History Creator / RoaldDahl

Dahl himself grew up to have quite the exciting life. After graduation he went to fulfill his military service in Africa, where he became an AcePilot for the Royal Air Force during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. C. S. Forester (author of the ''Literature/HoratioHornblower'' series) asked Dahl to write down his account of his survival after a desert crash, with the understanding that Forester would edit it into a proper magazine article. Dahl did as asked -- and Forester refused to change a word. In fact, he encouraged Dahl to publish it under his own name. Thus began Dahl's career as a writer. Dahl was later assigned to cover the British ground forces in Greece, where his squadron fought valiantly against long odds and he was shot down. The second crash injured his back and left him with recurring headaches that eliminated him from flight duty.

* GivingSomeoneThePointerFinger: His book ''The Magic Finger'' is about a girl who points people who had enraged her with her finger and converts the ponted person into an animal.

* LiteralTransformativeExperience: In ''The Magic Finger,'' a family of hunting enthusiasts sprout wings, shrink to the size of small birds and are forced to live in a tree in their garden, while a family of anthropomorphic ducks move into their house. The ducks eventually threaten the hunters with their own guns, but the hunters get the ducks to back down by swearing to renounce their hunting lifestyle and become vegetarian, at which point the ducks allow them back into the house and the transformation wears off. After this, the father is seen smashing the family's guns with a hammer while the mother lays flowers on a makeshift grave for the many victims of past hunts and the children scatter birdseed for a huge flock of birds.

* NoNameGiven: In two of the children's books told from a first-person view, the main character is not named: the boy in ''Literature/TheWitches'', and the girl in ''The Magic Finger''. Interestingly, in many of the books, an extremely minor character is named in full: for example, in ''Literature/JamesAndTheGiantPeach'', the rolling peach takes the skin off the nose of a young woman called Daisy Entwistle.

* SymbolicWeaponDiscarding: In ''The Magic Finger'', the Gregg family [[LiteralTransformativeExperience are forced to live as ducks for a day]], as revenge for hunting and killing them. Afterwards, the family vows to live as vegetarians, and Mr. Gregg smashes the family's guns into pieces with a huge hammer.

* WickedStepmother: James in ''James And The Giant Peach'' is an orphan who is forced to live with his aunts, who treat him very badly.

* PlayingSick: In ''Boy'', Dahl recalls being so homesick during his first term at boarding school that he tried faking appendicitis just to be able to go home for a few days. The examining doctor wasn't fooled (the lack of physical symptoms, despite the boy's LargeHam performance in screaming with pain, was a dead giveaway), but agreed to keep Dahl's secret.

* BleachedUnderpants: In addition to his well-known children's books, HeAlsoDid plenty of material like ''Literature/MyUncleOswald'', which can only be described as NotSafeForWork.

* ''Literature/LambToTheSlaughter'' (1953)
* ''Literature/TheLandlady'' (1959)

Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British author of Norwegian descent most famous for his distinctively dark but often whimsical children's novels and poetry collections, though he started out as a writer of short stories for adults.

Roald Dahl (September 13, 1916 -- November 23, 1990) was a British author of Norwegian descent most famous for his distinctively dark but often whimsical children's novels and poetry collections, though he started out as a writer of short stories for adults.

* AcclaimedFlop: This is a notable trend with cinematic adaptations of Dahl's work. From ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory'' up to 2016's ''Film/TheBFG'', multiple Dahl films have been made that earned a good deal of critical acclaim but were all [[BoxOfficeBomb Box Office Bombs]] apart from ''Film/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory''; the one cinematic project that had Dahl's name on it that got a "mixed" reception was the Film/JamesBond movie ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice'', which Dahl wrote (this movie was also a financial success).

* CoolTeacher: As he describes in ''Boy'', Dahl had one such teacher at Repton, a math teacher named Corkers, who did just about everything ''but'' teach math and liked to joke with his students. A typical class period would have him leading the students in solving a crossword puzzle rather than teaching figures.

Roald Dahl (September 13, 1916 - November 23, 1990) was a British author of Norwegian descent most famous for his distinctively dark but often whimsical children's novels and poetry collections, though he started out as a writer of short stories for adults.

His style is exemplified by BlackComedy, and as a result even his juvenile stories contain a good deal of more-than-usually sophisticated NightmareFuel. The fact that said young target audience has been happily lapping all this up for decades now seems to imply that many kids actually ''like'' to be terrified (hey, it works for ''Series/DoctorWho'').

Trademarks include his [[AuthorAppeal love of nostalgia]] for his own childhood (with which he generally manages to avoid alienating his younger readers) and his great love of FoodPorn. Almost all of the {{happy ending}}s in his work revolve, in some way, around food... although many of them [[BittersweetEnding aren't exactly happy]]. He had less wonderful memories about the [[BoardingSchoolOfHorrors headmasters at his school terrorizing, humiliating and caning pupils]] as was common in those days, as mentioned in his autobiographical novel ''Boy''. His not-unreasonable conclusion that all HumansAreBastards would inspire a lot of his later stories.

His works for adults are almost universally cynical and pessimistic about human nature; his works for children take the same attitude to a whole other level, featuring arrogant, wicked and/or just plain mean adults who menace innocent youngsters (or, in a couple of memorable cases, fuzzy little animals) more or less [[ForTheEvulz just because they can]]. Sometimes these are traditional boogeymen (e.g., The Grand High Witch in ''Literature/TheWitches'', the Giants in ''Literature/TheBFG''), but more often they're simply irredeemably vile grownups. Just how irredeemable is spelled out in exquisite detail on almost every page.

* CreatorThumbprint: He loved nostalgia for his childhood, and food. Almost all of his books revolve around food in some way, and most of the Happy Endings his heroes get are based on food in some way.
* DarkerAndEdgier: Compared to many children's stories, Dahl's books do have a dark edge to them. They often showcase BlackComedy and scenes that have worried parents and teachers because they fear they are too horrifying or sadistic for young readers. Yet Dahl has been popular with children for decades.

* GenreAdultery: Dahl, world famous for his children's novels, also wrote ''Literature/MyUncleOswald'', an erotic soft core satire. Exactly why becomes more clear when one learns that he was [[TheCasanova an inveterate womanizer]]. One of his jobs in World War II actually required him to seduce well-connected American women into political compliance.

* NightmareFuelStationAttendant: Dahl earned his title "Master of the Macabre" thanks to a series of mysterious, unpredictable and often bone chilling short stories for adults collected in ''Literature/TalesOfTheUnexpected''. His children's novels are also notorious for disturbing and scary scenes. Let's just say there is a good reason [[NightmareFuel/RoaldDahl why he has his own Nightmare Fuel page.]]

* SadistTeacher: And how. Dahl never forgot the strict and repressive rules at his old schools and describes being beaten in his autobiographical novel "Boy". One scene from this book was almost re-used line-by-line in his novel ''Literature/DannyTheChampionOfTheWorld'', with the appearance, behaviour and name of the teacher [[RecycledScript almost literally the same]]. Another book about sadist teachers is ''Literature/{{Matilda}}'', where principal Mrs. Trunchbull leads an even more grotesque reign of terror. Captain Hardcastle in ''Boy'' is a real-life example. So much that after he falsely accused young Dahl of cheating on a homework assignment and had the boy sent to the headmaster's office to be caned, he apparently ''left the door to the teacher's lounge open'' so he could hear - and enjoy - the beating in progress. Dahl theorizes part of the reason for his brutality may have been that Hardcastle was a ShellShockedVeteran of World War I.

* ToiletHumour: Dahl thanks a lot of his popularity among children for this. The most well known example is the BFG ''whizzpopping''[[note]]breaking wind - so strongly that the twenty-foot giant is actually propelled into the air![[/note]] after having drank his favorite drink.

* WickedStepmother: James in "James And The Giant Peach" is an orphan who is forced to live with his aunts, who treat him very badly.