{"id":155,"date":"2019-05-10T15:25:43","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T15:25:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/provincialenglish\/chapter\/roald-dahl\/"},"modified":"2019-08-28T19:21:57","modified_gmt":"2019-08-28T19:21:57","slug":"roald-dahl","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/provincialenglish\/chapter\/roald-dahl\/","title":{"raw":"Roald Dahl (1916\u20131990)","rendered":"Roald Dahl (1916\u20131990)"},"content":{"raw":"\"Photo\n

Biography<\/h1>\nRoald Dahl (1916\u20131990) was a British novelist, short story writer, poet, screenwriter, and\u00a0fighter pilot.\u00a0His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide.\n\nBorn in\u00a0Wales\u00a0to Norwegian immigrant parents, Dahl served in the\u00a0Royal Air Force during the\u00a0Second World War. He became a\u00a0flying ace\u00a0and intelligence officer, rising to the rank of acting\u00a0wing commander. He rose to prominence as a writer in the 1940s with works for both children and adults, and he became one of the world's bestselling authors.\u00a0He has been referred to as \"one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century.\" His awards for contribution to literature include the 1983\u00a0World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement and the\u00a0British Book Awards'\u00a0Children's Author of the Year in 1990. In 2008,\u00a0The Times<\/em>\u00a0placed Dahl 16th on its list of \"The 50 greatest British writers since 1945.\"\n\nDahl's short stories are known for their unexpected endings, and his children's books for their unsentimental, macabre, often\u00a0darkly comic\u00a0mood, featuring villainous adult enemies of the child characters.\u00a0His books champion the kind-hearted and feature an underlying warm sentiment.\u00a0Dahl's works for children include\u00a0James and the Giant Peach<\/em>,\u00a0Charlie and the Chocolate Factory<\/em>,\u00a0Matilda<\/em>,\u00a0The Witches<\/em>,\u00a0Fantastic Mr Fox<\/em>,\u00a0The BFG<\/em>,\u00a0The Twits<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0George's Marvellous Medicine<\/em>. His adult works include\u00a0Tales of the Unexpected<\/em>. His story \u201cThe Landlady\u201d first appeared in The New Yorker<\/em> issue of 28 November 1959 and was subsequently published in his story collection Kiss, Kiss<\/em> (1960).\n

The Landlady<\/h1>\n
Published 1959<\/div>\nYou can read the full text here: \"The Landlady\" by Roald Dahl [PDF]<\/a>.\n

Activities<\/h1>\n
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The Landlady<\/p>\n\n<\/header>\n

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Study Questions<\/h2>\n
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  1. Give one example of foreshadowing.<\/li>\n \t
  2. What poison tastes like bitter almonds?<\/li>\n \t
  3. Characterize the landlady. What is a taxidermist?<\/li>\n \t
  4. Is what happens to Billy believable?<\/li>\n \t
  5. Give one supernatural element in the story.<\/li>\n \t
  6. How old is Billy Weaver? Why does he stay?<\/li>\n \t
  7. Why is Billy\u2019s desire to act briskly dangerous?<\/li>\n \t
  8. What do chrysanthemums often symbolize?<\/li>\n \t
  9. Give an example of irony in the story.<\/li>\n \t
  10. Why does the landlady keep forgetting Billy\u2019s name?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Resources<\/h2>\nView this 24-minute film adaptation of Dahl\u2019s \u201cThe Landlady\u201d<\/a>, filmed in 1979 as part of a British television series called Tales of the Unexpected,<\/em> which features film adaptations of Dahl\u2019s stories and a brief introduction to the film by Dahl. How would you rate this film? Are the changes made good ones, or do they detract from the original story?\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

    Text Attributions<\/h3>\n