I'm not particularly a proponent of thinking of books completely separate from their authors, however I do think that there is nothing surprising that great authors can be disgusting human beings, while there are saints that have not a speck of creativity in them... I think accepting that people are complex, can accomplish great things in some areas while being terrible in others, is simply having an adult view of human complexity.
I do think it makes some difference whether the author is still alive or not. If they’re being unapologetically awful and they’re still living, I wouldn’t buy any future works. But if they’ve already passed away, or for buying works second-hand, it may be ok to eat the meat and spit out the bones. (However, I do own a book I don’t even want someone to buy at Half-Price Books after what the author did in the past few years, and having learned how inaccurate the history in it is)
There is a disturbing trend these days to bathe in the bad blood of the dead. It never seems to fail that the moment an artist dies these days hardly a second passes before we (all of a sudden) discover what a disgusting pig they are. I think that modern context blurs this for us, and our compulsion to "cancel" them (perhaps to elevate ourselves without putting in any real work) is a little too predictable. Hell, there's mainstream comedy movies from 10 years ago that absolutely COULD NOT be made today. Not because the writers were discovered to be racists/sexist/phobist, but because our sensitivity has changed. So, when it comes to Dahl, Lovecraft, Tolkien (and someday Rowling, King, Martin) I'll just leave my pitchfork in the shed and let someone else feel compelled to tribalize virtue. Good video though, you are very knowledgeable on the subjects! 🤜💥🤛
@@jasonhawkins6888 There is nothing wrong with acknowledging a writer's personal character flaws while still crediting them with being talented, hardworking craftsman. It is an adult view to do so. Not doing so is, imho, a childish pushing away of what one does not want to hear because it doesn't "feel good". BTW, he probably had a serious TBI from the war which impacted his behavior in a deeply negative way.
So long as we are aware of who the people were and how that may have influenced their writing, then we are free to enjoy the work divorced from the person who created the work. It's all about understanding and accepting the whole truth and not ignoring atrocious behavior in order to create an easy reality for mindless consumption. That's just my thoughts on the whole separate the art from the artist. Both sides are kind of missing the point imo.
I remember reading this short story by him involving a wife killing her husband with a lamb leg then feeding the murder weapon to the investigating police. Some how this was a formative memory to me
I'm sure I remember this story from an early episode of _Tales of the Unexpected_ which was introduced by Dhal himself. The other weird one was the macabre wager involving the loss of a finger if a lighter failed at any attempt.
@@solbutton1611 To be fair, that story is from one of his collections of short stories aimed at adults. Even Dahl never got that dark in his kids' books.
Yes that is so true. In first grade they have books teaching kids to fear witches but they don't make the students read the crucible until tenth or eleventh grade. Things that make you go humm.
@@Mars-ev7qg in third grade, they had us read a book about the Trials, but then again, I grew up not even 20 miles away from Salem/Danvers, so we learned a bit more about Colonial history than the rest of the country probably did/does; it’s part of our heritage
@mikeydubbs8565 Yes, that's a very unusual situation. Maybe other places will start following your school's example. I wouldn't hold my breath for it though.
I remember reading a passage in his book Going Solo, an autobiography of his adult life around the time of the war. It was during his recovery after the crash mentioned in the video. He was bandaged up pretty snugly, and could not see anything for days on days. He was attended to by a female nurse, and he essentially fell in love with her and her voice. He waxed poetic about her, on and on. He finally got the bandages off, and looked at her. He said something along the lines of 'that was disappointing' and then made no mention of her ever again. Very clever author, quite unlikable otherwise.
I wouldn’t say that Dahl was one of my favorite authors, but I do remember reading his books quite vividly. The scratchy doodles on the covers that passed for cover art never seemed to match the comedic whimsy of the book, but looking back they seem to betray that behind the clever prose was a man who didn’t quite grow up.
Going Solo is a great book, as is Boy. Finding out more about the back story helped me make more sense of his very first published short story A Piece Of Cake. I especially love the transition from stream of consciousness to dreaming and delirium then back again.
@@motherofcatsnz I loved that last chapter. It was touch and go that he ever made it back to England, what with the ships all sailing through hazardous Nazi filled waters. They didn't all make it. Then it was only his RAF wings that saved him from a right good beating at the hands of a gang of drunks in London. Then he walked for hours to his sister's place, laden down with his weighty bags of lemons etc, along with enough pieces of silk fabric to make a dress for each one of his sisters. His mother was so pleased to see him as she had already once received the dreaded telegram and had no idea if he was even still alive after his plane crash in that Gladiator. A special mother and child reunion if ever there was one.
I've been a journalist and occasional creative writer most of my life. I've met lots of successful writers in both my occupations and I find that Arthur Koestler said it best: "Liking a writer then meeting the writer is like liking goose liver and then meeting the goose."
Imagine being a french-german historian (modern history, including the medieval and a bachelor in art history that wasn't worth its money) whose german grandparents were people who voted for the Nazis....... It's not that easy. My grandmother had her last child (my mom) at age 35 and my mom had me at 42. I'm technically one of the few people born in 1990 with Nazi grandparents. My french grandparents were in the Résistance. The wedding was interesting, to say the least..... Anyways, I know what it feels like to love people with a weird history. To put it mildly. Love your videos!!! Big fan!
It may seem random that the grasshopper mentions that he doesn't want to be eaten by a Mexican, but I think it just relates to the fact that Mexicans are known to eat grasshoppers traditionally. They call them 'chapulines'.
Mexicans aren't a separate race either. It's a former Spanish colony with the elite considering themselves more pure because they have mainly European Spanish blood. There are mestizos who have intermarried with Indigenous people and are only half pure European Spanish. Then there are the Indigenous people who lived there for thousands of years prior to colonization. So Mexican society is itself somewhat bigoted towards people of non-European blood.
You definitely skipped over his childhood lol. Dahl was a very privileged man who came from what we would probably now call the last of the aristocracy. He attended multiple high end schools regularly traveled abroad and was well connected in politics and money. The reality is that he probably grew up in the echo chamber of antisemitism, racism and misogyny and because his circle doesn’t change much during his life people whom he found worthy of his time would reiterate this to them. There was never really a chance he wouldn’t be antisemitic, he was just way to privileged to ever have his views tested or pushed beyond his own self indulgence.
@@phoenixliv I mean if you’d read what I said you know I don’t think it does. There is a reason his wives and children don’t get along with him. He actively chose not to challenge his view points and died an old bitter man who held the same views his whole life. You also can’t really compare him to draco malfoy who was fictional character canonically left at age 17 (a very formative age) so we can’t know if he ever would/did change his opinions and outlooks on life.
I've a friend who knew Alan Garner and thought him something of a snot. I met Margaret Mahy and she was just stunning..... so like every "classification", probably a mixed bag.
Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Elizabeth Gaskell aaand... J. R. R. Tolkien! (Yes he was also a product of his times which caused him to have a somewhat idealised view of women, but he was proudly opposed to anti-Semitism in an era when that wasn't a given, a nature lover and by all accounts a caring friend, a loving husband and father).
Lady of the Library, this video is interesting. However, you should remember that the book "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" is actually Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" is only the title of the 1971 movie with Gene Wilder. I don't mean to sound rude, but this error kept jumping out at me as a fan of the books.
I remember all those years of reading comic books in the back where they had the advertisements including the one to order sea monkeys. And we found out the person behind the Sea-Monkeys was a Hitler fan boy as well as racist.
"A boaster, liar, and a bully" My father who sexually abused me loved Dahl. Thank you for this video. The obsession with "good"&"bad" children needing punishment .... the joy he took in punishment.... definitely something off about it.
I think the main takeaway for the idea of “death of the author” needs to be accompanied by a hard look at the content of the author’s work and whether the authors’ baggage and harmful ideologies bleed through into their writing. As a “for example”, the books of the Dean of science fiction, Robert Heinlein, are filled with homophobia, incest, misogyny, and of course a bit of racism, which follows along with his own harmful beliefs. I don’t believe that these authors should be censored, but they should be read with a critical mindset rather than set forward as literary beacons.
As grim as this may sound, literal death of the author on top of that helps too. I wouldn’t want to spend any money that went to him if he lived today but he doesn’t so I’m not financially enabling his behavior. I’ve stopped spending money on living writers for that reason. Even the one that made me want to write wasn’t immune from that. There’s always the library, second hand shops, and even free digital file depending on one’s personal morals if you’re interested anyways.
@@gubernatorial1723 I grok. But especially in “Stranger” he’s sexist and homophobic. There’s several paragraphs near the end after Mike starts his church about how Ben is reassured about Mike not having gay sex because Mike refuses to offer water to “effeminate men” (and masculine women for that matter) presumably because he “groks a wrongness with those poor inbetweeners”
@@sourgreendolly7685 oh for sure! And it does help if the family of the author are decent folks… and if they’re not, I’m certainly not above finding their book at the library (even online libraries) and reading it that way so I don’t have to give my $$ to them or their estate.
Thanks for your details, read it in the far-off less aware early eighties as a dewy-brained youth. One of the golden books from my dead ultra-cool eldest brother, The others from memory being a Gormenghast, a Hesse and Silas Marner. The first section of the last is forever the definitive summary of the falsehood of fundamentalism, known a hundred and fifty years ago.
Ok I’m ready… I have been avoiding a deep dive on one of my favorite authors because I knew the time he lived in. You have an honest face so I’ll take this journey with you
When I read his biography I was shocked to find this out about - what was - my literary hero. Thank you for this video! Also, Haifa is in Palestine, Israel didn’t exist until 1948 after the Nakba and destruction and colonization of the Ottoman Empire.
Yeah including Middle East and what Romans called Palestine which was called Judea and Israel all conqueres do the same thing Muslims did in Middle East when they took it in 6th century and so on .
Your commentary was so thorough, but I have to add something you didn't - Dahl played a significant part in changing the treatment of hydrocephalus in children, by collaborating on the development of the Wade-Dahl-Till valve. This device was a marked improvement on what had been in use previously, and benefitted thousands of children. It's been superseded, but it was a significant step forward in treatment. Having said this, I'm now concerned that you'll reveal that you researched this but left it out because it turns out Dahl's contribution has been overstated..!
Dahl always reminds me of Wodehouse, whom MI6 labelled as "not a Nazi sympathiser, but a silly ass" during WWII. They were both prime products of their time, and those were some bigoted times. Keeping that in mind, it's easier to separate the work from the creator, and enjoy the beauty of the English language and some of its best performing fleas.
I just read a Czech fairy where a prince goes through a series of three tasks accumulating a firebird, a golden horse, and a golden haired princess. Just as he is about to bring these to the king his brothers meet him on the road, and then violently cut him up into pieces and steal his treasures. Which came as a radical shock within the story, without a hint of foreshadowing. Czech stories are often dark as pitch. The dead prince is later reassembled and brought to life pouring over him the water of death... then the water of life. I love darker fairytales. Thanks for the dive into Roald Dahl's work and background.
Originally fairytales were created to entertain adults not children. It was Walt Disney that invented “happily ever after” because the original fairy tales frequently had violent, frightening ends.
I remember raising an eyebrow when reading his foreword to a collection of authors short ghost stories that he had put together, supposedly women are great at short stories, particularly ghost stories, but lack the ability to write good novels. His books most definitely had a big influence on my love for reading but I can think of plenty of female authors who have written far superior novels and short stories than anything that he wrote. A bit of a cliché but I guess he was a product of his times. Anyway, loving your channel, always a good watch.
@@tayzk5929 Bro? oh no, it’s happened again, i’m really sorry, my dad was a bit of a player. I’m sorry dear brother that you thought I needed to be told to calm down.I promise you I was very calm when I wrote the post, but since we are family you’ll soon get to know this. So your mother? Was she a lady of the night or was she just a loose woman? Dad had strange tastes.. are you a Dwarf?
Ahh a Dahl video. Fantastic!! I’m a huge Dahl fan so this was great for me lol That said, he is the reason why I sympathise with the whole “death of the author” mentality. He was a complete bastard. As were (and are) many of my favourite authors. Even those who inspired me a great deal in life Mind you. It’s easier to forgive in an author born in like 1916 than any recent ones. At least Dahl has being born last century to fall back on in terms of having outdated views. It’s almost expected. Though it does amuse me that such a raunchy and adult author is mostly known as an acclaimed children’s author lol Great work Cinzia!!
Roald Dahl sounds like a completely unpleasant human being. However, I can totally relate to his having a strong preference for a good pencil. Kudos to Knopf for refusing to deal with Dahl because he was unpleasant. I seriously doubt that an institution would have such scruples now, profit prevails now, not civility.
This comment is laughable given recent events. Publishing houses hire literal ‘sensitivity editors’ now. Anyone trying to write something even a fraction as jaundiced as Dahl’s stuff probably wouldn’t be allowed within fifty feet of the building. Hard to say what their goal even is there, since they went as far as to remove inoffensive, non-racist parts of his books like the words “hag” or “screwy.” And you can’t really pin it on profit, either, since it’s been met with almost universal backlash (although I guess they are technically selling two versions of all his work now.)
I think every author can have questionable content in their works, sometimes on purpose, sometimes by complete accident. Always important to look at the whole picture. Though I've heard stuff about how Dahl was a character for YEARS. Honestly, if he was around today in the age of social media, he would probably be largely despised.
@@CinziaDuBois sorry let me be more specific; the Rothschilds own the most banks out of anyone. In the 1800s they controlled the Bank of England which means they had major influence over the British Empire too. Also by the end of the 19th century the Rothschilds owned HALF of the worlds wealth
@@CinziaDuBois They do, not even a labor intensive search into the matter will show who owns industry. Call me antisemitic, but you can't call me a liar.
I image you've read the real fairy stories (Brothers Grimm, and Anderson's versions) and they're actually dark, whilst Dahl's work is comparatively light hearted. We loved his rewritings of the nursery rhymes 😄 A lot of his writings are definitely not for children.
The grasshopper comment on being eaten by Mexicans may be a reference to insect based dishes in regional Mexican cuisine. For example, here in Los Angeles, the authentic Oaxacan restaurant, Guelaguetza, serves a plate of friend crickets. My friends tell me they are crunchy.
It's weird and amazing that writers like Dahl preach some form of acceptance, courage, kindness and we as readers are inspired and shape ourselves in those values but they themselves end up falling short on living up to those values. Also props to the editor made a rotten dude's body of work less awful. Edit: I just find it funny that Dahl wrote books and would've never liked most of his fans because they were a different color, from a different country or the opposite gender he's like a badly done family guy cut away gag.
@Don´tbehasty Everyone's fair game these days. Everyone's a critic! Everyone is a perfect little angel too! Ho ho! You don't like his work then just move on.
@Don´tbehasty I was referring to the OP's comments but of course no one likes racists apart from racists. As long as his work isn't racist who quite frankly gives a flying fig? He's dead. My gran was occasional a bit racist. Should I now refer to her as rotten also? Shhh...guess what? Lot's of British people were racist in the past. Including the parents of many commenting here re how rotten Dhal was.
@Don´tbehastyOk so did racism infuence his work? If so please provide examples of overt racism published by him. I will absolutely concede that hate was his intent if the examples provided reveal this.
@Don´tbehasty Mmm ok. It would be also interesting to research if there was one author writing prior to 1980s who didn't include racist tropes in their work.
I hate that ableism is seen as less toxic than other kinds of hatred. The use of his wife's words is such a clear mockery of the disabled. Which says nothing of the fact that the witches all have limb differences
Of course his children's literature was "dark". He grew up reading Norwegian and German fairy tales (the latter translated to Norwegian). Many of the greatest classic novels I have read in my life were written by authors whose opinions and "eccentric" behaviors is utterly repulsive today, but that were commonplace and mainstream in their lifetimes. Do I like that Knut Hamsun was a Nazi sympathizer, for example? Of course not. I was sorely disappointed when I found that out. As a writer myself, and a lifelong reader, "Growth of the soil" (Markens grøde) is still one of the best books I have ever read. I would probably not have agreed with Hamsun the man on anything. That doesn't mean that I can't admire his talent. I don't think I need to read the full life biography of every painter before I allow myself to be awestruck by their paintings when I visit a gallery, either. Or do research on the opinions of an architect before I buy a house he or she once designed for the first owner of the house. Life doesn't work that way for me. Does it for anyone?
Not everyone likes to take in art from terrible sources. Not sure why you're framing something as simple as informing yourself and choosing better art as such a silly impossible thing
I was once told that artists either make art from the good that is within them or they make it from the good they wish was within them. I think Dahl may have been doing a little of both. I don’t know what was going on inside him but if I had to venture a guess, his trauma both physical and mental from the war probably shaped who he was and how he viewed the world. Perhaps his writing was a way to try and make something good out of all the toxicity he had created around himself. Maybe he wanted to both inspire kids as well as warn them about the darkness that was out there in the world. I don’t know, but I would like to believe his work was a way of trying to do some good even if he wasn’t capable of doing good elsewhere.
I think it's not just the war that traumatised him, because I've read that when he was a kid, he suffered a lot of abuse from his teachers at school. So it's possible he was already pretty traumatised from his childhood, the war only worsened it. It's also possible that him writing his stories was a coping mechanism for him. Like an escape from his difficult life.
Very balanced presumptions. I suppose when analysing authors as such we fail to look at it as wholly as possible. One important factor to consider is the context and environment. For all of those who have been, seen, and felt war's consequences, they have said that it is the most destructive creation of mankind. War is an enormous effective factor in people's lives collectively and individually and to understand Dahl is to understand the context that he was brought up in and the values he had in that era of GB, and his ever evolving world views. Looking at Dahl from the perspectives we hold now will only lead to useless judgements of him. Jordan Peterson always says, seperate the wheat from the chaff and in Dahls case it has to be seperated. All of humanity has its dark side of the soul and praise be to those who do not deny it, work through it, and try at least to understand it with patience and hope of betterment. His novels appealed to me immensly as a child ( they still do) but his ability in making me imagine and picture his texts in my mind and still remember thim to this day is unique to say the least. May his memorable work live on, and may we as readers increase our understanding of humans in different chapters of history.
When I got older I also started to realize the same anti-semetic issues when I rewatched one of my childhood favorites, ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’, Most of the things the movie adaptation is known for were thanks to Dahl penning the screenplay. Most notably… the childcatcher. Who is basically what would happen if nazi wrote a stranger danger PSA. I mean… seriously Dahl! I will treasure my childhood memories of your work. But… who hurt you?!
I opened up my phone a few summers ago and randomly read his entire collection of short stories right in my browser while relaxing in a lawn chair. What a trip that was. There were points where the writing was very strong, and good enough to keep me reading, but overall the experience left me with a low and dark feeling, a feeling like he was just messing around, that none of it really mattered, there wasn’t any central message or set of values behind his artistry as a storyteller. This has since clouded over my fonder memories of reading his best books as a child. Odd mind he had.
So I grew up with Roald Dahls work heck it was even in school (being born in 89) a lot of the stories he wrote were being transferred into visual media in the late 80s early 90s (If I remember dates correctly regardless).. I had no idea some of the background and ideology he personally had.. this was a very informative video and a peek into the mind of a great writer who had some serious demons that said I believe his works are relevant and still worth the read or watch this is coming from a Jewish reader despite his anti-semitic views some his stories are pure classics of my childhood and I'll ever hate his work because I can separate the artist from his personal ideology, thanks for doing what ya do and congrats on the 100K subs :)
When I did global English literature studies at university, we often got into the history of great authors. Usually shocking stuff. One of the best authors I remember was in real life a man who had murdered someone. Another was a man who had gone on the run, inspiring some of his writing. Great art seems to come from great suffering. Often self inflicted by the personality of an artist. I often wonder if the strict 'moral' gatekeeping of today is why we have so few great authors this century. Too much conformity. I often find works from centuries' past just better.
This was FASCINATING!! I had absolutely no clue that most of my favorite childhood stories were filled with so many salacious details! Keep up the great work, and Congratulations on 100k!!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉🍾
People are complex. I've read his autobiographies and I still respect him for his good qualities despite his alleged bigotry. I also think people can be too thin-skinned about that type of thing. I don't think he was nearly as racist as people seem to think. He simply wrote based on his life experiences and didn't sanitize his phrasing to accommodate a modern audience.
I had a similar journey with Dhal. After reading Neale’s biography, I was confirmed in my unease in what appeared to the adult me to be his misogynistic view of any but ‘pretty’ or young women. Older women are mostly treated as monsters, unless they’re motherly’. I read his adult short stories with fascination and they confirmed my view. A flawed misogynist, with skills.
Dahl and his wife funded the perfection of the medical miracle, the VP shunt that saved my life at 8 years old. Do that research. I owe my life to him and his wife at the time sacrificing everything to save their own child through this dedicated focus and funding. For anything bad you want to say about him...do not forget the greatness that he did. You can be good and bad at the same time. That's life. And he saved mine.
I used to have a VHS of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory - and after watching it, I threw it away - because I was appalled at how much the back-story of the Oompa-Loompas resembled the justifications that the slave-holders of the Southern United States gave for slavery during the antebellum. Thanks to your video - I now know that I am not the only one who noticed that!
Yea for sure it’s the same peternalistic bullshit instinct that pro-empire Brits like Churchill had about India. “Yes we are oppressing them but it’s ultimately good for them”
Thats ok...Hardley anyone I know is aware the author of Alice in Wonderland had a VERY .....strange fascination with the real Alice . .who was a little girl at the time....and took nude photos of her at a just slightly older age and ultimately was thought to have been asked to not come around the family for some occurcance that was never spoken of, ripped from the pages of a diary so as not to be read about, and pretended to never have occurred even by Alice at the end of her life... And hes celebrated the WORLD OVER.....oh the rose colored glasses. FUN!!
Thank you for putting it all out there. It’s not about cancelling them, it’s about presenting all sides of their character. His writing is brilliant for kids but they should know about the character of the man.
Why? Do you read a biography of every artist you experience the work of? Their work is not them. Complex people. Perhaps that's why they create? Artists should not be concerned with the petty morals of the general public. Especially the middle classes.
@@boogiewoogie9770 As a matter of fact I do. When an artist or person interests me or I enjoy their work. I do read/research their backgrounds. I do so because I’m curious about what influenced their creative process and who they are/were as a person. As implied by my pervious comment, although perhaps not explicitly stated, I don’t judge him for who he was and I can separate the art from the man and/or the prejudices of the time and his upbringing.
@@TheLala114 While you can, children usually cannot. Also, for myself, I stopped researching the lives of people who work in art, literature etc because it is always disappointing to discover the negative aspects of their personalities. Children would, in my opinion, suffer unnecessarily by being presented such adult topics from their favorite authors too early in life. As an elementary school teacher, I can assure you that most children will not be able to separate authors and their eccentricities from their work and many good books will be spoiled for them if such things are revealed about authors, especially their favorite ones during childhood. Let them enjoy their childhood and their favorite authors. Then, in college, the lives of authors can be studied by those who are interested in such things.
@@sandrafreeman515 I also teach primary and at no point have I suggested that we introduce the negative aspects of an author to children. But if a child were to ask, they should be given the correct information, as age appropriate. A lot of the children, I teach are from ethnic backgrounds and they think Dahl is fantastic. I would not wish to take that away from them, but if they were to ask, I would answer honestly but contextualise my answer so that they understood that society as a whole was very different and therefore so were ideas around race, etc.
Woo 100k! I always enjoyed his books growing up. I have heard about there being a darker side to his character but never looked into the specifics, so this was very interesting!
while witch typically translates etymologically as 'wise woman'... I know many men that practice various alternative faiths and refer to themselves as male witches. I use the term bard myself since I like language, learning, and stories as a way to be more in touch with my ancestry and faith.
Thanks for sharing this video! He was my favourite author as a child, but I'm pretty sure I would have hated him he was alive rn reading his statements as an adult, especially after his daughter' words. I used to "justify" him as a teenager contextualising his antisemitism as a reaction to the violence of Contemporary Israel, but I was so wrong. His stories are still amazing, but it's good to know these aspects of his personality (as many authors like Lovecraft). I wonder if his hatred towards "different" people is rooted in his childhood, being the son of Norwegian immigrants in Wales.
Very interesting and enlightening video but yeah i feel sometimes it doesn't pay to know too much about your favourite authors. Personally i recently decided to re read my fav series from my youth The Belgariad by david ( and leigh ) Eddings, a series that i'd probably read 30 plus times as a kid. I think i was about halfway through the first trilogy when i stumbled on an article about how they'd both spent a year in prison in the seventies for child abuse after keeping their adopted son in a cage.......Frankly i was devastated, i kept seeing things in the books after, that i'd always thought strange, as being slightly more sinister. Characters that had been like friends growing up were tainted and regrettably i decided to put them away and not read them again.......Sad when that happens
There were very few books as a kid I would read. I didnt like to read , but I loved Matilda . "How old were you when you learned about what snobberys we're" Me : Today
Like the original fairy tales published by the brothers Grimm were so light and sensitive. As for the character of creative people, I wouldn’t want to hang out with Tolstoy and Picasso’s treatment of women in his life is well known. Picasso was also one of the greatest artists in western history. Shockingly, artists are people and have all the problems of people.
in america, we would ban books for like, not enough misogyny. "this book promotes women's rights? banned!!!" also, i don't know how often it will come up in your videos, but NAACP is usually "N double A C P" - slightly easier to pronounce. :)
I always say to draw a line between the art and artist. Especially when they are dead and you can not really support them financially anymore. But I can see how people may be mad about learning these things. I get it.
Additionally I do not think we should use a modern lense to look back at morality of the past. This is however extremy subjective. A racist is a racist no matter where and when they live.
Just discovered you and have been devouring your videos while I work....I'm a children's book illustrator and found this absolutely fascinating... I knew he was a jerk....but wow...illuminating!
He ghost wrote the three best James Bond novels (The Blofield Trilogy). They also happened to be the least if not at all racist or sexist compared to the ones actually written by Fleming.
Do you have a source for this? I know they were friends but I always understood that Fleming had more influence on Dahl than the other way. (Screenplays aside.)
This was really enjoyable to watch, it had a strong hook, a good vibe all the way through, and I feel like I learned alot. I hope yall have a good day and I look forward to the next vid.
The only comment I think would be fair to make is I appreciate your mature response to this knowledge about Mr Dahl’s personal life. It’s taken on board without ending in an impassioned plea for torches and pitchforks.
Cinzia literally said that she still loves the books and will continue to read them and that they made her a better person. You obviously did not watch the video. You seem ignorant.
I find it really strange that this adult man got to write books for children and included so much sexual innuendo and just really awful things about women. I wonder what the backlash would've been if I did the same towards men? Either way, i doubt any parent appreciated this. I would not want to read this to my niblings at all! Thanks for the video explaining all of this though!! You're amazing ❤
@@roninhood1027 There is something really wrong with your comprehension skills. Read the whole sentence. "I find it strange, IF a grown man wrote stories for children AND included so much sexual innuendo AND just really awful things about women." Please don't pick apart a sentence and accuse someone of being crazy, just because you couldn't read. I mentioned only adult men because that is what the context of the video was about. The same would apply if it was a female author. Please read things properly, it's daunting dealing with people like yourself. Go back and read what I said.
@@yb958 That's pretty par for the course on the internet. The second someone gets behind a keyboard it's like their brain cells leak out of their ears.
It should not be surprising that Dahl was racist and anti-semitic. On the contrary, it would be surprising to come across a white author of his generation (or of the previous 8 or 10 generations at a minimum) who WASN'T racist and anti-semitic. Those views were nearly universal and unquestioned among whites until relatively recently. Even if they didn't express such prejudices in writing, you can be confident that virtually every white author of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries shared those views, or at least took them for granted and didn't examine them. Exceptions would be rare enough to be notable. By the way, NAACP is pronounced "N double-A C P".
Roald Dahl was definitely an interesting character - a great writer and hero in some ways, but a very flawed human. I have heard that his public bursts of anti-semitism followed - and may have been triggered by - his reaction to bombing during the invasion of Lebanon and Dahl's own past during WWII. It does not excuse a lot of things he said and I definitely agree Dahl had some quite racist sentiments, but it does put his vitriol against Israel in particular in context.
There was a strong antisemitic sentiment across Europe which lasted well after WW2. Some were jealous of their wealth; others blamed them for the deaths of allied soldiers. He wasn't anything horrid by the standards of his time. Though, its still disappointing :(
I heard a radio interview with Patricia Neal when she had started working again when no one thought she ever could. The interviewer kept trying to get her to express anger against Dahl who, I think, left her for another woman. (It’s a long time ago so I can’t swear to details). She absolutely refused because without him she would not be a fully functioning actress. She had no illusions about his character otherwise but did not waver in her gratitude to him. They had other tragedies in their life together losing two young children in terrible ways.
You didn't mention his second wife, Felicity d'Abreu Crosland, who adored him and adores him still and manages his estate to this day. She was about half his age when they were married. And what of the medical doodad he invented to help little Theo, his boy, after he was hit by that car and his skull was smashed? That doodad went on to be used in medicine for decades after that. That night he spent all broken up in the desert accompanied by that other pilot who so luckily found him I believe yielded two wonderful things and one awful. His brain must've been somewhat transformed by the accident. he didn't think at all like other men when it came to storytelling. All his teeth were lost and replaced with false ones - a thing he claimed to bring about wonderful things in his life. He even wrote his mother advising her to do the same! Unfortunately, the damage the accident did to his body caused him lifelong chronic pain. Yes, like many Englishmen of his day, he was a snarky, bigoted curmudgeon, but there were those who loved him, and he was brilliant with children. I feel his influence on me as a child surpassed that of my parents. I read everything of his I could get hold of, including his raunchy, creepy stories for adults. And possibly my favorite Dahl factoid - he died relatively slowly and in terrible pain. Felicity d'Abreu Crosland, or Felicity Anne Dahl and the children hung onto him 'til the pain grew too much for any of them to bear. It was decided between Felicity and their doctor that Dahl would finally be administered a nice dose of morphine. As the needle touched his arm, the barely conscious Dahl yelled, "F#%k!" his final word. A true master.
@@gubernatorial1723 Thank YOU! It sort of makes one wonder, how many of us started reading and developing strong comprehension skills at a younger age than the average purely due to having partaken of the gloriously delumptious fruits of that wonderful playground of a mind atop that lanky frame? (I don't think "delumptious" is really one of his special additions to the dictionary, but I had a bit of a brain fart trying to remember the correct one. 😅) (About 15 minutes later...) There could very easily be a better one, but scrumdiddlyumptious is the word I was looking for. 😉
The nazi sympathiser comment surprised me. I read a collection of his short stories (Kiss Kiss) and one was about the horror of Adolf Hitler being the only child to survive out of the children his mother had. Like "uh oh, it's hitler" was the final horror punchline. Side note: I wasn't allowed to read Roald Dahl as a child because he wrote The Witches and my parents were worried about occult themes 🙃
Yes this ‘lady’ is delusional, the doublethink of knowing he played a key part in bringing the Americans into WW2, and thus defeating the nazis, then calling him a nazi sympathiser because he expressed an opinion on why all the horror happened is quite extraordinary.
oh Ronin, heaven forbid a woman disagrees with you. your misogyny is showing. for starters, Dahl was legally required to join the armed forces, as all single men were, in WWII. He legally didn’t have a choice in the matter, and I would argue most people don’t join the army to defeat a particular person, they do so because they want to serve their country. Many American and British soldiers didn’t agree with the ethics of the Iraq war, but they had to serve anyway. Secondly, Dahl became antisemitic after the war, not before. He discussed how it was his time during Lebanon that he learned about the Jewish people and began establishing his antisemitic views. He said, and I quote, “Never before in the history of man has a race of people switched so rapidly from being much-pitied victims to barbarous murderers.” If you say “even Hitler had his reasons” you are literally sympathising with the man - you are sympathising with his logic and can be thus labelled a sympathiser. He literally began to believe in all the antisemitic propaganda during and after the war. Just because he was legally obligated and then developed his views later in life doesn’t mean he is incapable of sympathising with Hitler. That quote from Dahl is a literal example of him sympathising with the man. it would be like someone saying that about the Texan school shooter “well, he had his reasons.”. that sentiment is literally sympathy for the shooter.
@@CinziaDuBois "Never before in the history of man has a race of people switched so rapidly from being much-pitied victims to barbarous murderers" - how is that anti semetic? Why was it OK to sympathize with Stalin but not Hitler?
I don't know if the grasshopper and mexicans is actually racist. Here in Mexico, a variety of grasshoppers called chapulines are captured at cornfields and eaten. It could be a reference to that and not something totally racist. Cheers!
Thank you for sharing this video. For me the most interesting part of this video essay is the whole "death of the author" debate. Anything you would share on this matter?
Check your dates; the US entered the war in December 1941 so there would have been no reason for him to be sent here to "persuade" the US to enter the war in 1942. Please accept my apologies if I misunderstood your comment.
What is it with whimsical children's authors being horrible people with vile political views? Blyton, Dahl, Rowling... Thank goodness for Terry Prachett.
I've read a few of his books as a child and I was thinking about revisiting some of them bc I don't remember much and if I do so, I'll read with more context now, this was so interesting! (And disappointing but oh well 🙄)
I joined the publisher George Allen & Unwin around the time of the publication of the first UK Edition of 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'. The demand was enormous. During the Christmas period a van load of the book was being delivered to 'Foyles' daily, and sometimes, more than once a day. It is interesting to note that the Northern sales representative, a long serving and highly respected individual, Archie Chown, totally refused to promote the book to any bookseller or related book trade wholesaler. He openly stated that he "utterly detested the book". This in real terms, for him, meant a significant loss of potential income. A man of principle. Something of a rarity in the contemporary world.
@@Sab_MJsMama No, you folks are being babies. Grow up. People are not perfect. You may despise who they are or what they believe. But it has nothing to do with the quality of their work. I doubt you're the least bit interested in facts. It's likely you're obsessed with ideology.
I'm not particularly a proponent of thinking of books completely separate from their authors, however I do think that there is nothing surprising that great authors can be disgusting human beings, while there are saints that have not a speck of creativity in them... I think accepting that people are complex, can accomplish great things in some areas while being terrible in others, is simply having an adult view of human complexity.
I do think it makes some difference whether the author is still alive or not. If they’re being unapologetically awful and they’re still living, I wouldn’t buy any future works.
But if they’ve already passed away, or for buying works second-hand, it may be ok to eat the meat and spit out the bones.
(However, I do own a book I don’t even want someone to buy at Half-Price Books after what the author did in the past few years, and having learned how inaccurate the history in it is)
In my opinion great writers have to see the worst of life to truly write about it greatly
There is a disturbing trend these days to bathe in the bad blood of the dead. It never seems to fail that the moment an artist dies these days hardly a second passes before we (all of a sudden) discover what a disgusting pig they are. I think that modern context blurs this for us, and our compulsion to "cancel" them (perhaps to elevate ourselves without putting in any real work) is a little too predictable. Hell, there's mainstream comedy movies from 10 years ago that absolutely COULD NOT be made today. Not because the writers were discovered to be racists/sexist/phobist, but because our sensitivity has changed. So, when it comes to Dahl, Lovecraft, Tolkien (and someday Rowling, King, Martin) I'll just leave my pitchfork in the shed and let someone else feel compelled to tribalize virtue. Good video though, you are very knowledgeable on the subjects! 🤜💥🤛
@@jasonhawkins6888 There is nothing wrong with acknowledging a writer's personal character flaws while still crediting them with being talented, hardworking craftsman. It is an adult view to do so. Not doing so is, imho, a childish pushing away of what one does not want to hear because it doesn't "feel good". BTW, he probably had a serious TBI from the war which impacted his behavior in a deeply negative way.
So long as we are aware of who the people were and how that may have influenced their writing, then we are free to enjoy the work divorced from the person who created the work. It's all about understanding and accepting the whole truth and not ignoring atrocious behavior in order to create an easy reality for mindless consumption. That's just my thoughts on the whole separate the art from the artist. Both sides are kind of missing the point imo.
I remember reading this short story by him involving a wife killing her husband with a lamb leg then feeding the murder weapon to the investigating police. Some how this was a formative memory to me
Holy shit…
I'm sure I remember this story from an early episode of _Tales of the Unexpected_ which was introduced by Dhal himself. The other weird one was the macabre wager involving the loss of a finger if a lighter failed at any attempt.
@@solbutton1611 To be fair, that story is from one of his collections of short stories aimed at adults. Even Dahl never got that dark in his kids' books.
My year 7 English teacher read this out to my class when we were meant to be doing a spelling test once. Also a formative memory of mine.
Lamb to the Slaughter
Children are taught to fear witches..... and not to fear the people who burn witches.
Now there's a valid point.
Yes that is so true. In first grade they have books teaching kids to fear witches but they don't make the students read the crucible until tenth or eleventh grade. Things that make you go humm.
Because witches are bad and the people who burn them are good
@@Mars-ev7qg in third grade, they had us read a book about the Trials, but then again, I grew up not even 20 miles away from Salem/Danvers, so we learned a bit more about Colonial history than the rest of the country probably did/does; it’s part of our heritage
@mikeydubbs8565 Yes, that's a very unusual situation. Maybe other places will start following your school's example. I wouldn't hold my breath for it though.
This just goes to show that a good editor sometimes has more to do with a book’s success than the author.
This can be true even if you’re absolutely wonderful at writing, too
@@Dizzydollie7 "To write is human, to edit is divine." Stephen King
@@hcb0218 write drink, edit sober - someone famous but I forgot
wow - after learning about snozberries, the name willy wonka takes on a whole new meaning
Lol!
better than Willy Wanka
Well, as far as I know those stories aren't canon to each other. But interesting bit of trivia, anyway!
I remember reading a passage in his book Going Solo, an autobiography of his adult life around the time of the war. It was during his recovery after the crash mentioned in the video. He was bandaged up pretty snugly, and could not see anything for days on days. He was attended to by a female nurse, and he essentially fell in love with her and her voice. He waxed poetic about her, on and on. He finally got the bandages off, and looked at her. He said something along the lines of 'that was disappointing' and then made no mention of her ever again. Very clever author, quite unlikable otherwise.
I wouldn’t say that Dahl was one of my favorite authors, but I do remember reading his books quite vividly. The scratchy doodles on the covers that passed for cover art never seemed to match the comedic whimsy of the book, but looking back they seem to betray that behind the clever prose was a man who didn’t quite grow up.
Going Solo is a great book, as is Boy. Finding out more about the back story helped me make more sense of his very first published short story A Piece Of Cake. I especially love the transition from stream of consciousness to dreaming and delirium then back again.
@@motherofcatsnz I loved that last chapter. It was touch and go that he ever made it back to England, what with the ships all sailing through hazardous Nazi filled waters. They didn't all make it. Then it was only his RAF wings that saved him from a right good beating at the hands of a gang of drunks in London. Then he walked for hours to his sister's place, laden down with his weighty bags of lemons etc, along with enough pieces of silk fabric to make a dress for each one of his sisters. His mother was so pleased to see him as she had already once received the dreaded telegram and had no idea if he was even still alive after his plane crash in that Gladiator. A special mother and child reunion if ever there was one.
How do you know…?
@@jonharrison9222 If it's me you're asking then it's all in that last chapter of Going Solo.
I've been a journalist and occasional creative writer most of my life. I've met lots of successful writers in both my occupations and I find that Arthur Koestler said it best: "Liking a writer then meeting the writer is like liking goose liver and then meeting the goose."
Yes there's definitely a reason why they say you should never meet your heroes.
Based and redpilled Roald Dahl
Imagine being a french-german historian (modern history, including the medieval and a bachelor in art history that wasn't worth its money) whose german grandparents were people who voted for the Nazis....... It's not that easy. My grandmother had her last child (my mom) at age 35 and my mom had me at 42. I'm technically one of the few people born in 1990 with Nazi grandparents. My french grandparents were in the Résistance. The wedding was interesting, to say the least.....
Anyways, I know what it feels like to love people with a weird history. To put it mildly.
Love your videos!!! Big fan!
It may seem random that the grasshopper mentions that he doesn't want to be eaten by a Mexican, but I think it just relates to the fact that Mexicans are known to eat grasshoppers traditionally.
They call them 'chapulines'.
Mexicans aren't a separate race either. It's a former Spanish colony with the elite considering themselves more pure because they have mainly European Spanish blood. There are mestizos who have intermarried with Indigenous people and are only half pure European Spanish. Then there are the Indigenous people who lived there for thousands of years prior to colonization. So Mexican society is itself somewhat bigoted towards people of non-European blood.
You definitely skipped over his childhood lol. Dahl was a very privileged man who came from what we would probably now call the last of the aristocracy. He attended multiple high end schools regularly traveled abroad and was well connected in politics and money. The reality is that he probably grew up in the echo chamber of antisemitism, racism and misogyny and because his circle doesn’t change much during his life people whom he found worthy of his time would reiterate this to them. There was never really a chance he wouldn’t be antisemitic, he was just way to privileged to ever have his views tested or pushed beyond his own self indulgence.
product of his upbringing?
Aw just like little Draco Malfoy. Explaining the behavior doesn't excuse it.
Yes, no doubt he would be concerned about the plight of Palestinians
@@phoenixliv I mean if you’d read what I said you know I don’t think it does. There is a reason his wives and children don’t get along with him. He actively chose not to challenge his view points and died an old bitter man who held the same views his whole life. You also can’t really compare him to draco malfoy who was fictional character canonically left at age 17 (a very formative age) so we can’t know if he ever would/did change his opinions and outlooks on life.
I basically agree with you but he was no aristocrat being the son of Norwegian immigrants to Wales...
These jerks are everywhere in literature. Hemingway, Ágatha Christie, Patrícia Highsmith. Tell me who isn’t a jerk.
As a children's author, I'd say everyone I've met has been pretty lovely... But there are definitely some of the big names I would avoid 😅
Agatta? What did she do? 🤯
I've a friend who knew Alan Garner and thought him something of a snot. I met Margaret Mahy and she was just stunning..... so like every "classification", probably a mixed bag.
Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Elizabeth Gaskell aaand... J. R. R. Tolkien! (Yes he was also a product of his times which caused him to have a somewhat idealised view of women, but he was proudly opposed to anti-Semitism in an era when that wasn't a given, a nature lover and by all accounts a caring friend, a loving husband and father).
Yeah, if we only read nice people, then we’d have very little (good) books to read.
Lady of the Library, this video is interesting. However, you should remember that the book "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" is actually Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" is only the title of the 1971 movie with Gene Wilder. I don't mean to sound rude, but this error kept jumping out at me as a fan of the books.
She doesn't care about the books she just wants to be outraged at a beloved children's author
You obviously did not watch the video, Sean. There is no outrage in it.
I remember all those years of reading comic books in the back where they had the advertisements including the one to order sea monkeys. And we found out the person behind the Sea-Monkeys was a Hitler fan boy as well as racist.
Oh my god I forgot about the Nazi sea monkey creator!!
@@CinziaDuBois And he was Jewish.
The sea monkeys don't have the fault it was advertise as a pet by a nazi. Also the are known as artemia.
"A boaster, liar, and a bully" My father who sexually abused me loved Dahl. Thank you for this video. The obsession with "good"&"bad" children needing punishment .... the joy he took in punishment.... definitely something off about it.
Ooo sorry my good sister
Sorry that happened but your father may have loved marmalade or Mozart.
As someone who has been bullied, I am a big believer of justice and appropriate punishment
I think the main takeaway for the idea of “death of the author” needs to be accompanied by a hard look at the content of the author’s work and whether the authors’ baggage and harmful ideologies bleed through into their writing.
As a “for example”, the books of the Dean of science fiction, Robert Heinlein, are filled with homophobia, incest, misogyny, and of course a bit of racism, which follows along with his own harmful beliefs.
I don’t believe that these authors should be censored, but they should be read with a critical mindset rather than set forward as literary beacons.
As grim as this may sound, literal death of the author on top of that helps too. I wouldn’t want to spend any money that went to him if he lived today but he doesn’t so I’m not financially enabling his behavior.
I’ve stopped spending money on living writers for that reason. Even the one that made me want to write wasn’t immune from that.
There’s always the library, second hand shops, and even free digital file depending on one’s personal morals if you’re interested anyways.
Well, I never. I only read 'Stranger ...' and for the life of me believed him to be acute about things.
@@gubernatorial1723 I grok. But especially in “Stranger” he’s sexist and homophobic. There’s several paragraphs near the end after Mike starts his church about how Ben is reassured about Mike not having gay sex because Mike refuses to offer water to “effeminate men” (and masculine women for that matter) presumably because he “groks a wrongness with those poor inbetweeners”
@@sourgreendolly7685 oh for sure! And it does help if the family of the author are decent folks… and if they’re not, I’m certainly not above finding their book at the library (even online libraries) and reading it that way so I don’t have to give my $$ to them or their estate.
Thanks for your details, read it in the far-off less aware early eighties as a dewy-brained youth. One of the golden books from my dead ultra-cool eldest brother, The others from memory being a Gormenghast, a Hesse and Silas Marner. The first section of the last is forever the definitive summary of the falsehood of fundamentalism, known a hundred and fifty years ago.
Wild that The Witches as an entire work is an antisemitic blood libel metaphor yet THAT is what it got banned for.
I will always love Dahl because he was an extraordinary writer and story teller, even before he wrote children's stories. But man, was he a jerk. lol
Ok I’m ready… I have been avoiding a deep dive on one of my favorite authors because I knew the time he lived in. You have an honest face so I’ll take this journey with you
When I read his biography I was shocked to find this out about - what was - my literary hero. Thank you for this video! Also, Haifa is in Palestine, Israel didn’t exist until 1948 after the Nakba and destruction and colonization of the Ottoman Empire.
Ottoman Empire also engaged in destruction and colonization of other nations too though.
Yeah including Middle East and what Romans called Palestine which was called Judea and Israel all conqueres do the same thing Muslims did in Middle East when they took it in 6th century and so on .
Your commentary was so thorough, but I have to add something you didn't - Dahl played a significant part in changing the treatment of hydrocephalus in children, by collaborating on the development of the Wade-Dahl-Till valve. This device was a marked improvement on what had been in use previously, and benefitted thousands of children. It's been superseded, but it was a significant step forward in treatment. Having said this, I'm now concerned that you'll reveal that you researched this but left it out because it turns out Dahl's contribution has been overstated..!
Dahl always reminds me of Wodehouse, whom MI6 labelled as "not a Nazi sympathiser, but a silly ass" during WWII. They were both prime products of their time, and those were some bigoted times. Keeping that in mind, it's easier to separate the work from the creator, and enjoy the beauty of the English language and some of its best performing fleas.
But it was OK to be a Stalin sympathizer?
People defiantly tend to unfairly tar Wodehouse with the Nazi brush. I think he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time
I just read a Czech fairy where a prince goes through a series of three tasks accumulating a firebird, a golden horse, and a golden haired princess. Just as he is about to bring these to the king his brothers meet him on the road, and then violently cut him up into pieces and steal his treasures. Which came as a radical shock within the story, without a hint of foreshadowing. Czech stories are often dark as pitch. The dead prince is later reassembled and brought to life pouring over him the water of death... then the water of life. I love darker fairytales. Thanks for the dive into Roald Dahl's work and background.
Iván and the Firebird, right? Is a famous tale of slavic culture.
Folklore is so interesting for how grim and dark it can be.
@@nidohime6233 Basically yes. That's it!
Originally fairytales were created to entertain adults not children. It was Walt Disney that invented “happily ever after” because the original fairy tales frequently had violent, frightening ends.
I remember raising an eyebrow when reading his foreword to a collection of authors short ghost stories that he had put together, supposedly women are great at short stories, particularly ghost stories, but lack the ability to write good novels. His books most definitely had a big influence on my love for reading but I can think of plenty of female authors who have written far superior novels and short stories than anything that he wrote. A bit of a cliché but I guess he was a product of his times. Anyway, loving your channel, always a good watch.
It's subjective bro. Calm down.
@@tayzk5929 Bro? oh no, it’s happened again, i’m really sorry, my dad was a bit of a player. I’m sorry dear brother that you thought I needed to be told to calm down.I promise you I was very calm when I wrote the post, but since we are family you’ll soon get to know this. So your mother? Was she a lady of the night or was she just a loose woman? Dad had strange tastes.. are you a Dwarf?
@@jakdagger1076 Yikes, relax.
@@tayzk5929 Thank you for the concern dear brother but if I got any more relaxed I’d be dead.
@@jakdagger1076 Nah chill
Ahh a Dahl video. Fantastic!!
I’m a huge Dahl fan so this was great for me lol
That said, he is the reason why I sympathise with the whole “death of the author” mentality. He was a complete bastard. As were (and are) many of my favourite authors. Even those who inspired me a great deal in life
Mind you. It’s easier to forgive in an author born in like 1916 than any recent ones. At least Dahl has being born last century to fall back on in terms of having outdated views. It’s almost expected. Though it does amuse me that such a raunchy and adult author is mostly known as an acclaimed children’s author lol
Great work Cinzia!!
Roald Dahl sounds like a completely unpleasant human being. However, I can totally relate to his having a strong preference for a good pencil. Kudos to Knopf for refusing to deal with Dahl because he was unpleasant. I seriously doubt that an institution would have such scruples now, profit prevails now, not civility.
This comment is laughable given recent events. Publishing houses hire literal ‘sensitivity editors’ now. Anyone trying to write something even a fraction as jaundiced as Dahl’s stuff probably wouldn’t be allowed within fifty feet of the building.
Hard to say what their goal even is there, since they went as far as to remove inoffensive, non-racist parts of his books like the words “hag” or “screwy.” And you can’t really pin it on profit, either, since it’s been met with almost universal backlash (although I guess they are technically selling two versions of all his work now.)
Why did he not just buy his own pencils? Or use a pen, for that matter?
I think every author can have questionable content in their works, sometimes on purpose, sometimes by complete accident. Always important to look at the whole picture. Though I've heard stuff about how Dahl was a character for YEARS. Honestly, if he was around today in the age of social media, he would probably be largely despised.
And deservedly so, imo.
How is saying most banks being owned by Jews anti-Semitic?
because they don’t. it’s an untruth that was made by antisemites.
@@CinziaDuBois sorry let me be more specific; the Rothschilds own the most banks out of anyone. In the 1800s they controlled the Bank of England which means they had major influence over the British Empire too. Also by the end of the 19th century the Rothschilds owned HALF of the worlds wealth
@@CinziaDuBois They do, not even a labor intensive search into the matter will show who owns industry. Call me antisemitic, but you can't call me a liar.
Stating the truth is the fastest growing form of antisemitism in the world
telling the truth is the fastest growing hate crime in the world
I image you've read the real fairy stories (Brothers Grimm, and Anderson's versions) and they're actually dark, whilst Dahl's work is comparatively light hearted.
We loved his rewritings of the nursery rhymes 😄
A lot of his writings are definitely not for children.
Congrats on 100k! 🎈🎊🎉🥂🍾❣🕺💃🏽❣
Thank you!!
The grasshopper comment on being eaten by Mexicans may be a reference to insect based dishes in regional Mexican cuisine. For example, here in Los Angeles, the authentic Oaxacan restaurant, Guelaguetza, serves a plate of friend crickets. My friends tell me they are crunchy.
It's weird and amazing that writers like Dahl preach some form of acceptance, courage, kindness and we as readers are inspired and shape ourselves in those values but they themselves end up falling short on living up to those values. Also props to the editor made a rotten dude's body of work less awful.
Edit: I just find it funny that Dahl wrote books and would've never liked most of his fans because they were a different color, from a different country or the opposite gender he's like a badly done family guy cut away gag.
Perhaps you should contact his family and tell them that he was rotten...instead of sniping at him online. I'm sure they will respect your opinion.
@Don´tbehasty Everyone's fair game these days. Everyone's a critic! Everyone is a perfect little angel too! Ho ho! You don't like his work then just move on.
@Don´tbehasty I was referring to the OP's comments but of course no one likes racists apart from racists. As long as his work isn't racist who quite frankly gives a flying fig? He's dead. My gran was occasional a bit racist. Should I now refer to her as rotten also? Shhh...guess what? Lot's of British people were racist in the past. Including the parents of many commenting here re how rotten Dhal was.
@Don´tbehastyOk so did racism infuence his work? If so please provide examples of overt racism published by him. I will absolutely concede that hate was his intent if the examples provided reveal this.
@Don´tbehasty Mmm ok. It would be also interesting to research if there was one author writing prior to 1980s who didn't include racist tropes in their work.
I hate that ableism is seen as less toxic than other kinds of hatred. The use of his wife's words is such a clear mockery of the disabled. Which says nothing of the fact that the witches all have limb differences
Of course his children's literature was "dark". He grew up reading Norwegian and German fairy tales (the latter translated to Norwegian). Many of the greatest classic novels I have read in my life were written by authors whose opinions and "eccentric" behaviors is utterly repulsive today, but that were commonplace and mainstream in their lifetimes. Do I like that Knut Hamsun was a Nazi sympathizer, for example? Of course not. I was sorely disappointed when I found that out. As a writer myself, and a lifelong reader, "Growth of the soil" (Markens grøde) is still one of the best books I have ever read. I would probably not have agreed with Hamsun the man on anything. That doesn't mean that I can't admire his talent. I don't think I need to read the full life biography of every painter before I allow myself to be awestruck by their paintings when I visit a gallery, either. Or do research on the opinions of an architect before I buy a house he or she once designed for the first owner of the house. Life doesn't work that way for me. Does it for anyone?
My thoughts exactly!!! Thank you for not being afraid to be the voice of common sense.
Not everyone likes to take in art from terrible sources. Not sure why you're framing something as simple as informing yourself and choosing better art as such a silly impossible thing
@@AuraSparksBetter person doesn’t necessarily equal better art.
I was once told that artists either make art from the good that is within them or they make it from the good they wish was within them. I think Dahl may have been doing a little of both. I don’t know what was going on inside him but if I had to venture a guess, his trauma both physical and mental from the war probably shaped who he was and how he viewed the world. Perhaps his writing was a way to try and make something good out of all the toxicity he had created around himself. Maybe he wanted to both inspire kids as well as warn them about the darkness that was out there in the world. I don’t know, but I would like to believe his work was a way of trying to do some good even if he wasn’t capable of doing good elsewhere.
If you read his autobiograpy, that "Perhaps" becomes more of a "Very probably". Hurt people trying to compensate for hurting people ?
Well expressed … I feel similarly.
I think it's not just the war that traumatised him, because I've read that when he was a kid, he suffered a lot of abuse from his teachers at school. So it's possible he was already pretty traumatised from his childhood, the war only worsened it.
It's also possible that him writing his stories was a coping mechanism for him. Like an escape from his difficult life.
Very balanced presumptions. I suppose when analysing authors as such we fail to look at it as wholly as possible. One important factor to consider is the context and environment. For all of those who have been, seen, and felt war's consequences, they have said that it is the most destructive creation of mankind. War is an enormous effective factor in people's lives collectively and individually and to understand Dahl is to understand the context that he was brought up in and the values he had in that era of GB, and his ever evolving world views. Looking at Dahl from the perspectives we hold now will only lead to useless judgements of him. Jordan Peterson always says, seperate the wheat from the chaff and in Dahls case it has to be seperated. All of humanity has its dark side of the soul and praise be to those who do not deny it, work through it, and try at least to understand it with patience and hope of betterment. His novels appealed to me immensly as a child ( they still do) but his ability in making me imagine and picture his texts in my mind and still remember thim to this day is unique to say the least. May his memorable work live on, and may we as readers increase our understanding of humans in different chapters of history.
When I got older I also started to realize the same anti-semetic issues when I rewatched one of my childhood favorites,
‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’,
Most of the things the movie adaptation is known for were thanks to Dahl penning the screenplay.
Most notably… the childcatcher. Who is basically what would happen if nazi wrote a stranger danger PSA.
I mean… seriously Dahl! I will treasure my childhood memories of your work.
But… who hurt you?!
Jews
His teachers at school.
I opened up my phone a few summers ago and randomly read his entire collection of short stories right in my browser while relaxing in a lawn chair. What a trip that was. There were points where the writing was very strong, and good enough to keep me reading, but overall the experience left me with a low and dark feeling, a feeling like he was just messing around, that none of it really mattered, there wasn’t any central message or set of values behind his artistry as a storyteller. This has since clouded over my fonder memories of reading his best books as a child. Odd mind he had.
So I grew up with Roald Dahls work heck it was even in school (being born in 89) a lot of the stories he wrote were being transferred into visual media in the late 80s early 90s (If I remember dates correctly regardless).. I had no idea some of the background and ideology he personally had.. this was a very informative video and a peek into the mind of a great writer who had some serious demons that said I believe his works are relevant and still worth the read or watch this is coming from a Jewish reader despite his anti-semitic views some his stories are pure classics of my childhood and I'll ever hate his work because I can separate the artist from his personal ideology, thanks for doing what ya do and congrats on the 100K subs :)
When I did global English literature studies at university, we often got into the history of great authors. Usually shocking stuff. One of the best authors I remember was in real life a man who had murdered someone. Another was a man who had gone on the run, inspiring some of his writing. Great art seems to come from great suffering. Often self inflicted by the personality of an artist. I often wonder if the strict 'moral' gatekeeping of today is why we have so few great authors this century. Too much conformity. I often find works from centuries' past just better.
Burroughs?
Congrats on 100K! Great video! Didn't realize Roald Dahl was such a hot mess of a person.
Thank you!
@@CinziaDuBois do one on Dr Seuss next
I think Drag Queen story time is much worse for kids .
This was FASCINATING!! I had absolutely no clue that most of my favorite childhood stories were filled with so many salacious details! Keep up the great work, and Congratulations on 100k!!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉🍾
Glad you enjoyed it! and thank you
People are complex. I've read his autobiographies and I still respect him for his good qualities despite his alleged bigotry. I also think people can be too thin-skinned about that type of thing. I don't think he was nearly as racist as people seem to think. He simply wrote based on his life experiences and didn't sanitize his phrasing to accommodate a modern audience.
I had a similar journey with Dhal. After reading Neale’s biography, I was confirmed in my unease in what appeared to the adult me to be his misogynistic view of any but ‘pretty’ or young women. Older women are mostly treated as monsters, unless they’re motherly’. I read his adult short stories with fascination and they confirmed my view. A flawed misogynist, with skills.
Dahl and his wife funded the perfection of the medical miracle, the VP shunt that saved my life at 8 years old. Do that research. I owe my life to him and his wife at the time sacrificing everything to save their own child through this dedicated focus and funding. For anything bad you want to say about him...do not forget the greatness that he did. You can be good and bad at the same time. That's life. And he saved mine.
Reporting on the darker side of his classic works is not a commentary on what he did for you.
@@__-bk6mm Showing the dichotomy of the 2 shades is probably of interest. He may have hurt people and seemed to have helped a great many.
I used to have a VHS of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory - and after watching it, I threw it away - because I was appalled at how much the back-story of the Oompa-Loompas resembled the justifications that the slave-holders of the Southern United States gave for slavery during the antebellum. Thanks to your video - I now know that I am not the only one who noticed that!
Yea for sure it’s the same peternalistic bullshit instinct that pro-empire Brits like Churchill had about India. “Yes we are oppressing them but it’s ultimately good for them”
In the book is worse since the Oompa-Loompas where actually a tribe of african pygmies.
Thats ok...Hardley anyone I know is aware the author of Alice in Wonderland had a VERY .....strange fascination with the real Alice .
.who was a little girl at the time....and took nude photos of her at a just slightly older age and ultimately was thought to have been asked to not come around the family for some occurcance that was never spoken of, ripped from the pages of a diary so as not to be read about, and pretended to never have occurred even by Alice at the end of her life...
And hes celebrated the WORLD OVER.....oh the rose colored glasses. FUN!!
Thank you for putting it all out there. It’s not about cancelling them, it’s about presenting all sides of their character. His writing is brilliant for kids but they should know about the character of the man.
Why? Do you read a biography of every artist you experience the work of? Their work is not them. Complex people. Perhaps that's why they create? Artists should not be concerned with the petty morals of the general public. Especially the middle classes.
@@boogiewoogie9770 As a matter of fact I do. When an artist or person interests me or I enjoy their work. I do read/research their backgrounds. I do so because I’m curious about what influenced their creative process and who they are/were as a person. As implied by my pervious comment, although perhaps not explicitly stated, I don’t judge him for who he was and I can separate the art from the man and/or the prejudices of the time and his upbringing.
@@TheLala114 While you can, children usually cannot. Also, for myself, I stopped researching the lives of people who work in art, literature etc because it is always disappointing to discover the negative aspects of their personalities. Children would, in my opinion, suffer unnecessarily by being presented such adult topics from their favorite authors too early in life. As an elementary school teacher, I can assure you that most children will not be able to separate authors and their eccentricities from their work and many good books will be spoiled for them if such things are revealed about authors, especially their favorite ones during childhood. Let them enjoy their childhood and their favorite authors. Then, in college, the lives of authors can be studied by those who are interested in such things.
@@sandrafreeman515 I also teach primary and at no point have I suggested that we introduce the negative aspects of an author to children. But if a child were to ask, they should be given the correct information, as age appropriate. A lot of the children, I teach are from ethnic backgrounds and they think Dahl is fantastic. I would not wish to take that away from them, but if they were to ask, I would answer honestly but contextualise my answer so that they understood that society as a whole was very different and therefore so were ideas around race, etc.
Words simply cannot describe how little I care if a man born 107 years ago had opinions that where commonplace at that time
There were male witches.
Roald Dahl just didn't know enough about ancient English history.
Ancient English history?
Woo 100k!
I always enjoyed his books growing up. I have heard about there being a darker side to his character but never looked into the specifics, so this was very interesting!
Um…it seems like he probably had intense ptsd from war injuries. I know a lot of people with ptsd who are assholes
YAAAY Congratulations 100K!!!! Also yaaay Livestream
Thank you!!
In 1941 there was no Israel
It was Palestine back then
while witch typically translates etymologically as 'wise woman'... I know many men that practice various alternative faiths and refer to themselves as male witches. I use the term bard myself since I like language, learning, and stories as a way to be more in touch with my ancestry and faith.
Dahl's dark side is something I've enjoyed in addition to his lighter stuff. Thanks for highlighting it
I feel bad for the women he "seduced", sure he was rude and arrogant to men but I highly doubt he was any nicer to the women he slept with
Thanks for sharing this video!
He was my favourite author as a child, but I'm pretty sure I would have hated him he was alive rn reading his statements as an adult, especially after his daughter' words.
I used to "justify" him as a teenager contextualising his antisemitism as a reaction to the violence of Contemporary Israel, but I was so wrong.
His stories are still amazing, but it's good to know these aspects of his personality (as many authors like Lovecraft).
I wonder if his hatred towards "different" people is rooted in his childhood, being the son of Norwegian immigrants in Wales.
Very interesting and enlightening video but yeah i feel sometimes it doesn't pay to know too much about your favourite authors. Personally i recently decided to re read my fav series from my youth The Belgariad by david ( and leigh ) Eddings, a series that i'd probably read 30 plus times as a kid. I think i was about halfway through the first trilogy when i stumbled on an article about how they'd both spent a year in prison in the seventies for child abuse after keeping their adopted son in a cage.......Frankly i was devastated, i kept seeing things in the books after, that i'd always thought strange, as being slightly more sinister. Characters that had been like friends growing up were tainted and regrettably i decided to put them away and not read them again.......Sad when that happens
They never actually tasted the wallpaper in the book, only the 1971 film. They just went past the room.
There were very few books as a kid I would read. I didnt like to read , but I loved Matilda .
"How old were you when you learned about what snobberys we're"
Me : Today
I always knew that about the Snozzberries...I just knew but I gaslighted myself ugh...
i loved Danny Champion of the world
it was my favorite book when young
We read that in class in primary school, great story
I have always interpreted the adult Snozberries reference as testicles, because it connects with the old 'Twig and berries' analogy.
Dahl is the GOAT. Haters gonna hate
She just told you she loves his work… You can criticize the artist while still liking the art.
Like the original fairy tales published by the brothers Grimm were so light and sensitive. As for the character of creative people, I wouldn’t want to hang out with Tolstoy and Picasso’s treatment of women in his life is well known. Picasso was also one of the greatest artists in western history. Shockingly, artists are people and have all the problems of people.
in america, we would ban books for like, not enough misogyny. "this book promotes women's rights? banned!!!" also, i don't know how often it will come up in your videos, but NAACP is usually "N double A C P" - slightly easier to pronounce. :)
Which books were banned for promoting women's rights?
I always say to draw a line between the art and artist. Especially when they are dead and you can not really support them financially anymore.
But I can see how people may be mad about learning these things. I get it.
Additionally I do not think we should use a modern lense to look back at morality of the past.
This is however extremy subjective. A racist is a racist no matter where and when they live.
I'm not out mad learning these things. A little shocked, a little interested, but my world isn't rocked. I still love Matilda lol
@@kahlilbt Yeah but so many of these people will be seriously affected because they are too damn sensitive and upset about everything 🤣
@@ChrisCollins068 Shut up chris
Just discovered you and have been devouring your videos while I work....I'm a children's book illustrator and found this absolutely fascinating... I knew he was a jerk....but wow...illuminating!
He ghost wrote the three best James Bond novels (The Blofield Trilogy). They also happened to be the least if not at all racist or sexist compared to the ones actually written by Fleming.
Do you have a source for this? I know they were friends but I always understood that Fleming had more influence on Dahl than the other way. (Screenplays aside.)
This was such a fascinating analysis of Dahl's work and character. And congratulations on 100K!!
This was really enjoyable to watch, it had a strong hook, a good vibe all the way through, and I feel like I learned alot. I hope yall have a good day and I look forward to the next vid.
Glad you enjoyed it!
i wish I didn't learn my favorite childrens book is antisemitic :(
The only comment I think would be fair to make is I appreciate your mature response to this knowledge about Mr Dahl’s personal life. It’s taken on board without ending in an impassioned plea for torches and pitchforks.
Thank you so much for this absolutely fascinating video! And congrats on 100k, you're amazing! 🙆♀️
Here comes the smear campaign, I will cherish his works and so will my children.
Cinzia literally said that she still loves the books and will continue to read them and that they made her a better person. You obviously did not watch the video. You seem ignorant.
you didnt watch the video
I find it really strange that this adult man got to write books for children and included so much sexual innuendo and just really awful things about women. I wonder what the backlash would've been if I did the same towards men? Either way, i doubt any parent appreciated this. I would not want to read this to my niblings at all! Thanks for the video explaining all of this though!! You're amazing ❤
You find it strange that an adult man got to write books for children?? You’re as crazy as she is.
@@roninhood1027 There is something really wrong with your comprehension skills. Read the whole sentence. "I find it strange, IF a grown man wrote stories for children AND included so much sexual innuendo AND just really awful things about women." Please don't pick apart a sentence and accuse someone of being crazy, just because you couldn't read. I mentioned only adult men because that is what the context of the video was about. The same would apply if it was a female author. Please read things properly, it's daunting dealing with people like yourself. Go back and read what I said.
@@yb958 That's pretty par for the course on the internet. The second someone gets behind a keyboard it's like their brain cells leak out of their ears.
His traumatic brain injury was, I can easily assume, no small part of his negative and inappropriate behavior.
It should not be surprising that Dahl was racist and anti-semitic. On the contrary, it would be surprising to come across a white author of his generation (or of the previous 8 or 10 generations at a minimum) who WASN'T racist and anti-semitic. Those views were nearly universal and unquestioned among whites until relatively recently. Even if they didn't express such prejudices in writing, you can be confident that virtually every white author of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries shared those views, or at least took them for granted and didn't examine them. Exceptions would be rare enough to be notable.
By the way, NAACP is pronounced "N double-A C P".
Another great post! Thank you!!!
Roald Dahl was definitely an interesting character - a great writer and hero in some ways, but a very flawed human.
I have heard that his public bursts of anti-semitism followed - and may have been triggered by - his reaction to bombing during the invasion of Lebanon and Dahl's own past during WWII. It does not excuse a lot of things he said and I definitely agree Dahl had some quite racist sentiments, but it does put his vitriol against Israel in particular in context.
Well said
They never mention the context...
@@emilyzitioun3789 yeah context seems to be irrelevant nowadays
I love his stories from the bottom of my heart, but man this makes me sad knowing that he wasn't a very good person.
There was a strong antisemitic sentiment across Europe which lasted well after WW2. Some were jealous of their wealth; others blamed them for the deaths of allied soldiers. He wasn't anything horrid by the standards of his time. Though, its still disappointing :(
I heard a radio interview with Patricia Neal when she had started working again when no one thought she ever could. The interviewer kept trying to get her to express anger against Dahl who, I think, left her for another woman. (It’s a long time ago so I can’t swear to details). She absolutely refused because without him she would not be a fully functioning actress. She had no illusions about his character otherwise but did not waver in her gratitude to him.
They had other tragedies in their life together losing two young children in terrible ways.
Sounds like someone who got to ride on a Yacht with Epstein 🙄
This presenter is happy to finish a statement with hand gestures and a "so...". That is quite illitterate. Get a spoon,
You didn't mention his second wife, Felicity d'Abreu Crosland, who adored him and adores him still and manages his estate to this day. She was about half his age when they were married.
And what of the medical doodad he invented to help little Theo, his boy, after he was hit by that car and his skull was smashed? That doodad went on to be used in medicine for decades after that.
That night he spent all broken up in the desert accompanied by that other pilot who so luckily found him I believe yielded two wonderful things and one awful. His brain must've been somewhat transformed by the accident. he didn't think at all like other men when it came to storytelling. All his teeth were lost and replaced with false ones - a thing he claimed to bring about wonderful things in his life. He even wrote his mother advising her to do the same! Unfortunately, the damage the accident did to his body caused him lifelong chronic pain.
Yes, like many Englishmen of his day, he was a snarky, bigoted curmudgeon, but there were those who loved him, and he was brilliant with children. I feel his influence on me as a child surpassed that of my parents. I read everything of his I could get hold of, including his raunchy, creepy stories for adults.
And possibly my favorite Dahl factoid - he died relatively slowly and in terrible pain. Felicity d'Abreu Crosland, or Felicity Anne Dahl and the children hung onto him 'til the pain grew too much for any of them to bear. It was decided between Felicity and their doctor that Dahl would finally be administered a nice dose of morphine. As the needle touched his arm, the barely conscious Dahl yelled, "F#%k!" his final word. A true master.
Thanks Mark. I'm surprised and impressed by the intelligence of the comment train here.
@@gubernatorial1723 Thank YOU! It sort of makes one wonder, how many of us started reading and developing strong comprehension skills at a younger age than the average purely due to having partaken of the gloriously delumptious fruits of that wonderful playground of a mind atop that lanky frame? (I don't think "delumptious" is really one of his special additions to the dictionary, but I had a bit of a brain fart trying to remember the correct one. 😅)
(About 15 minutes later...)
There could very easily be a better one, but scrumdiddlyumptious is the word I was looking for. 😉
Fried grasshoppers is a popular food in Oaxaca, Mexico. Maybe Dahl heard about it and found it interesting enough to reference in his book.
The nazi sympathiser comment surprised me. I read a collection of his short stories (Kiss Kiss) and one was about the horror of Adolf Hitler being the only child to survive out of the children his mother had. Like "uh oh, it's hitler" was the final horror punchline.
Side note: I wasn't allowed to read Roald Dahl as a child because he wrote The Witches and my parents were worried about occult themes 🙃
Yes this ‘lady’ is delusional, the doublethink of knowing he played a key part in bringing the Americans into WW2, and thus defeating the nazis, then calling him a nazi sympathiser because he expressed an opinion on why all the horror happened is quite extraordinary.
oh Ronin, heaven forbid a woman disagrees with you. your misogyny is showing. for starters, Dahl was legally required to join the armed forces, as all single men were, in WWII. He legally didn’t have a choice in the matter, and I would argue most people don’t join the army to defeat a particular person, they do so because they want to serve their country. Many American and British soldiers didn’t agree with the ethics of the Iraq war, but they had to serve anyway. Secondly, Dahl became antisemitic after the war, not before. He discussed how it was his time during Lebanon that he learned about the Jewish people and began establishing his antisemitic views. He said, and I quote, “Never before in the history of man has a race of people switched so rapidly from being much-pitied victims to barbarous murderers.”
If you say “even Hitler had his reasons” you are literally sympathising with the man - you are sympathising with his logic and can be thus labelled a sympathiser. He literally began to believe in all the antisemitic propaganda during and after the war. Just because he was legally obligated and then developed his views later in life doesn’t mean he is incapable of sympathising with Hitler. That quote from Dahl is a literal example of him sympathising with the man. it would be like someone saying that about the Texan school shooter “well, he had his reasons.”. that sentiment is literally sympathy for the shooter.
@@CinziaDuBois "Never before in the history of man has a race of people switched so rapidly from being much-pitied victims to barbarous murderers" - how is that anti semetic?
Why was it OK to sympathize with Stalin but not Hitler?
I don't wanna watch this
He wrote a loada bollocks anyway! What adult with even give that a chance! Presumably an adult reviewed it first?
I don't know if the grasshopper and mexicans is actually racist. Here in Mexico, a variety of grasshoppers called chapulines are captured at cornfields and eaten. It could be a reference to that and not something totally racist. Cheers!
My Uncle Oswald and Switch Bitch were standouts from my schooling!
"antisemitic, sexist, racist"?
sounds like a true brit through and through.
Thank you for sharing this video. For me the most interesting part of this video essay is the whole "death of the author" debate. Anything you would share on this matter?
Check your dates; the US entered the war in December 1941 so there would have been no reason for him to be sent here to "persuade" the US to enter the war in 1942. Please accept my apologies if I misunderstood your comment.
What is it with whimsical children's authors being horrible people with vile political views? Blyton, Dahl, Rowling... Thank goodness for Terry Prachett.
That's it, you stick to your Prachett, kid. ;)
I've read a few of his books as a child and I was thinking about revisiting some of them bc I don't remember much and if I do so, I'll read with more context now, this was so interesting! (And disappointing but oh well 🙄)
I joined the publisher George Allen & Unwin around the time of the publication of the first UK Edition of 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'. The demand was enormous. During the Christmas period a van load of the book was being delivered to 'Foyles' daily, and sometimes, more than once a day.
It is interesting to note that the Northern sales representative, a long serving and highly respected individual, Archie Chown, totally refused to promote the book to any bookseller or related book trade wholesaler. He openly stated that he "utterly detested the book". This in real terms, for him, meant a significant loss of potential income. A man of principle. Something of a rarity in the contemporary world.
This obsession with people rather than their work is becoming insane.
@@Sab_MJsMama No, you folks are being babies. Grow up. People are not perfect. You may despise who they are or what they believe. But it has nothing to do with the quality of their work. I doubt you're the least bit interested in facts. It's likely you're obsessed with ideology.
Another great video by the lovely Cinzia DuBois
Glad you enjoyed it