Sep

17

Happy (Belated) Birthday, Mr. Dahl.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

September 17, 2007 |

Roald Dahl was born September 13th, 1916. While he’s best known as the author of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory (made into a film with Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka And The Charlie Factory, then made again by Tim Burton into a film with Johnny Depp, this time under the book’s original title) he wrote several other notable children’s books, including Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Big Friendly Giant, James And The Giant Peach, The Witches (made into a film with Anjelica Huston), and Matilda (made into a film with Danny Devito and Rhea Perlman). Dahl also wrote a funny, meandering autobiography aimed at younger readers called Boy, and a more serious adult biography, Flying Solo. He also wrote several short story collections for adults.

Dahl was a pilot in the British Royal Air Force, and his first piece of writing, Shot Down Over Libya, was later republished as A Piece of Cake in his book The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar And Six More, a collection of seven stories which also includes his story Lucky Break: How I Became A Writer. This book was, when I was in nine and ten, one of my favorites, partly because I hoped I’d get a lucky break someday and become a writer myself, and partly because, well, the stories were unlike anything I’d ever read before. Like most of his works they were real but always with an element of the fantastic. The title story, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, stands out in particular as a strange and memorable story. Henry Sugar is a man living off inherited wealth; he’s never had to work a day in his life and occupies most of his time living the easy life and gambling. Dahl is, maybe, a little overgenerous in his description of men like Henry Sugar as not particularly bad but not particularly good either. As he says, “They are simply part of the decoration.” Staying at someone’s house one rainy weekend Henry discovers a notebook with an account written by a doctor of his encounter with a young Indian man who, through years of study with yogis, developed the ability to see with his eyes completely covered and performs a circus act. The story is really three stories layered together: the young Indian man’s account of his pursuit of supernatural power for fame and money, the doctor’s account, and the story of Henry Sugar who sets off to develop his own psychic abilities. And he succeeds, putting fear into the hearts of the world’s casino owners. Henry Sugar quickly realizes, though, that he doesn’t want money that’s so easily won, and becomes the benefactor of a worldwide chain of orphanages.

The story seems, toward the end, almost like notes for a novel. Throughout most of the story Dahl zeroes in on Henry, following him through the arduous process of developing extraordinary mental abilities, and as contemplates his first night of success at a casino. Then the narration pulls back dramatically, telling the story in only a few broad details as Henry becomes founder of a world-wide series of orphanages and has to resort to more and more elaborate measures to disguise himself. It’s disappointing because Henry has help as well as several close calls, all of which we’re tantalized with but never actually shown. It’s still an intriguing story, though.

The Peabody Library at Vanderbilt University and other libraries celebrated his 101st birthday with Roald Dahl Day. The nice thing about writers, though, is you can celebrate their lives any time by just picking up one of their books. A lucky break made Roald Dahl a writer. It’s lucky for us, too, that we have his books.


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1 Comment so far

  1. Love In Blume. :: Just Write on November 28, 2007 1:04 am

    [...] only two authors I remember who got the honor of having more than one of their books read. One was Roald Dahl. The other was Judy Blume. Luckily our classroom was one of those old portable buildings and set [...]

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