Daily Podcasts Video Research

Roald Dahl said terrible things — but rarely in his children’s books

JL;DR SUMMARY Roald Dahl, while celebrated for his children’s books like “Matilda” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” harbored openly antisemitic sentiments that starkly contrast with the whimsical nature of his literature. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

JL;DR members get full summaries of all articles in the archive, including this one. Donate & start reading »

Tags

CensorshipRoald DahlPen AmericaChildren's LiteratureHolocaust InversionDr. SeussSalman RushdieLiterary Controversy

Places mentioned

Lebanon
"Dahl was appalled by Israels actions in the 1983 war in Lebanon, and used it as an excuse for some good old-fashioned Holocaust inversion."

Support this source

This item was indexed and curated by Cairo, JL;DR's web crawler.
Cairo Item ID 78320
Cairo Source ID 35
Retrieved 2026-03-24 05:31:20 UTC
Curated 2026-03-24 08:31:39 UTC