An Unexpected Outpouring of Affection for Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl and Douglas Adams are, for me, the two authors that most shaped my childhood. Dahl first, of course. I didn't get to Adams until high school.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator are core memories for me. I had a beat up copy of the two books in one that I used to carry with me whenever I was on an airplane, which was surprisingly often back then.
I recently watched Timothee Chalamet's Wonka movie, which I did not enjoy. The songs fell flat, the plot was quite typical of a children's movie, and the whole movie felt somewhat unnecessary. I thought I'd grown too old for the Charlieverse.
Then I watched the Gene Wilder Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory movie and I realized that I was wrong - I wasn't too old. Chalamet's Wonka movie didn't feel magical; Wilder's did. All of it, all the songs, Wilder's entrance scene with the limping and the somersault, and my #1 favourite line - "A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men." The 1971 movie is a masterpiece. I was surprised to read that Dahl himself didn't think much of the movie, claiming that the songs were too saccharine and Wonka took the emphasis off of Charlie. I don't know, old Roald may have been wrong about this one.
Eventually, I devoured all of Dahl's children's books, even the really simple ones like Esio Trot. I felt a little silly checking that tiny book out from the library when I was 12, but it was Roald Dahl - I don't think anyone would've thought less of me.
I've always felt that Danny The Champion of the World was slept on - such a phenomenal book that never got the same popularity as his other works. Matilda, sure. The BFG, yeah okay. But Danny, my goodness. The excitement Danny's dad has when their plan succeeds perfectly reflected my excitement reading it for the first time, and even excites me just thinking about it today.
Dahl's oeuvre allows you to grow up with him; I got to his autobiographical books next. Boy is a terrific tale of his life in boarding school, from the highs of tasting chocolates and writing reviews to the lows of warming the toilet seats in the outhouses for his seniors to use. I especially remember being mind-blown by his R.A.F experiences from Going Solo, wondering how someone with the talent to write lovely stories could also have had the skill to fly a fighter plane.
Another book I appreciated as I grew older was The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More, which Wes Anderson recently adapted beautifully. Wes Anderson has a knack for adapting Dahl's material and brings the right kind of energy to the task, as he did in the earlier Fantastic Mr. Fox. In this particular entry, the narrative device of, well, narrating the entire text of the story was a smart choice. Dahl's words are perfect, as was Anderson's picturizing of them.
I'd read his adult short stories a long while ago and don't remember much of them. Clearly, it's time for a reread.