Over the course of my long career as a children’s literature professor in the English Department at UNC Charlotte, I have researched the lives and works of many children’s authors, none more than Roald Dahl. My connection to Dahl goes back to 1985 when I published an article titled “Regression and the Fragmentation of the Self in James and the Giant Peach.” I thought that Dahl might be interested in the article about his book, so I sent him a copy of it. To my surprise, he wrote a letter back to me in which he made kind comments about my article. A few years later, I received a book contract to write a critical study of Dahl’s works. As part of my research for this book, I travelled to England where I spent an October day in 1988 interviewing Dahl. My book on Dahl came out in 1992, two years after Dahl’s death in 1990. Since the publication of my Dahl book, I have remained interested in Dahl, and on occasion, I have written additional pieces about him and his books.
In the past month, Dahl has re-entered my life in a big way. It started with the recent Read Aloud Rodeo that I organized. I decided to read Dahl’s picture book The Enormous Crocodile. I enjoy reading this book aloud to children because they like its fast-moving plot as well as the humor that runs throughout the story. It also gives me an opportunity to use lots of different voices. Another plus for children and for me are Quentin Blake’s amusing illustrations, which perfectly match Dahl’s zany story.
About a week after the Read Aloud Rodeo, my wife and I travelled to London. We took a day trip to Cardiff, which is where Dahl grew up. There is a plaza in Cardiff called Roald Dahl Plass, and I read that a sculpture of the Enormous Crocodile is located not too far from the plaza. I took the short walk in search of the Enormous Crocodile, and sure enough, I spotted him, looking just like Quentin Blake portrayed him in the book. As I approached the sculpture, I saw two children climbing on the crocodile’s long, bumpy back. They appeared to be a brother and a sister, which I thought was fitting since a brother and a sister have an encounter with the Enormous Crocodile in the book. I waited until the children left with their parents before I took a few photographs. When I got close up to the Enormous Crocodile, I noticed that he seemed to be peering sideways at me as if he were thinking about having me for lunch, but luckily for me, he made no effort to gobble me up.
My third recent Dahl-related experience is tied to a new ten-episode podcast called The Secret World of Roald Dahl. Aaron Tracy, the creator and host of the podcast, interviewed me about my thoughts on Dahl’s stories. We also talked about the day I spent with Dahl so many years ago. The episode featuring me, which is the concluding episode in the podcast, will be released on March 23rd. For more information about this podcast, please click on the following link: https://www.listentoparallax.com/shows/secretworldofpodcast
Roald Dahl is but one of many children’s authors who have connections to the children’s literature program at UNC Charlotte. My colleagues who also teach in this program have published their own important research on various children’s authors and their books. This extensive body of scholarship is one of the reasons Storied Charlotte is known as a place where children’s literature is taken seriously.