Boy Tales of Childhood
Author:
Roald Dahl
Publisher:
Wolters-Noordhoff
Year of Publishing:
1994
City of Publishing:
Groningen
Titel description:
The story is bout the life of Roald Dahl and when he was young, his mother gave him the nickname "Boy".
Information about Roald Dahl:
Roald Dahl's quirky and darkly funny tales made him a popular children's author in the second half of the 20th century. His career as a salesman for Shell Petroleum in Africa was interrupted by World War II; Dahl joined the Royal Air Force as a pilot, saw action, and ended up as a liaison in Washington, D.C. There he met the author C.S. Forester, who encouraged Dahl to write about his war experiences. Most of Dahl's early tales were short stories for adults, often alarmingly macabre and with O. Henry-style twists. In the 1960s he began to write children's books; his first, James and the Giant Peach, was published in 1961. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the tale of a poor urchin who wins a tour of the magical candy factory of Willy Wonka, was published in 1964. It became Dahl's best known book and was made into a feature film in 1971 and again in 2005. Dahl's many other books include Danny The Champion of the World (1975), The BFG (1982) and Matilda (1988).
Dahl married the actress Patricia Neal in 1953; they were divorced in 1983, and he married Felicity Crossland the same year... The song "The Candy Man," popularized by Sammy Davis, Jr., was written for the film version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory... The rock band Veruca Salt was named for an unpleasant little girl from the same story... Dahl scripted the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice and co-wrote the 1968 film of another Ian Fleming book, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Perspective:
The story is written from the 1st person, but although it is written from the 1st perspective, everything is seen from a later point of view. So it's a bit between a 1st person point of view and an omniscient narrator.
Genre:
It's an autobiography
Theme:
The theme of the book are the conflicts Roald Dahl had with his school tutors. If you believe the book, it was very common that you were "suppressed" by your superiors in that time.
Roald Dahl puts a lot of importance on the punishments and the horror the headmasters gave him, it's clear that this has made a deep impression on him.
Where the story is told:
England
Ireland
Scotland
Sweden
Norway
France
Personalities:
The main character is Roald Dahl himself, but there are also a lot of other personalities. The more important ones are:
Harald Dahl (Roald's father)
Sofie Magdalene Hesselberg (Roald's mother)
His three sisters
His half-brother and sister
The Headmasters he had over the years
Mrs. Pratchett
Captain Hardcastle
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