Roald Dahl

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Roald Dahl is one of the world's best-loved authors. More than twenty years after his death, his books are still highly popular with children and have inspired numerous feature films - yet he remains a controversial figure.

This volume, the first collection of academic essays ever to be devoted to Dahl's work, brings together a team of well-known scholars of children's literature to explore the man, his books for children, and his complex attitudes towards various key subjects. Including essays on education, crime, Dahl's humour, his long-term collaboration with the artist Quentin Blake, and film adaptations, this fascinating collection offers a unique insight into the writer and his world.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Series Editor's Preface (p. ix)
• Notes on Contributors (p. x)
• Introduction (p. 1)
• 1 Fairy Tale and Anti-Fairy Tale: Roald Dahl and the Telling Power of Stories (p. 14)
• 2 Discomfort and Delight: The Role of Humour in Roald Dahl's Works for Children (p. 31)
• 3 'Don't gobbelfunk around with words': Roald Dahl and Language (p. 51)
• 4 'The problem of school': Roald Dahl and Education (p. 70)
• 5 The Unlikely Family Romance in Roald Dahl's Children's Fiction (p. 86)
• 6 'When one is with her it is impossible to be bored': An Examination of Roald Dahl's Contribution to a Feminist Project in Children's Literature (p. 102)
• 7 An Unsuitable Read for a Child? Reconsidering Crime and Violence in Roald Dahl's Fiction for Children (p. 123)
• 8 All Grown Up: Filmic Interpretations of Roald Dahl's Novels (p. 142)
• 9 Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake (p. 160)
• 10 Roald Dahl and the Commodification of Fantasy (p. 176)
• Further Reading (p. 190)
• Index (p. 195)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Roald Dahl's books for children are experimental, inventive, funny, and risky. They are also extremely popular with children; at least seven books have been adapted into successful films. Contributor Peter Hunt calls Dahl's work the "perfect storm in terms of changing the culture." This collection assembled by Alston and Butler (both, Univ. of the West of England, UK) is the first book of academic essays--long overdue--to focus solely on the intricacies of Dahl's legacy, including what makes Dahl's writing both potentially controversial and canonical. In the book's ten chapters and an introduction, children's literature scholars investigate Dahl's representations of adult power, violence, and family, among other themes. Ultimately, the contributors conclude that Dahl's body of work is ideologically ambiguous. Some of that ambiguity is even more evident when particular essays are read side by side. Editor Alston notes that Dahl has been charged as sexist and misogynistic; he frequently represents adult women as cruel caricatures of evil. Beverly Pennell claims, however, that his character Matilda reveals a liberatory feminist ideology in which "girls and women admire one another, value education, are employed in the public sphere ... and support other girls and women to be likewise liberated." Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty. D. J. Brothers Lincoln Land Community College