his family persuaded him to take the manuscript to the editor. After the huge success of this book, Dahl continued to write children's books - these are bestsellers "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"(1964, numerous awards, including Millennium-2000), "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator" (1972), "Danny is the Champion of the World" (1975), "BFG, or the big and kind giant"(1982) and other works awarded with many literary prizes. His mystical stories seventies were marked by the third Edgar Poe award (1980).

Last years

In the last years of his life, two autobiographical novel - "Boy. Childhood Stories »(1984) and "Flying Alone" (1986).

Roald Dahl died on November 23, 1990 at the age of 74 in Oxford (England), and was buried in the cemetery of the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul according to the Viking rite with his favorite items - billiard cues, a bottle of Burgundy, chocolates, pencils.

Charity

  • Roald Dahl helped seriously ill children. Dahl Wonderful Children's Charitable Foundation continues its work today, helping thousands of children with neurological and hematological diseases. The Foundation provides all kinds of support to seriously ill children, providing nurses and necessary medical equipment, and also makes sure that children in the UK grow up cheerful and happy. In addition, the fund finances important Scientific research to help children around the world cope with terrible diseases. A tenth of all fees for all Dahl's books that have been published, are being published and will be published, goes to replenish the fund.
  • The writer lived and worked near London, in the village of Buckinghamshire. Now there are Roald Dahl Museum and History Center designed to instill a love of reading and writing. The heart of the museum is a unique archive of Dahl's letters and manuscripts. Two galleries tell about the life of the writer. In addition, the museum houses an interactive Story Center.

Roald Dahl (in some translations - Roald Dahl; English Roald Dahl; September 13, 1916 - November 23, 1990) - English writer of Norwegian origin, author of novels, fairy tales and short stories, poet and screenwriter. His stories are famous for their unexpected endings, and his children's books for their lack of sentimentality and often very dark humor. Winner of numerous awards and prizes in literature.

Childhood and youth

Roald Dahl was born at Villa Marie on Fairwater Road in Llandaff (Cardiff, Wales, British Empire) on 13 September 1916 to Norwegian parents Harald Dahl and Sophie Magdalena Dahl (née Hesselberg). My father was from Sarpsborg and moved to England in the 1880s. Sophie moved there in 1911 and married Harald the same year. Roald is named after polar explorer Roald Amundsen, the national hero of Norway. He had three sisters - Astri, Alhild and Elsa. Born in England and speaking English since childhood, Dahl and his sisters spoke Norwegian at home with their parents. At birth, all four were baptized in the Cardiff Norwegian Church, of which their parents were parishioners.

In 1920, when Roald was 3 years old, his older sister, 7-year-old Astri, died of appendicitis, and a few weeks later, while fishing in Antarctica, at the age of 57, the father of the family died of pneumonia. Roald's widowed mother, Sophie, who was carrying Asta at the time, is left alone with four daughters and two sons. Sophie did not return to her relatives in Norway and remained in England, since Harald really wanted his children to be educated in English schools, which he considered the best.

When Roald was seven, his mother sent him to Llandaff Cathedral School, where he spent two years. However, child abuse by the headmaster forces Sophie to transfer the boy to St. Peter's boarding school in Weston-Super-Mare. where he studied until the age of 13. It was the closest private school you could get to, by ferry across the Bristol Canal. The time spent at this school was difficult for Roald. He was very homesick and wrote to his mother every week, but he never told her about his misfortune, being under pressure from school censorship. It was only after his mother's death in 1967 that he learned that she had saved all of his letters by tying stacks of envelopes with green ribbons. All his childhood adventures - bullying of teachers, staff, Roald described in the book "Boy" (1984).

The boy stood out among his peers for his high stature (adult Roald Dahl was 6 feet 6 inches or 1.98 m), success in cricket and swimming, but not in school. Roald read Kipling, Haggard, Henty, absorbing the heroism, masculinity and love of adventure that later influenced his life and work.

In 1929, when Roald was thirteen, the family moved to Kent. Dahl continued his studies at Repton School (Derbyshire). Repton was even worse than St. Peter's. Hazing flourished here - junior schoolchildren went to the personal slaves of high school students who organized bullying and torture. The fact that former headmaster Geoffrey Fisher (later Archbishop of Canterbury), a sadist who beat children with a wooden cooper's mallet, crowned Elizabeth II twenty years later in Westminster Abbey (1953), made Dahl doubt the existence of God. The morals that prevailed in Repton will be described by Dahl in the story "Foxley the Horse".

Of course, it wasn't all bad. Repton students received from time to time a whole box of chocolates from the Cadbury company for testing, and Roald even got excited about the idea of ​​​​working in the chocolate company's invention department. Memories of chocolate led him to create the famous book "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".

After graduating from college (1934), the future writer, as part of a group of schoolchildren, went to explore Newfoundland as a photographer. Photography is another serious hobby of Dahl in subsequent years. Dahl's university education did not seduce him; he chose the career of a businessman. After a two-year study in England at the oil company Shell, he received an offer to go to Egypt, but refused. In 1936, as an employee of Shell, Dahl went where he wanted - to East Africa, to Tanganyika (now Tanzania).

According to Dahl ("Going Solo" - "Flying alone"), East Africa gave him a lot of adventure. A poisonous snake (green or black mamba, whose bite is deadly) could crawl into the house, and lions attacked people every now and then. It was in Africa that Dahl received his first fee by publishing a story in a local newspaper about how a lion attacked a woman.

War time

In 1939, the Second World War began, all the British were registered and temporarily turned into soldiers of Britain, supervising immigrants from Germany. The outbreak of World War II caught Dahl in Dar es Salaam. From there, after driving six hundred miles in an old Ford, he made his way to Nairobi, Kenya, and volunteered for the British Air Force. Dahl learns to fly military aircraft. After eight weeks of basic training and six months of flight briefing, the RAF considered Dahl ready for battle. Unfortunately, Dahl's first flight in 1940 into a war zone resulted in a crash in the Libyan Desert. He flew his Gladiator plane to join 80 Squadron in the Western Desert ("Puffin"). But the coordinates given to him were erroneous, and Dahl made an emergency landing, running out of fuel. The biplane's undercarriage hit a boulder and the Gladiator's nose hit the sand. Dahl was able to get out of the burning plane, but his skull was pierced, he was blind for many days. He was rescued by three brave men from the Suffolk Regiment. After lying for many months in various army hospitals, he returned to service only in the spring of 1941. Dahl flew in the skies of Greece, where he shot down two German bombers, in Egypt, in Palestine. Dahl made several sorties on other days, but more and more often he was tormented by headaches. Of the twenty people who studied with Dahl, seventeen were later killed, and Roald could be among them, but fate saved him - not for the military, but for literary exploits.

Soon, Dahl was declared unfit to continue flying service due to a wound received in Libya. He was sent home to England, where in 1942 he was assigned to depart for Washington as an assistant military attaché at the British Embassy. It was there that his writing career began. The famous novelist S. S. Forester prompted him to write, suggesting that Dahl try to write about his adventures in the air and on the ground. Several stories by the aspiring writer were published first in the Saturday Evening Post, and then in Harper's Magazine, Ladies' Home Journal, Town and Country, and others.

Among Dahl's duties was also anti-fascist propaganda - in order to interest American allies in helping the British. Roald writes his story about an "unknown pilot" who crashed (Shot Down Over Libya, 1942), with the editors convincing him that the pilot must be shot down by enemy gunfire. Another story ("Gremlin Lore") was about gremlins, mythical creatures that may have been sabotaging RAF aircraft. Disney liked this story, and he even wanted to make a film, but only a book for children "Walt Disney: The Gremlins (A Royal Air Force Story by Flight Lieutenant Roald Dahl)" appeared - Dahl's first book. About pilots and Dahl's first book for adults ("Over to You" - "I'm going to the reception", 1945). Noël Coward wrote about her in his diary that she "stirred up the deepest feelings that owned me during the war and which I was very afraid of losing." The war also inspired Roald Dahl to write his autobiographical book Flying Alone.

post-war period

In 1945 Dahl returned to England to live with his mother. Living a rustic life next to Sophie, he writes a novel about a possible nuclear war (Sometime Never, 1948). The novel failed, but it was the first book on the nuclear threat published in the US since Hiroshima. This is Dahl's only book that has never been reprinted. He's better at stories.

In 1953, the publisher Alfred Knopf became interested in Dahl's stories and published a book of his short stories ("Someone Like You" - a cycle of stories "Claude's Dog", etc.). Critics drew attention to Dahl, who unanimously noted the “demonic” vision of the world, akin to what is characteristic of the works of the classic of English literature Saki (Hector Hugh Munro, 1870-1916), a master of mystification and absurdity. The New York Times saw Dahl as a writer with "a grotesque imagination, the ability to see an anecdotal situation turn out in the most unexpected ways, a cruel sense of humor, with which it is better to inflict wounds, and a precisely calculated, economical style." Dahl receives the prestigious E. Poe Award, America's Best Mystery Author (1954).

Since the late 1950s, Dahl continued his attempts at the start of his creative career to establish himself as a screenwriter. He wrote the scripts for the films “You Only Live Twice” (“You Only Live Twice”, 1967) with Sean Connery as James Bond (based on the novel by Ian Fleming, Dahl’s great friend) and “Chitty Chitty Ben Ben” (“ Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, 1968). In total, about twenty television and full-length films were shot based on scripts or works by Dahl (among the directors are A. Hitchcock and K. Tarantino).

With the publication in 1959 of the next collection of short stories "Kiss Kiss" ("The Kiss"), Dahl firmly established the reputation of a master of black humor - the word "master" in this definition plays a decisive role, because first of all he is a wonderful storyteller. Dahl receives the prestigious E. Poe Prize for the second time (1959). Dahl's stories began to appear in translations into Italian, Dutch, French, and German. Collections of his short stories appear in countless editions. Retelling the content of these stories is a hopeless task, because these are not just plots on which dialogues and various kinds of artistic descriptions. They are distinguished by a manner inherent only to Dahl; retelling will inevitably lose spirit and style, irony and subtle humor felt in every phrase. In 1961, Dahl participated in the creation of the television series "Way Out" (14 episodes).

Family

In the early 1950s, Dahl moved to New York and began to publish periodically in The New Yorker and Collier, he rotates among celebrities. At a party in 1951, he meets rising Hollywood star Patricia Neal (who won an Oscar in 1964), whom he married in 1953 (they subsequently had five children - Olivia, Tessa, Theo, Ophelia and Lucy).

When four-month-old Theo's stroller was hit by a New York taxi in December 1960, the baby developed hydrocephalus, which led his father to become involved in the development of the WDT valve, a device that relieves painful conditions.

In November 1962, daughter Olivia died of measles encephalitis, after which Roald became a supporter of immunization and dedicated his book BFG, or the big and kind giant (1982) to the deceased daughter.

In 1965, Patricia's wife suffered a cerebral aneurysm while pregnant with their fifth child, Lucy. A loving husband took control of his wife's rehabilitation, so that the actress was able not only to walk and talk again, but also revived her career.

However, in 1983, Roald and Patricia divorced (B. Farrell wrote the book “Pat and Roald” about the difficult life together of the spouses, which served as the basis for the film “The Story of Patricia Neal”), and later that year Dahl married Felicity D'Abro, with which he lived to the end of his life.

The father of the family, Roald Dahl, writes a lot for children. Dahl did not intend to publish James and the Giant Peach (1961), but his family persuaded him to take the manuscript to the editor. After the huge success of this book, Dahl continued to write children's books - these are the bestsellers "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (1964, numerous awards, including the Millennium-2000), "Charlie and the huge glass elevator" (1972), "Danny the Champion of the World" (1975), "BFG, or the big and kind giant" (1982) and other works that were awarded many literary prizes. His Seventies Mystery Stories won America's Third Best Writer of the Genre (1980).

Last years

In the last years of his life, two autobiographical novels were published from Dahl's pen - “Boy. Tales of Childhood (1984) and Flying Alone (1986).

Roald Dahl died on November 23, 1990 at the age of 74 in Oxford (England), and was buried in the cemetery of the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul according to the Viking rite with his favorite items - billiard cues, a bottle of Burgundy, chocolates, pencils.

Charity

Roald Dahl helped seriously ill children. Dahl's wonderful children's charity fund continues its work today, helping thousands of children with neurological and hematological diseases. The Foundation provides all kinds of support to seriously ill children, providing nurses and necessary medical equipment, and also makes sure that children in the UK grow up cheerful and happy. In addition, the foundation funds important scientific research to help children around the world cope with terrible diseases. A tenth of all fees for all Dahl's books that have been published, are being published and will be published, goes to replenish the fund.
The writer lived and worked near London, in the village of Buckinghamshire. it now houses the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Center, designed to instill a love of reading and writing. The heart of the museum is a unique archive of Dahl's letters and manuscripts. Two galleries tell fascinating stories about the life of the writer. In addition, the museum houses an interactive Story Center that awakens the imagination.

Books

Cycles of works

Claud, Claud's Dog / Claud, Claud's Dog

  • Pied Piper / The Ratcatcher (1953)
  • Rummins / Rummins (Rummins; Haystack) (1953)
  • Mr Hoddy Hoddy (1953)
  • Mr. Fizi / Mr. Feasey (Dog Race // Jackie, Claude and Mr. Fisi; Mr. Fisi) (1953)
  • The secret of the universe / Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life (Sweet secret of life) (1974)
  • Chippendale's Fourth Chest of Drawers / Parson's Pleasure (The Clergyman's Joy; The Pastor's Walks; As You Please, Pastor!; The Pastor's Joy; The Pastor's Passion) (1958)
  • The Champion of the World (Sitting Pretty // Champion; Poacher Champion) (1959)

Charlie / Charlie

  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory / Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Golden Ticket, or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) (1964)
  • Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (1972)

Uncle Oswald

  • Night Guest / The Visitor (Stop in the desert; Guest) (1965)
  • Perfume / Bitch ("Bitch") (1974)
  • My Uncle Oswald / My Uncle Oswald (1979)

Novels

  • 1948 Some Time Never: A Fable for Supermen
  • 1964 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory / Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Golden Ticket, or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)
  • 1972 Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator; Charlie and the Great Glass Funicular)
  • 1975 Danny - Champion of the World / Danny the Champion of the World - the story of a boy Danny, who lives with his father. The son admires his parent, but one day he learns the truth about him - it turns out that his father is a poacher.
  • 1978 Huge crocodile / The Enormous Crocodile
  • 1979 My Uncle Oswald / My Uncle Oswald
  • 1980 Family Tweet / The Twits - Mr. and Mrs. Tweet hate everyone and everything, including their trained monkeys. This cannot go on any longer - everyone decided, and above all, the monkeys themselves.
  • 1981 Treatment of George Marvelous / George's Marvelous Medicine - a novel about little boy named George, who comes up with a special medicine to cure his grandmother of irritability. With this tool start amazing Adventures with people and animals.
  • 1982 BFG, or the big and kind giant / The BFG - the story of the only kind giant from the Land of Giants, who brings children pleasant dreams. Together with the beautiful Sophie, he comes up with a plan to rid the world of evil giants.
  • 1983 Witches / The Witches - a story about how dangerous witches are for children and how to learn to recognize them and deal with them.
  • 1984 Boy. Tales of Childhood / Boy (Boy: Tales of Childhood)
  • 1985 The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me
  • 1986 Flying alone / Going Solo
  • 1988 Matilda / Matilda - the story of an exceptional girl. Matilda loves to read and eventually reveals in herself supernatural abilities, with which he decides to punish not very smart adults.
  • 1990 Esio Trot
  • 1991 The Minpins
  • 1991 The Vicar of Nibbleswicke
  • 1993 My Year

Tale

  • 1961 James and the Giant Peach (James and the giant peach; James and the Miracle Peach) - an entertaining story of a boy who finds himself inside a giant magic peach, where he meets the local insects.
  • 1965 Night guest / The Visitor (Stop in the desert; Guest)
  • 1966 Magic finger / The Magic Finger
  • 1970 Amazing Mr. Fox / Fantastic Mr. Fox (Amazing Mr. Fox; Awesome Mr. Fox; Fantastic Mr. Fox) - a story about how difficult it is to be a neighbor of the "Fantastic" fox and his cunning family. Furious farmers, tired of the fox's constant attacks on their chicken coops, are preparing to destroy their enemy.

stories

Main article: Roald Dahl stories

  • 1942 Shot Down Over Libya
  • 1943 The Gremlins (A Royal Air Force Story)
  • 1943 The Sword
  • 1944 Katina / Katina
  • 1945 Death of an Old Old Man (Death of an Old Old Man)
  • 1945 Madame Rosette / Madame Rosette (Madame Rosette)
  • 1945 Smoked Cheese
  • 1946 A trifling matter / A Peace of Cake (A trifling matter. My first story; Like clockwork)
  • 1946 African history / An African Story (African's story; From African stories)
  • 1946 Beware, angry dog! / Beware of the Dog
  • 1946 To be near / Only This (Only this; Dream - and nothing else)
  • 1946 Someone like you / Someone Like You (Who hurts)
  • 1946 They will never grow up / They Shall Not Grow Old (They will not grow old)
  • 1946 Yesterday was Beautiful (Yesterday was a wonderful day)
  • 1948 Pari / Man From the South (Man from the South)
  • 1948 Desire / The Wish (Dreamer; Make a Wish)
  • 1949 The Sound Machine / The Sound Machine (Sound of a tree; Sounds that we do not hear; Ultrasonic machine; Scream of a tree; Sound of a tree)
  • 1951 Taster / Taste (Gourmet; Tasting; Taste; Pari)
  • 1952 Desperate jump / Dip in the Pool (Ends in the water; All-in; Jump in depth)
  • 1952 Skin / Skin
  • 1953 Edward the Conqueror (Victory; Edward the Conqueror)
  • 1953 Galloping Foxley (Foxley Horse; Foxley Horse)
  • 1953 Lamb to the Slaughter / Lamb to the Slaughter (Slaughter; Mysterious Murder; The Murder of Patrick Maloney; Lamb for Dinner; Young Lamb's Leg; Lamb's Leg; Lamb's Leg)
  • 1953 Mr. Fizi / Mr. Feasey (Dog Race // Jackie, Claude and Mr. Fisi; Mr. Fisi)
  • 1953 Mr. Hoddy / Mr. Hoddy
  • 1953 My beloved, my dove / My Lady Love, My Dove
  • 1953 Neck / Neck
  • 1953 Nunc Dimittis / Nunc Dimittis (The Devious Bachelor; A Connoisseur's Revenge // Portrait; Absolution)
  • 1953 Poison / Poison (Snake)
  • 1953 Rummins / Rummins (Rummins; Haystack)
  • 1953 Automatic writer / The Great Automatic Grammatisator (Wonderful grammarizer; Wonderful automatic grammarizer; Bestseller machine; Literary luminary; Revenge on worst enemies)
  • 1953 Pied Piper / The Ratcatcher
  • 1953 Soldier / The Soldier
  • 1954 Road to Paradise / The Way Up to Heaven (Going Up // Road to Heaven; Send a Fitter; Way to Heaven)
  • 1958 Chippendale's fourth chest of drawers / Parson's Pleasure (Joy of the clergyman; Walks of the pastor; As you please, pastor!; Joy ​​of the pastor; Passion of the pastor)
  • 1959 Birth of a catastrophe / Genesis and Catastrophe
  • 1959 George the Wretched / Georgy Porgy
  • 1959 Mrs. Bixby and the colonel's coat / Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat (Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Gift; Mrs. Bixby)
  • 1959 Pig / Pig (Pigs)
  • 1959 Royal Jelly / Royal Jelly (Healing potion; Tasty; royal jelly)
  • 1959 Spotty Powder
  • 1959 The Champion of the World (Sitting Pretty // Champion; Poacher Champion)
  • 1959 Hostess / The Landlady (Mistress of the house; Hostess; Room for rent; Family boarding house; Family boarding house)
  • 1959 William and Mary / William and Mary (William and Mary)
  • 1966 The Last Act / The Last Act (Last act)
  • 1967 Verdict / ...
  • 1974 The secret of the universe / Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life (Sweet mystery of life)
  • 1974 Perfume / Bitch ("Bitch")
  • 1974 The Great Exchange / The Great Switcheroo (Deal; Grand Exchange; Exchange; You to me, I to you; Great deal)
  • 1974 The Upsidedown Mice (reworked story "Smoked Cheese")
  • 1977 The Boy Who Talked with Animals
  • 1977 The Hitch-Hiker
  • 1977 The Mildenhall Treasure
  • 1977 The Swan
  • 1977 The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
  • 1978 Bookseller / The Bookseller
  • 1980 Quiet corner / ...
  • 1980 Mr Botibol / Mr. Botibol (On the waves of dreams)
  • 1980 Butler / The Butler
  • 1980 Man with an umbrella / The Umbrella Man (Umbrella)
  • 1980 And I'll Repay Incorporated / Vengeance Is Mine Inc. (Corporation "I az vozdam")
  • 1986 Princess Mammalia
  • 1986 How I survived / Survival (chapter from the novel Flying Alone)
  • 1986 The Great Mouse Plot (excerpt from The Boy)
  • 1986 The princess and the Poacher
  • 1988 Surgeon / The Surgeon
  • 1991 Memories with Food at Gipsy House (feat. Felicity Dahl)

Documentaries

  • 1977 Unexpected luck. How I Became a Writer / Lucky Break
  • 1996 autobiography

Poetry

  • 1961 Poems from James and the Giant Peach
  • 1982 Revolting Rhymes (poems)
  • 1983 Dirty Beasts (poems)
  • 1989 Rhyme Stew (poems)
  • 2005 Songs and Verse (poems)
  • 2005 Vile Verses (poems)

Plays

  • 1955 The Honeys

Screenplays

  • 1967 You only live twice / You Only Live Twice
  • 1968 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
  • 1971 Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
  • 1986 James and the Giant Peach (sc)

Articles

  • 1983 Preface / Introduction
  • 1997 The Chocolate Revolution

Collections

  • 1946 I turn to the reception / Over to You: 10 Stories of Flyers and Flying
  • 1953 Someone like you / Someone Like You (Taster; Who hurts)
  • 1959 Hostess / Kiss Kiss (Kiss)
  • 1968 Selected Stories
  • 1969 Twenty-Nine Kisses from Roald Dahl
  • 1974 Night Guest / Switch Bitch (Bitch)
  • 1977 Ah, this sweet mystery of life! / Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life
  • 1977 The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More
  • 1978 The Best of Roald Dahl
  • 1979 Totally unexpected stories / Tales of the Unexpected [Volume 1]
  • 1980 A Roald Dahl Selection: Nine Short Stories
  • 1980 One more incredible stories/ More Tales of the Unexpected [vol. 2]
  • 1984 The Best of Roald Dahl
  • 1986 Two Fables
  • 1987 New Tales of the Unexpected

Anthologies

  • 1983 Ghost Stories / Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories
  • The anthology of Tales Of The Unexpected, which formed the basis of the British television series of the same name (1979-1988), included works by both Dahl himself and other contemporary British writers.

Other works

  • 1959 Mrs. Mulligan
  • 1964 In the Ruins
  • 1991 Roald Dahl's Guide to Railway Safety
  • 1991 The Dahl Diary
  • 1994 Roald Dahl's Revolting Recipes
  • 1995 Roald Dahl on Tape [audio book]
  • 1996 Roald Dahl's Cookbook
  • 2001 Even More Revolting Recipes
  • 2006 The Dahlmanac

Roald Dahl- English writer of Norwegian origin, poet and screenwriter.

Born in Cardiff September 13, 1916. His parents were Norwegian, Roald himself is named after Roald Amundsen, the national hero of Norway at the time.

In 1920, at the age of 3, he lost his older sister and then his father within a few weeks. After that, his mother decided to move to England.
When Roald was seven, his mother sent him to Llandaff Cathedral School, where he spent two years. However, child abuse by the headmaster forces Sophie to transfer the boy to St. Peter's boarding school in Weston-Super-Mare, where he studied until the age of 13.

In 1929, when Roald was thirteen, the family moved to Kent. Dahl continued his studies at Repton School (Derbyshire). Repton was even worse than St. Peter's. The manners and customs that reigned in Repton will be described by Dahl in the story “ Foxley the Horse».

Immediately after graduating from the boarding school, Roald took part in an expedition for arctic circle, on the island of Svalbard.

He decided not to go to university and in 1933 got a job at Shell. At the age of twenty, he left as an employee of Shell - to East Africa, to Tanganyika (now Tanzania).

During World War II, he enlisted as a fighter pilot in Nairobi, Kenya. Fought with fascist aces in the skies over Libya, Syria, Greece. Roald ended the war as a colonel.

During the war years, Dahl published his first story, Gremlins (1943). Based on this story, the sensational film of the same name (1984) was subsequently staged.
After the war, Dahl devoted himself entirely to creativity: he wrote stories, novels, plays, both for adults and for children.

In the early 1950s, Dahl moved to New York and began to publish periodically in The New Yorker and Collier, he rotates among celebrities. At a party in 1951, he meets rising Hollywood star Patricia Neal, whom he marries in 1953 (they had five children - Olivia, Tessa, Theo, Ophelia and Lucy).

However, in 1983, Roald and Patricia divorced, and later that year Dahl married Felicity D'Abro, with whom he lived for the rest of his life.

James and the Giant Peach (1961) was written by Roald Dahl for his children and did not intend to publish it until his family persuaded him to take the manuscript to the editor. After the huge success of this book, Dahl continued to write children's books (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda).

Roald Dahl also wrote two autobiographical books, Boy, about his early years, and Going solo, about his work in Africa and World War II.

Roald Dahl (Roald Dahl), one of Britain's most famous authors, was born in Llandaff, South Wales, to a Norwegian family. His father, Harald Dahl, immigrated with his wife and two children to Britain at the turn of the century. Shortly after the death of his first wife, Harald returned to Norway and married Sophie Magdalena Hesselberg in the hope that his new wife would help him raise his children.
On September 13, 1916, Roald was born, named after the famous Norwegian traveler Amundsen. Unfortunately, in 1920, Roald Astri's elder sister died of appendicitis, and a few months later Harald Dahl also died of pneumonia, dreaming that his children would be educated in the best English schools in the world. Widowed Sophie, who was carrying Asta at the time, is left alone with four daughters and two sons. A less determined woman would have packed up and returned home to Norway, but Sophie decided to stay in Wales and fulfill Harald's wish. To begin with, she sends the children, one by one, to primary school for the kids, at Elmtree House in Llandaff.
When Roald turned seven, his mother decides that it's time for him to study at Llandaff Cathedral School, where he spent two years. However, child abuse by the principal forces Sophie to transfer the boy to St. Peter's boarding school in Weston-super-Mare, where he studied and was homesick until the age of 13. All his childhood adventures - bullying of teachers, staff, Roald described in the book "Boy". Didn't school years set Roald up for a series of "horror" stories? The boy stood out among his peers with a height of under two meters, success in cricket and swimming, but not in school. Roald is read by Kipling, Haggard, Henty, absorbing the heroism and masculinity that later influenced his life and work.
By the time Roald was thirteen the family had moved to Kent in England and he was soon sent in 1929 to Repton Public School, Derbyshire. Repton was even worse than St. Peter's. Hazing flourished here - junior schoolchildren went to the personal slaves of high school students who staged bullying and torture. The fact that former headmaster Geoffrey Fisher (later Archbishop of Canterbury), a sadist who beat children with a wooden cooper's mallet, crowned Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey twenty years later made Dahl question the existence of God. The morals that prevailed in Repton will be described by Dahl in the story "Foxley the Horse".
Of course, it wasn't all bad. Repton students received from time to time a whole box of chocolates from the Cadbury company for testing, and Roald even got excited about the idea of ​​​​working in the chocolate company's invention department. Memories of chocolate led him to create the famous book "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".
After graduating from college (1934), the future writer, as part of a group of schoolchildren, went to explore Newfoundland as a photographer. Photography is another serious passion for Dahl in subsequent years.
Dahl's university education did not seduce him; he chose the career of a businessman. After a two-year study in England at the oil company Shell, he received an offer to go to Egypt, but refused. In 1936, as an employee of Shell, Dahl went where he wanted - to East Africa, to Tanganyika (now Tanzania).
Roald Dahl According to Dahl (“Going Solo”), East Africa gave him a lot of adventure. A poisonous snake (green or black mamba, whose bite is deadly) could crawl into the house, and lions attacked people every now and then. It was in Africa that Dahl received his first fee by publishing a story in a local newspaper about how a lion attacked a woman.
In 1939, the Second World War began, all the British were registered and temporarily turned into soldiers of Britain, supervising immigrants from Germany. Dahl soon joined the RAF (Royal Air Force), learning to fly military aircraft. After eight weeks of basic training and six months of flight briefing, the RAF considered Dahl ready for battle. Unfortunately, Dahl's first flight in 1940 into a war zone resulted in a crash in the Libyan Desert. He flew his Gladiator plane to join 80 Squadron in the Western Desert ("Puffin"). But the coordinates given to him were erroneous, and Dahl made an emergency landing, running out of fuel. The biplane's undercarriage hit a boulder and the Gladiator's nose hit the sand. Dahl was able to get out of the burning plane, but his skull was pierced, he was blind for many days. He was rescued by three brave men from the Suffolk Regiment. After lying for many months in various army hospitals, he returned to service only in the spring of 1941. Dahl flew in the skies of Greece, where he shot down two German bombers, in Egypt, in Palestine. Dahl made several sorties on other days, but more and more often he was tormented by headaches. Of the twenty people who were trained with Dahl, seventeen were later killed, and Roald could be among them, but fate saved him - not for the military, but for literary exploits.
Soon, Dahl was declared unfit to continue flying service due to a wound received in Libya. He was sent home to England, where in 1942 he was assigned to depart for Washington as assistant military attache at the British Embassy. It was there that his writing career began. He was prompted to write by the famous novelist S.S. Forester, who suggested that Dahl try to write about his adventures in the air and on the ground. Several stories by the novice writer were published first in the Saturday Evening Post, and then in Harper's Magazine, Ladies' Home Journal, Town and Country, and others.
Among Dahl's duties was anti-fascist propaganda - in order to interest American allies in helping the British. Roald writes his story about an "unknown pilot" who crashed (Shot Down Over Libya, 1942), with the editors convincing him that the pilot must be shot down by enemy gunfire. Another story ("Gremlin Lore") was about gremlins, mythical creatures that may have been sabotaging RAF aircraft. Disney liked this story, and he even wanted to make a film, but only a book for children "Walt Disney: The Gremlins (A Royal Air Force Story by Flight Lieutenant Roald Dahl)" appeared - Dahl's first book. About pilots and Dahl's first book for adults ("Over to You" - "I'm going to the reception", 1945). Noël Coward wrote about her in his diary that she "stirred up the deepest feelings that owned me during the war and which I was very afraid of losing."
In 1945 Dahl returned to England to live with his mother. Living a rustic life next to Sophie, he writes a novel about a possible nuclear war (Sometime Never, 1948). The novel failed, but it was the first book on the nuclear threat published in the US since Hiroshima. This is Dahl's only book that has never been reprinted. He's better at stories.
In the early 50s, Dahl moved to New York and began to publish periodically in The New Yorker and Collier, he rotates among celebrities. At a party in 1951, he meets rising Hollywood star Patricia Neal (who won an Oscar in 1964), whom he married in 1953 (they later had five children - Olivia, Tessa, Theo, Ophelia and Lucy). In 1983, Roald and Patricia divorced (B. Farrell wrote the book Pat and Roald about the difficult life together, which served as the basis for the film The Story of Patricia Neal), and later that year Dahl married Felicity D "Abro, with whom lived to the end of his life.
In 1953, the publisher Alfred Knopf became interested in Dahl's stories and published a book of his short stories ("Someone Like You" - a cycle of stories "Claude's Dog", etc.). Critics drew attention to Dahl, who unanimously noted the "demonic" vision of the world, akin to what is characteristic of the works of the classic of English literature Saki (Hector Hugh Munro, 1870 - 1916), a master of mystification and absurdity. The New York Times saw Dahl as a writer with "a grotesque imagination, the ability to see an anecdotal situation turn out in the most unexpected ways, a cruel sense of humor, with which it is better to inflict wounds, and a precisely calculated, economical style." Dahl receives the prestigious E. Poe Award, America's Best Mystery Author (1954).
Roald Dahl Since the late 1950s, Dahl continued his attempts at the start of his creative career to establish himself as a screenwriter. He wrote the scripts for the films “You Only Live Twice” (“You Only Live Twice”, 1967) with Sean Connery as James Bond (based on the novel by Ian Fleming, Dahl’s great friend) and “Chitty Chitty Ben Ben” (“ Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, 1968). In total, about twenty television and full-length films were shot based on scripts or works by Dahl (among the directors are A. Hitchcock and K. Tarantino).
With the publication in 1959 of the next collection of short stories “Kiss Kiss” (“Kiss”), Dalem firmly established the reputation of a master of black humor - the word “master” in this definition plays, of course, a decisive role, because first of all he is a wonderful storyteller. Dahl receives the prestigious E. Poe Prize for the second time (1959). Dahl's stories began to appear in translations into Italian, Dutch, French, and German. Collections of his short stories appear in countless editions. Retelling the content of these stories is a hopeless task, because these are not just plots on which dialogues and various kinds of artistic descriptions are strung. They are distinguished by a manner inherent only to Dahl; the retelling will inevitably lose the spirit and style, irony and subtle humor felt in every phrase. In 1961, Dahl participated in the creation of the television series "Way Out" (14 episodes).
The father of the family, Roald Dahl, writes a lot for children. In 1961, "James and the Giant Peach" was released, then the children's bestsellers "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (1964, numerous awards, including Millennium-2000), "Charlie and the Huge Glass Elevator" (1972), "Danny - world champion” (1975), “BFG, or the big and kind giant” (1982) and other works awarded with many literary prizes. His Seventies Mystery Stories won America's Third Best Writer of the Genre (1980).
In the last years of his life, two autobiographical novels were published from Dahl's pen - “Boy. Tales of Childhood (1984) and Flying Alone (1986).
Roald Dahl died on November 23, 1990 at the age of 74 in Oxford (England), and was buried in the cemetery of the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul according to the Viking rite with his favorite items - billiard cues, a bottle of Burgundy, chocolates, pencils. In honor of R. Dahl, the Children's Gallery was opened at the Buckinghamshire Museum, his birthday, September 13, is celebrated all over the world as Roald Dahl Day.
According to Wikipedia, Igor Bogdanov.

The life of this British writer like an exciting novel. It had everything: a difficult childhood, bullying at school, exploration of an exotic continent, war and heroic deeds, marriage to an Oscar-winning Hollywood star. Roald Dahl could have written a sumptuous memoir, but he turned to detective stories, fantasy novels, and children's fiction. It was the latter, including "Gremlins", "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", "James and the Wonder Peach", that made him a world celebrity.

Childhood and youth

September 13, 1916 in the Welsh town of Llandaff (near the city of Cardiff, UK) a boy was born, who was named Roald. Norwegian parents named their son in honor of the famous compatriot - polar explorer Roald Amundsen. Father Harald Dahl moved to England in the late 1880s, mother Sophie Magdalena - much later. But immediately after her arrival, she married a countryman who was 28 years older.

In marriage, four children were born one after another: a son and three daughters. The family was left without a breadwinner early: his father died of pneumonia at the age of 57. Shortly after his departure, Sophie gave birth to another daughter, Asta, but she lost the eldest Astri, the girl died of appendicitis.

Little Roald adored his mother - she was a great storyteller, the children listened to her stories about Norwegian monsters and trolls. Perhaps then the seed of his imagination was sown, which, on the basis of talent, sprouted and gave such amazing fruits.

“A rock, a real rock ... Always by your side, no matter what you do,” - this is how Roald recalled his mother.

At the age of 7, the boy entered the Llandaff Cathedral School, where he learned the inhuman conditions that then reigned in closed educational institutions England. Sophie then transferred her son to St. Peter's boarding school in Weston-Super-Mare. But even here it was no better - Roald wrote letters to his mother, full of melancholy. The wise woman preserved the epistolary experiences of her son, and subsequently, based on them, the autobiographical book "Boy" (1984) will be published.

When the boy was 13 years old, Sophie and the children moved to Kent, and Dahl began to study at Repton School. Here reigned orders worse than in previous institutions: hazing, corporal punishment and bullying. The young man had a persistent rejection of studies, but thanks to high growth(the guy will grow even up to 198 cm) he excelled in sports disciplines.


There was another pleasant circumstance in Repton: from time to time, chocolate was brought to students from the local Cudbery confectionery for tasting. Young Roald adored this delicacy and dreamed of inventing new recipes. It is not difficult to guess that this fact of the biography subsequently developed into the plot of Roald Dahl's bestseller - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

After graduating from college in 1934, the guy flatly refused to go to university. And first he went to Newfoundland as a photographer - he became interested in this business at school. And soon he went to Africa (Tanzania) altogether, joining the ranks of the Shell employees.

Literature

It was in Africa that Dahl wrote and published his first short story. And then the war broke out. Roald went to serve as a volunteer in the British Air Force, learned to pilot a military aircraft. But the very first flight in 1940 turned out to be tragic: an emergency landing cost him his eyesight and a broken skull. The guy recovered for a long time and then another year he participated in the battles over Greece, Libya, Syria.


In early 1942, the pilot was commissioned and received an offer to take the post of assistant air attaché in Washington, where his writing career began.

The first literary experiences of the British were stories about military everyday life, later they were included in the book “I’m moving on to the reception” (“Over to You”, 1946). Among them was the story of mythical creatures - gremlins, which harm pilots and spoil planes. This is how Dahl's first work for children appeared. The famous "Gremlins" will be filmed only in 1984.


After the war, in 1945, the writer returns to his homeland and lives with his mother. After a failed novel about the nuclear threat, he concentrated on short stories. The stories of this period are collected in the cycle "Claude's Dog" and released in 1953. A year later, Dahl received a prestigious award for original style, which mixed "grotesque imagination and a cruel sense of humour".

After 5 years, he again became the winner of the award. Only now Dahl is no longer a novice in literature, but a recognized master of black humor, whose works are translated into dozens of languages ​​around the world. Then the writer tries himself in a new role, writing the script for the film "You Only Live Twice" based on the book of his friend Ian Fleming, whom he met while living in America. In total, Dahl created over 20 film and television scripts.


In the 60s, the writer succeeds in the field of children's works. By this time, he was already an accomplished family man and father of many children. And his work is directed towards young readers. In 1961, the first book, James and the Wonder Peach, was published, and the author did not intend to publish it, but his relatives persuaded him to take the manuscript to the publisher. Success stunned Dahl, and he again takes up the pen.

In 1964, the novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was released, followed by Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (1972), Danny the Champion of the World (1975), BFG, or the Big and Kind Giant (1982), Witches "(1983)," Matilda "(1988). All children's books of the writer are illustrated English artist Quentin Blake, who found a special style that matches the spirit of the master's creations.


The author wrote in his favorite hut in the backyard country house. He loved to live in nature: he bred animals, grew a garden. Everything was always ready for creativity and inspiration in the hut: a ball of candy wrappers, his favorite chair in which he wrote, 6 sharply sharpened yellow pencils with an elastic band at the end, lined yellow notebooks brought from the USA - the writer wrote exclusively on them.

Dahl's children's works are a special world in which the author speaks to the child in his language through funny puns and funny neologisms that diverge into quotes: “Horrible”, “Exciting!”, “Disgusting”. In his books there is a place for a sharp plot, and a grotesque, and a drama, and even a sad ending, but a bright and pure children's mind always wins against the tyranny of adults.

“Children know that I am on their side,” wrote this amazing storyteller.

Personal life

In the early 1950s, Dahl moved to America, this time to New York, where he works and publishes. At one of the parties, Dahl meets future wiferising star Hollywood by Patricia Neal. The couple married in 1953 and had five children. The firstborn was a daughter - Olivia Twenty (1955), then the son Theo Matthew (1960) appeared, followed by the twins Chantal Sophia and Ophelia Magdalena (1964) and baby Lucy Neal (1965).


Patricia starred a lot: in 1964, the actress even received an Oscar. Therefore, the father of the family spent most of the time with the children. In December 1960, tragedy struck: Theo's stroller was hit by a taxi.

On the background of a head injury, hydrocephalus developed in an infant. To make life easier for his son, Dahl took part in the development of a special valve to reduce intracranial pressure (the Wade-Dale-Till valve), which has helped thousands of sick children.


Theo soon recovered, but in 1962 he died of measles. eldest daughter Roald and Patricia. A new blow overtakes the writer in 1965, when an aneurysm of cerebral vessels bedridden his wife for a long time. The man devoted himself to caring for his wife, thanks to which she got on her feet and was even able to return to work.

Despite their experiences together, Roald and Patricia divorced in 1983. Soon Dahl married Felicity D'Abro, with whom he lived until the end of his life.

Death


The storyteller bequeathed to bury him with a bottle of burgundy, a chainsaw, hard-soft pencils, chocolate and snooker cues.

Memory

  • Not far from London, in the village of Buckinghamshire, the Roald Dahl Museum and History Center is located.
  • In 2016, the Roald Dahl Oxford Dictionary was published, which included 8,000 words. And in the Oxford English Dictionary there is the word "dahlesque", denoting the author's style of the famous Briton.

  • In 2000, Dahl was recognized as Britain's Favorite Author, beating the classics as well.
  • The Roald Dahl Charitable Foundation helps children with hematological and neurological diseases and is replenished from the writer's royalties (10%).

Quotes

“Does it matter who you are and how you look if you are loved?!”
“If someone smiles at you and their eyes don't change, don't trust that person. He's pretending."
“After all, parents strange people. Even if their child is the nastiest creature in the world, they still claim that it is the best.”
"Art is immoral only when amateurs do it."
“Women are as incomprehensible as the ocean. Until you leave the lot, you will not know what is under your keel - depth or shallow.

Bibliography

  • 1961 - James and the Giant Peach
  • 1964 - "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"
  • 1965 - "Night Guest"
  • 1970 - "The Amazing Mr. Fox"
  • 1972 - "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator"
  • 1975 - "Danny is the champion of the world"
  • 1979 - My Uncle Oswald
  • 1980 - The Tweet Family
  • 1982 - "BFG, or a big and kind giant"
  • 1983 - "Witches"
  • 1984 - "Boy"
  • 1986 - "Flying alone"
  • 1988 - Matilda


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