- Paperback: 322 pages
- Publisher: Harvest/HBJ Book; Reprint edition (Jun 1995)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0156001993
- ISBN-13: 978-0156001991
- Product Dimensions: 23.3 x 15.3 x 2.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,006,091 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
'Jeremy Treglown's shrewd and sparkling biography is as compulsively readable as its subject's revolting rhymes and twisted tales.' Sunday Times
'Dahl was colourful, noisy, dominating, possibly a genius, certainly an expert in self-publicity. Jeremy Treglown, his biographer, is calm, judicial, accurate, quietly brilliant.' Penelope Fitzgerald, Evening Standard
'Excellent and briskly paced . . . It is one of the many virtues of this biography that one finishes it feeling rather a strong liking for Dahl, all 6ft 6in of him.' Humphrey Carpenter, Sunday Times
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.About the Author
Jeremy Treglown is Professor of English at the University of Warwick and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He was previously the editor of the Times Literary Supplement and is the author of several non-fiction books.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Jeremy Treglown's biography of Roald Dahl reveals so much more than most people know about this remarkable man. My opinion of him was based on my enjoyment of his books as a child and on his own memoirs for children, BOY and FLYING SOLO. From Treglown's delightfully readable account of Dahl's life I now know that there was so much more to him than that, and that Dahl himself was very much invloved in influencing the public's perception of him. The book is well researched and impressively objective in dealing with a complex and often overbearing personality. Finishing this book left me with a feeling of admiration for Roald Dahl, yet I had a niggling feeling that I was coerced into this conclusion by a generous portrayal of a man who was hated by many who knew him. This is to Treglown's credit. Overall a fair minded and enjoyable record of an extra-ordinary man.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is an excellent book, and since the other reviewers have given rather grudging 3 stars (despite warm reviews), I will give it 5!
The book is highly readable. Jeremy Treglown manages to give a balanced view of the man. Dahl was a man of stunning determination and courage, and glittering but inconsistent talent. But there was a lot not to like about him. Treglown presents that fairly, but I gather the Dahl family were not happy with it.
I haven't read the most recent biography by Donald Sturrock. I am not sure if this is the long awaited authorised biography, but it seems to have the family's approval, since in the words of the publishers, it was "Written with exclusive access to his private papers and manuscripts". The publishers also revealingly quote one reviewer thus:
"Dahl told me that he was generally disappointed in what people wrote about him, but I believe he would have appreciated Donald Sturrock's beautifully written book"
The implication is clear. Donald Sturrock's book may be very good; the author may well have had greater access to source materials. But will it be as critical of and as frank about the Great Man and the astonishing drama of his family's history? I suspect that you should also read Jeremy Treglown's biography to get the complete picture.
The book is highly readable. Jeremy Treglown manages to give a balanced view of the man. Dahl was a man of stunning determination and courage, and glittering but inconsistent talent. But there was a lot not to like about him. Treglown presents that fairly, but I gather the Dahl family were not happy with it.
I haven't read the most recent biography by Donald Sturrock. I am not sure if this is the long awaited authorised biography, but it seems to have the family's approval, since in the words of the publishers, it was "Written with exclusive access to his private papers and manuscripts". The publishers also revealingly quote one reviewer thus:
"Dahl told me that he was generally disappointed in what people wrote about him, but I believe he would have appreciated Donald Sturrock's beautifully written book"
The implication is clear. Donald Sturrock's book may be very good; the author may well have had greater access to source materials. But will it be as critical of and as frank about the Great Man and the astonishing drama of his family's history? I suspect that you should also read Jeremy Treglown's biography to get the complete picture.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Treglown takes us easily through the life of Dahl from his Welsh roots in a Norwegian community through service in the RAF and, after wounded, to a slightly shadowy life as a UK liaison officer in Washington, to the end of his life with his second wife and world wide fame as a major children's author. I learned many new things about Dahl's life and the tragedies that beset it, and came away with a sense of Dahl much as I had understood him and more, vain, self aggrandizing, social climber and in many ways not a very nice person, but deeply human, a born survivor
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