The World's #1 Storyteller

When thinking of British literature many think about Chaucer, and William Shakespeare, usually not any of the modern day writers. When I think of British Literature I think of one of my favorites, modern author Roald Dahl. Even though he died before I was born, I would still say he is modern literature based on the time period he lived in. Roald Dahl originally worked for the Shell Oil Company for five to six years up until the beginning of World War II, in my opinion one of the most interesting times in the world’s history. With the world’s largest war underway, Dahl decided to leave the Shell Oil Company to enroll in the Royal Air Force. Once a member of the Air Force Dahl was trained as a military pilot. I grew up in a city with a large Air Force Base, so I know becoming a pilot is no easy task. It was as a Royal Air Force pilot that Dahl was involved in a plane crash that ended his career and service as a military aviation pilot. After being removed from the Royal Air Force as a pilot he was moved to Washington D.C. to work in the British Embassy as an assistant air attache. It was during his time serving in the British Embassy that he was encouraged to begin writing, mainly about the plane crash that ended his career as a pilot. Dahl’s work, Shot Down Over Libya, also known as A Piece of Cake, was published anonymously in the Sunday Evening Post. A year later Dahl began working on a drawn story about the Royal Air Force folklore. Walt Disney heard about this and the two began to work on the story together. This story, The Gremlins, was published under Walt Disney. It was not until the novel Some Time Never, was published that Dahl published under his own name. This book was about his time in the Royal Air Force and was directed towards adult readers. His next publication was a short story named Kiss Kiss, which was also directed towards an audience of adult readers. A few years later, Dahl met his soon to be wife and feel in love and they moved back to England to start a family. Once back in England, Dahl and his wife began having children. Having children as an inspiration, Dahl published his first famous children’s book, James and the Giant Peach. His next publication was one of his most popular, still being remade today, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This story is Dahl’s most well known piece of writing. The amount of pure imagination in this book is amazing to me. I think Dahl brings a dream to life in this story. In 1971, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was made into a movie, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, which Dahl also wrote the screenplay for. The movie was nominated for an Oscar, and a Golden Globe. Though the movie did not win either award, this film is still known as a cult classic film. This movie was one of my favorites as a child, and I always wished I was Charlie when he was in the factory. I loved the Oompa Loompas and I wanted to go to the factory even though I knew it was not real. Another book Matilda is one of my favorites. Even though Dahl had many publishings between Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda, these are two stories that impacted my childhood.  Most people when they hear the Matilda they think of the movie Matilda (1996) instead of the book which was much better, no surprise. Unfortunately Dahl did not get to write the screenplay for the movie because it was produced after his death. I loved this book and the movie. The book and the movie are very similar story wise. One of the main differences that I find interesting is that in the book Matilda’s powers are seen more as miracles instead of supernatural acts. My sister and I used to love reading the book together. Dahl actually thought the book had many mistakes. I do actually enjoy the movie more than I do the book. I think this is because I used to watch the movie all the time when it would come on ABC Family. I saw the movie before I even knew it was a book. I know these two stories are his most popular so I guess I am not a “die hard” fan. But, these two stories alone impacted my childhood, and made me love Roald Dahl. I think that his early adult life was what sparked his love for writing. With his passion for writing he has changed the world and is still known as the world’s number one storyteller. 

-Savanna