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Post by dem on Jan 27, 2011 19:12:28 GMT
Can't remeber the Dahl story, but it puts me in mind of Ira Levin's The Boys From Brazil, with the fantastical idea that the old ex-nazis have not only cloned 94 (?) little Hitlers but are attempting to recreate similar environments (or at least events in the lives of) the children. that one isn't ringing any bells with me, FM.  Here's what Kristine Howard, proprietor of Roald Dahl Fans Com - an invaluable resource, not dissimilar to what Bob Rothwell did for Dennis Wheatley - has to say about Genesis And Catastrophe (originally published in Playboy, December 1959 as A Fine Son) This most remarkable thing about this story, I think, is the timing. I don't want to give the surprise away to those of you who haven't read it, but just think about the fact that Dahl was able to write this incredibly compassionate and and yet subtly ironic story (about a woman who has lost three children in the last eighteen months and desperately wants her newborn to survive) after witnessing countless horrible atrocities in World War II. It's amazing. It's also worth noting that this story, unlike many others, does not have a surprise "twist" at the very end. There is a shocking revelation, but the reader arrives at it gradually throughout the story. |
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jan 27, 2011 20:06:16 GMT
Here's what Kristine Howard, proprietor of Roald Dahl Fans Com - an invaluable resource, not dissimilar to what Bob Rothwell did for Dennis Wheatley - has to say about Genesis And Catastrophe (originally published in Playboy, December 1959 as A Fine Son) This most remarkable thing about this story, I think, is the timing. I don't want to give the surprise away to those of you who haven't read it, but just think about the fact that Dahl was able to write this incredibly compassionate and and yet subtly ironic story (about a woman who has lost three children in the last eighteen months and desperately wants her newborn to survive) after witnessing countless horrible atrocities in World War II. It's amazing. It's also worth noting that this story, unlike many others, does not have a surprise "twist" at the very end. There is a shocking revelation, but the reader arrives at it gradually throughout the story.Timing remarkable? It could hardly have been written before Hitler rose to notoriety, now could it? What is she talking about? |
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Post by jamesdoig on Jan 28, 2011 4:54:27 GMT
Timing remarkable? It could hardly have been written before Hitler rose to notoriety, now could it? What is she talking about? Perhaps the timing is about Dahl's personal catastrophes that have some parallels with the story - first his baby son was hit by a car and his skull crushed, though he survived. In 1962 his 7-year old daughter died of encephalitis. In 1965 his wife, the actress Patricia Neal, had a severe stroke when she was in early pregnancy - she was in a coma for 3 weeks and Dahl nursed her back to heath with some controversial techniques - she had the baby while she was still in rehab. |
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Post by Dr Strange on Jan 28, 2011 9:40:03 GMT
Timing remarkable? It could hardly have been written before Hitler rose to notoriety, now could it? What is she talking about? Perhaps the timing is about Dahl's personal catastrophes that have some parallels with the story - first his baby son was hit by a car and his skull crushed, though he survived. In 1962 his 7-year old daughter died of encephalitis. In 1965 his wife, the actress Patricia Neal, had a severe stroke when she was in early pregnancy - she was in a coma for 3 weeks and Dahl nursed her back to heath with some controversial techniques - she had the baby while she was still in rehab. I don't think that can be it, since all those events happened after the story was published (two of them quite a few years after). If you take the quote from RoaldDahlFans.com at face value, then it looks very like an example of the "cooing fan" mentioned earlier. I've read a few of Dahl's short stories, but none of them impressed me very much - obviously not helped by usually having seen the TV versions first. I've never read any of his childrens books. |
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jan 28, 2011 10:54:31 GMT
Perhaps the timing is about Dahl's personal catastrophes that have some parallels with the story - first his baby son was hit by a car and his skull crushed, though he survived. In 1962 his 7-year old daughter died of encephalitis. In 1965 his wife, the actress Patricia Neal, had a severe stroke when she was in early pregnancy - she was in a coma for 3 weeks and Dahl nursed her back to heath with some controversial techniques - she had the baby while she was still in rehab. I don't think that can be it, since all those events happened after the story was published (two of them quite a few years after). That is what makes it remarkable! |
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Post by fritzmaitland on Oct 4, 2021 10:17:16 GMT
October 3 - Roald Dahl - Poison. ISTR I read this last year, but decided not to include it because I didn't feel it 'horror' enough. A combination of catching up with the TV adaptation and reading Wheatley's The Snake propelled this back into my consciousness so decided to have at it again, along with said TV version. The story is a seething mass of ambiguity, and (with Wheatley in mind) it's interesting that Dahl called it 'Poison'. The TV version has a very odd intro by Roald, adds in booze and Judy Geeson but seems to dilute the point of the story a little - a tacked on ending upping the horror quotient and giving one protagonist a more severe punishment than the suggestion of a holiday in the original story implied.*SPOILER* There's also a massive howler with the snake(s)
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