The Great Automatic Grammatizator: and Other Stories

The Great Automatic Grammartizator and Other Stories[return]Paperback, 264 pages[return][return]The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More[return]Paperback, 213 pages[return][return]Roald Dahl[return]Published by Puffin Books[return][return][return]I recently developed a fascination for the works of Roald Dahl, perhaps years too late. But better late than never. I found the 2001 Puffin Books editions irresistible and decided that it's probably a good investment for my personal library.[return][return]Both books in this column are aimed at teenage readers, but of course, older readers will likely also enjoy them. The number of stories in both volumes total up to 20. Because I'm feeling cheeky today, I'm going to talk about some of the stories but not specify which book it came from.[return][return]Unless it's really obvious... like The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.[return][return]In the beginning of his story, Henry Sugar is a rich and selfish man. His main concern in life is making sure that he stays wealthy. He stumbles upon a strange story in a friend's library, written by a doctor who interviewed an Indian who can see without using his eyes.[return][return]The doctor's story conveniently describes how the Indian achieved this, so Henry followed the instructions. Three years and three months passed before he perfected his yogi-inspired powers.[return][return]But something happened to Henry in that time. He no longer finds pleasure in casinos and the shallow pursuit of riches. Yet he possesses the skill to clean out any casino he chooses to play in. An incident with a policeman gave him an idea, and Henry sets out to do good.[return][return]It's also rather obvious which book The Great Automatic Grammartizator came from. [return][return]Adolph Knipe's invention, the great automatic computing engine, is a success but Knipe is feeling depressed. By night, he is a writer, and not a very successful one either.[return][return]When sent home by his boss Mr Bohlen for a well-deserved holiday, Knipe mourns his failure as a writer before hitting upon an idea. After spending all of his holiday thinking about it, he convinces Mr Bohlen to back him on this and invented what is virtually an automatic story writing engine, able to produce works depending on the target audience. [return][return]Any writer, especially those who've ever gotten a reject slip, could appreciate the wicked humour behind this piece.[return][return]Another one with wicked humour that made me laugh out loud (“LOL” to you Internet people) at the end is “Mrs Bixby and The Colonel's Coat”. Mrs Bixby have been having an affair with someone only known to us as the Colonel. Her carefully concealed trips have been successful so far, until the Colonel gave her a luxurious mink coat.[return][return]There was no way Mrs Bixby will be able to explain this to her husband. She devises a plan on the way home and left the coat in a pawn shop. Upon returning home, she tells Mr Bixby that she found a pawn ticket in the taxi she took, and sent him off to collect. That's where the fun begins.[return][return]A story that I found particularly harrowing to read comes under the peaceful-sounding title of The Swan.[return][return]Precocious Peter Watson is unfortunate enough to be out in the woods birdwatching alone when local bullies Ernie and Raymond came along. They made him their captive and subjects him to the kind of cruelty we associate with people who grow up to become serial killers.[return][return]First, they tied Peter to the train tracks and let him believe that he'll be run over. Finally, they shot a swan, cut her wings off and tied them to Peter's arms. They made him climb a tree as high as he could go and made him jump. [return][return]The surprise came when Peter discovers that he is one of those souls whom bullies will never break.[return][return]Dahl delights with his humour, yet some stories contain a sensitivity that moved me. As an extra bonus, one of these books contain Dahl's account on how he got his luck break into writing, as well as his very first published piece. Both of these pieces offer a glimpse into how this surprising man accidentally became one of the greatest authors in modern literature.[return]return