Darkness was Roald Dahl's golden ticket, his daughter says
The late author's daughter, Lucy, says his tough upbringing was a major influence in his dark but hugely popular children's books.
Wednesday 14 September 2016 05:26, UK
Roald Dahl's daughter has told Sky News that the author never forgot the darkness and loneliness of his own childhood when writing his beloved books.
As celebrations of the centenary of Dahl's birth begin, his daughter Lucy said stories of poverty, cruelty, loneliness and alienation were an essential element of her late father's success.
She explained: "All children have darkness in their world, they all have worries and they all have fears. Dad was able to speak to that part of a child, and almost encourage them to carry on."
Roald Dahl's father died when he was very young - and many of his best-known characters, including those in James And The Giant Peach, Matilda and The BFG, are orphans.
Over the years, critics have said some of his books which have long satisfied children's appetites for the fantastic, but also for the violent, greedy, disgusting and even disturbing, are wildly inappropriate for children.
Dahl found it difficult to find a UK publisher for James And The Giant Peach, which was deemed too dark and vulgar for bookshelves, while The Witches was banned by some libraries such is its scary and some say sexist content.
Nonetheless, Roald Dahl has sold over 250 million books worldwide and his legions of fans would argue literature is exactly the place to explore such difficult themes.
Oliver Jeffers, a children's author and artist, says Roald Dahl was one of the first contemporary authors to suggest there should not be such a thing as a "safe zone" for children.
He added: "All of his stories had a little bit of darkness in them, and he's not the first person to do that. If you look back to Grimms' Fairy Tales, a lot of the very old children's books, there's a healthy degree of death and danger and daring.
"But Dahl really made it his own and you can tell he was entertaining himself. Even CS Lewis said anyone who spends his time writing down to children is simply wasting their time.
"And I think it was Neil Gaiman who said reading about scary things in books is actually good preparation for a real life which is full of genuine fear rather than the tendency parents and writers sometimes have to safeguard everything and wrap it up in cotton wool.
"Dahl went to those places with a certain degree of bravado and humour which was really his own."
Roald Dahl's stories are still as popular as ever.
The immersive theatre experience Dinner With The Twits at The Vaults in London is the latest production to be staged, and there are currently 23 others in development.
Events are being held around the country and the world to mark what would have been the author's 100th birthday today - with Lucy Dahl describing it as a fitting tribute to a wonderful man.
She added: "He was an extraordinary father, his great fear was that we'd become bored or boring people … he always kept us challenged and interested."