Editing Roald Dahl (section)

===Children's fiction===
{{Quote box
| width = 30%
| align = right
| quote = "He [Dahl] was mischievous. A grown-up being mischievous. He addresses you, a child, as somebody who knows about the world. He was a grown-up—and he was bigger than most—who is on your side. That must have something to do with it."
| source = —Illustrator [[Quentin Blake]] on the lasting appeal of Dahl's children's books.<ref name=IND/>
}}
Dahl's children's works are usually told from the point of view of a child. They typically involve adult [[villain]]s who hate and mistreat children, and feature at least one "good" adult to counteract the villain(s).<ref name="IND" /> These stock characters are possibly a reference to the abuse that Dahl stated that he experienced in the [[boarding school]]s he attended.<ref name="IND" /> In a biography of Dahl, Matthew Dennison wrote that "his writing frequently included protests against unfairness".{{sfn|Dennison|2023|p=8}} Dahl's books see the triumph of the child; children's book critic Amanda Craig said, "He was unequivocal that it is the good, young and kind who triumph over the old, greedy and the wicked."{{sfn|de Castella|2011}} Anna Leskiewicz in ''[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]'' wrote, "It's often suggested that Dahl's lasting appeal is a result of his exceptional talent for wriggling his way into children's fantasies and fears, and laying them out on the page with anarchic delight. Adult villains are drawn in terrifying detail, before they are exposed as liars and hypocrites, and brought tumbling down with retributive justice, either by a sudden magic or the superior acuity of the children they mistreat."<ref name="Leszkiewicz" />

While his whimsical fantasy stories feature an underlying warm sentiment, they are often juxtaposed with grotesque, [[black comedy|darkly comic]] and sometimes harshly violent scenarios.<ref name="INT" />{{sfn|Hamlin |2015}} ''[[The Witches (novel)|The Witches]]'', ''[[George's Marvellous Medicine]]'' and ''[[Matilda (novel)|Matilda]]'' are examples of this formula. ''[[The BFG]]'' follows, with the good giant (the BFG or "Big Friendly Giant") representing the "good adult" archetype and the other giants being the "bad adults". This formula is also somewhat evident in Dahl's film script for ''[[Chitty Chitty Bang Bang]]''. Class-conscious themes also surface in works such as ''[[Fantastic Mr Fox]]'' and ''[[Danny, the Champion of the World]]'' where the unpleasant wealthy neighbours are outwitted.<ref name="BBC Studios 2016" /><ref>{{cite news|title='Fantastic Mr. Fox' movie review: Wes Anderson joyfully re-creates Roald Dahl's foxy family|url=http://www.nj.com/entertainment/tv/index.ssf/2009/11/post_25.html|work=[[The Star-Ledger]]|date=21 January 2016|access-date=21 January 2016|archive-date=31 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160131081408/http://www.nj.com/entertainment/tv/index.ssf/2009/11/post_25.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Dahl also features characters who are very fat, usually children. Augustus Gloop, Bruce Bogtrotter and Bruno Jenkins are a few of these characters, although an enormous woman named Aunt Sponge features in ''[[James and the Giant Peach]]'' and the nasty farmer Boggis in ''Fantastic Mr Fox'' is an enormously fat character. All of these characters (with the possible exception of Bruce Bogtrotter) are either villains or simply unpleasant gluttons. They are usually punished for this: Augustus Gloop drinks from [[Willy Wonka]]'s chocolate river, disregarding the adults who tell him not to, and falls in, getting sucked up a pipe and nearly being turned into fudge. In ''Matilda'', Bruce Bogtrotter steals cake from the evil headmistress, [[Miss Trunchbull]], and is forced to eat a gigantic chocolate cake in front of the school; when he unexpectedly succeeds at this, Trunchbull smashes the empty plate over his head. In ''The Witches'', Bruno Jenkins is lured by the witches (whose leader is the [[Grand High Witch]]) into their convention with the promise of chocolate, before they turn him into a mouse.{{sfn|Marlow|2009|p=46}} Aunt Sponge is flattened by a giant peach. When Dahl was a boy his mother used to tell him and his sisters tales about trolls and other mythical Norwegian creatures, and some of his children's books contain references or elements inspired by these stories, such as the giants in ''The BFG'', the fox family in ''Fantastic Mr Fox'' and the trolls in ''[[The Minpins]]''.{{sfn|Volvovski|Rothman|Lamothe|2014|p=28}}

In 1972, [[Eleanor Cameron]], also a children's book author, published an article in ''[[The Horn Book Magazine|The Horn Book]]'' criticising ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' and its depiction of the African-derived [[Oompa-Loompa]]s, who "have never been given the opportunity of any life outside of the chocolate factory".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Cameron|first=Eleanor|date=19 October 1972|title=McLuhan, Youth, and Literature: Part I|url=https://www.hbook.com/?detailStory=mcluhan-youth-and-literature-part-i-2|access-date=14 October 2020|website=The Horn Book|archive-date=10 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200810105229/https://www.hbook.com/?detailStory=mcluhan-youth-and-literature-part-i-2|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1973, Dahl posted a reply, calling Cameron's accusations "insensitive" and "monstrous".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Dahl|first=Roald|date=27 February 1973|title=The Horn Book {{!}} "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory": A Reply|url=https://www.hbook.com/?detailStory=charlie-chocolate-factory-reply|access-date=14 October 2020|website=The Horn Book|archive-date=19 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819131054/https://www.hbook.com/?detailStory=charlie-chocolate-factory-reply|url-status=live}}</ref> The debate between the two authors sparked much discussion and a number of letters to the editor.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Eleanor Cameron vs. Roald Dahl|url=https://www.roalddahlfans.com/dahls-work/books/charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory/eleanor-cameron-vs-roald-dahl/|access-date=14 October 2020|website=Roald Dahl Fans|language=en-US|archive-date=16 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201016204406/https://www.roalddahlfans.com/dahls-work/books/charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory/eleanor-cameron-vs-roald-dahl/|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1991, [[Michael Dirda]] also discussed other criticisms of Dahl's writing, including his alleged sexism, of which Dirda wrote, "''The Witches'' verges on a general misogyny."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Dirda|first=Michael|date=7 December 1990|title=Opinion {{!}} Roald Dahl Also Left a Legacy of Bigotry (Published 1990)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/07/opinion/l-roald-dahl-also-left-a-legacy-of-bigotry-880490.html|access-date=14 October 2020|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=19 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019034537/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/07/opinion/l-roald-dahl-also-left-a-legacy-of-bigotry-880490.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1998, [[Michele Landsberg]] analysed the alleged issues in Dahl's work and concluded that, "Throughout his work, evil, domineering, smelly, fat, ugly women are his favourite villains."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Think Twice about Roald Dahl|url=https://www.lilith.org/articles/think-twice-about-roald-dahl/|access-date=14 October 2020|website=Lilith Magazine|date=27 September 1998|language=en-US|archive-date=19 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019084043/https://www.lilith.org/articles/think-twice-about-roald-dahl/|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2008, [[Una Mullally]] argued that there are feminist messages in Dahl's work, even if they may be obscured, "''The Witches'' offers up plenty of feminist complexities. The witches themselves are terrifying and vile things, and always women... The book is often viewed as sexist, but that assessment ignores one of the heroines of the story, the child narrator's grandmother."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Mullally|first=Una|title=Women, as written by Roald Dahl|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/women-as-written-by-roald-dahl-1.2775898|access-date=14 October 2020|newspaper=The Irish Times|language=en|archive-date=13 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220313051144/https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/women-as-written-by-roald-dahl-1.2775898|url-status=live}}</ref>

Receiving the 1983 [[World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement]], Dahl encouraged his children and his readers to let their imagination run free. His daughter Lucy stated "his spirit was so large and so big he taught us to believe in magic."<ref name="BBC Studios 2016" /> She said her father later told her that if they had simply said goodnight after a bedtime story, he assumed it wasn't a good idea. But if they begged him to continue, he knew he was on to something, and the story would sometimes turn into a book.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/british-author-roald-dahl-daughter-lucy-bfg-rough-drafts-bedtime-stories/|title=Roald Dahl's daughter on when "The BFG" was a bedtime story|website=www.cbsnews.com|date=5 July 2016 |access-date=29 December 2022|archive-date=29 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221229001435/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/british-author-roald-dahl-daughter-lucy-bfg-rough-drafts-bedtime-stories/|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.|Roald Dahl, ''The Minpins''}}

[[File:Norland Scarecrow Festival 12.jpg|thumb|upright|Scarecrow of [[the BFG]] (the Big Friendly Giant) at a festival in Yorkshire; many of Dahl's new words are spoken by the character.<ref name="new words">{{cite news |title=10 Roald Dahl moments to inspire generations |url=https://www.readersdigest.co.uk/culture/books/book-reviews/10-roald-dahl-moments-to-inspire-generations |access-date=7 July 2023 |work=Reader's Digest |archive-date=8 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230708140105/https://www.readersdigest.co.uk/culture/books/book-reviews/10-roald-dahl-moments-to-inspire-generations |url-status=live}}</ref>]]

Dahl was also famous for his inventive, playful use of language, which was a key element to his writing. He invented over 500 new words by scribbling down his words before swapping letters around and adopting [[spoonerisms]] and [[malapropisms]].<ref name="new words"/><ref name="Dahl Dictionary" /> The lexicographer Susan Rennie stated that Dahl built his new words on familiar sounds, adding:

{{blockquote|He didn't always explain what his words meant, but children can work them out because they often sound like a word they know, and he loved using [[onomatopoeia]]. For example, you know that something ''lickswishy'' and ''delumptious'' is good to eat, whereas something ''uckyslush'' or ''rotsome'' is definitely not! He also used sounds that children love to say, like ''squishous'' and ''squizzle'', or ''fizzlecrump'' and ''fizzwiggler''.<ref name="Dahl Dictionary"/>}}

As marketing director of [[Penguin Books]] in the 1980s, [[Barry Cunningham (publisher)|Barry Cunningham]] travelled the UK with Dahl on a promotional book tour, during which he asked Dahl what the secret of his success was, with Dahl responding, "the thing you've got to remember, is that humour is delayed fear, laughter is delayed fear."<ref name="Cunningham">{{cite news |title=Working with Roald Dahl helped me find Harry Potter |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c51y37yez2mo.amp |access-date=20 July 2024 |publisher=BBC}}</ref> Cunningham later recollected, "if you look at the way he uses humour and the way that children use humour, perhaps sometimes it's the only weapon they have against terrifying circumstances or people. That's very indicative of his stories and the style of those stories."<ref name="Cunningham"/>

A UK television special titled ''Roald Dahl's Revolting Rule Book'', which was hosted by [[Richard E. Grant]] and aired on [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] on 22 September 2007, commemorated Dahl's 90th birthday and also celebrated his impact as a children's author in popular culture.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1113720/|title=Roald Dahl's Revolting Rule Book (TV Movie 2007)|work=IMDb|date=22 September 2007|access-date=26 May 2020|archive-date=7 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307223611/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1113720/|url-status=live}}</ref> It also featured eight main rules he applied on all his children's books:
# Just add chocolate
# Adults can be scary
# Bad things happen
# Revenge is sweet
# Keep a wicked sense of humour
# Pick perfect pictures
# Films are fun...but books are better!
# Food is fun!
[[File:Etwall Well Dressing - 2017 (Roald Dahl's BFG) - geograph.org.uk - 5399344.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Well dressing]] in [[Etwall]], Derbyshire, depicting various characters from Dahl's stories, 
marking the centenary of his birth]]
In 2016, marking the centenary of Dahl's birth, Rennie compiled ''The Oxford Roald Dahl Dictionary'' which includes many of his invented words and their meaning.<ref name="Dahl Dictionary" /> Rennie commented that some of Dahl's words have already escaped his world, for example, ''Scrumdiddlyumptious'': "Food that is utterly delicious".<ref name="Dahl Dictionary" /> In his poetry, Dahl gives a humorous re-interpretation of well-known nursery rhymes and [[fairy tales]], parodying the narratives and providing surprise endings in place of the traditional happily-ever-after. Dahl's collection of poems, ''[[Revolting Rhymes]]'', is recorded in [[audiobook]] form, and narrated by actor [[Alan Cumming]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y7aeAAAAMAAJ&q=alan+cumming|title=AV guide, Volumes 77–82|publisher=Scranton Gillette Communications|date=1998|access-date=16 September 2014|archive-date=17 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230417114106/https://books.google.com/books?id=Y7aeAAAAMAAJ&q=alan+cumming|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2023, [[Puffin Books]], which holds the rights to all Dahl's children's books, published editions which included [[Roald Dahl revision controversy|hundreds of revisions]] to the text at the advice of [[sensitivity reader]]s.<ref>{{cite web |title=The rewriting of Roald Dahl |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/02/17/roald-dahl-books-rewritten-offensive-matilda-witches-twits/ |website=The Telegraph |date=24 February 2023 |access-date=19 February 2023 |archive-date=2 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230302234039/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/02/17/roald-dahl-books-rewritten-offensive-matilda-witches-twits/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Changes included the use of gender-neutral words and phrases such as "parents" or "siblings" rather than "boys and girls", "mothers and fathers", the word "fat" being replaced with terms such as "enormous" or "large", and words like "crazy" and "mad" were regularly removed.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/02/17/roald-dahl-books-rewritten-offensive-matilda-witches-twits/ |title=Roald Dahl rewritten: the hundreds of changes made to suit a new 'sensitive' generation |date=24 February 2023 |last1=Cumming |first1=Ed |last2=Buchanan |first2=Abigail |last3=Holl-Allen |first3=Genevieve |last4=Smith |first4=Benedict |work=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]] |access-date=6 May 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230302234039/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/02/17/roald-dahl-books-rewritten-offensive-matilda-witches-twits/ |archive-date=2 March 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> The move was supported by a number of authors, including Society of Authors chair [[Joanne Harris]] and [[Diego Jourdan|Diego Jourdan Pereira]] at ''[[Writer's Digest]]'', but it drew many more critical responses.<ref name="roy">{{cite news |last1=Roy |first1=Nilanjana |title=The case against rewriting Roald Dahl |url=https://www.ft.com/content/a5f1f6af-8aaf-4f8b-8bfe-01c4e3d68c87 |work=Financial Times |date=24 February 2023 |access-date=25 February 2023 |archive-date=2 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230302171641/https://www.ft.com/content/a5f1f6af-8aaf-4f8b-8bfe-01c4e3d68c87 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Pereira |first=Diego Jourdan |date=28 August 2023 |title=Roald Rage: On When and Whether It Makes Sense to Update Previously Published Text for Modern Sensibilities |url=https://www.writersdigest.com/be-inspired/roald-rage-on-when-and-whether-it-makes-sense-to-updated-previously-published-text-for-modern-sensibilities |access-date=17 November 2023 |website=Writer's Digest |language=en}}</ref> Several public figures, including then-[[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] [[Rishi Sunak]] and author [[Salman Rushdie]], spoke out against the changes.<ref>{{cite news|last=Dellatto|first=Marisa|title=Roald Dahl Books Get New Edits—And Critics Cry Censorship: The Controversy Surrounding 'Charlie And The Chocolate Factory' And More|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2023/02/20/roald-dahl-books-get-new-edits-and-critics-cry-censorship-the-controversy-surrounding-charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory-and-more/?sh=6833ef524534|work=[[Forbes]]|date=20 February 2023|access-date=26 February 2023|archive-date=28 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230228232244/https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2023/02/20/roald-dahl-books-get-new-edits-and-critics-cry-censorship-the-controversy-surrounding-charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory-and-more/?sh=61a3a45a4534|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Zymeri|first=Jeff|title=Salman Rushdie Blasts 'Absurd' Censorship of Roald Dahl|url=https://www.nationalreview.com/news/the-dahl-estate-should-be-ashamed-salman-rushdie-blasts-absurd-censorship-of-roald-dahl/|work=[[National Review]]|date=21 February 2023|access-date=26 February 2023|archive-date=21 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230221153943/https://www.nationalreview.com/news/the-dahl-estate-should-be-ashamed-salman-rushdie-blasts-absurd-censorship-of-roald-dahl/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Roald Dahl rewrites: edited language in books criticised as 'absurd censorship' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/20/roald-dahl-books-rewrites-criticism-language-altered |website=The Guardian |date=20 February 2023 |access-date=25 February 2023 |archive-date=25 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230225024944/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/20/roald-dahl-books-rewrites-criticism-language-altered |url-status=live}}</ref> It was reported that when Dahl was alive, he had spoken out very strongly against any changes ever being made to any of his books.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sawer |first1=Patrick |title=Roald Dahl warned 'politically correct' publishers – 'change one word and deal with my crocodile' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/02/25/roald-dahl-warned-politically-correct-publishers-change-one/ |website=The Telegraph |date=25 February 2023 |access-date=26 February 2023 |archive-date=19 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230319153507/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/02/25/roald-dahl-warned-politically-correct-publishers-change-one/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Alberge |first1=Dalya |title=Roald Dahl threatened publisher with 'enormous crocodile' if they changed his words |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/25/roald-dahl-threatened-publisher-with-enormous-crocodile-if-they-changed-his-words |website=The Guardian |date=25 February 2023 |access-date=1 March 2023 |archive-date=1 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230301205847/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/25/roald-dahl-threatened-publisher-with-enormous-crocodile-if-they-changed-his-words |url-status=live}}</ref> On 23 February 2023, Puffin announced it would release an unedited selection of Dahl's children's books as 'The Roald Dahl Classic Collection', stating, "We've listened to the debate over the past week which has reaffirmed the extraordinary power of Roald Dahl's books" and "recognise the importance of keeping Dahl's classic texts in print".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Jackson |first1=Siba |title=Roald Dahl classic texts to be kept in print after outrage over changes to books |url=https://news.sky.com/story/roald-dahl-classic-texts-to-be-kept-in-print-after-outrage-over-changes-to-authors-books-12818769 |website=Sky News|date=24 February 2023 |access-date=24 February 2023 |language=en |archive-date=24 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230224164427/https://news.sky.com/story/roald-dahl-classic-texts-to-be-kept-in-print-after-outrage-over-changes-to-authors-books-12818769 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Rackham |first1=Annabel |title=Roald Dahl: Original books to be kept in print following criticism |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-64759118 |work=BBC News |date=24 February 2023 |access-date=24 February 2023 |archive-date=24 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230224164911/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-64759118 |url-status=live}}</ref>