fredag den 11. februar 2011

Roald Dahl stories & An Interview

Meet me today in an interview on Maxon Canyon´s blog "Thoughts in Progress". I hope you´ll join me/us - and remember to take a look at Mason´s cool blog. 

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Roald Dahl, Parson´s Pleasure + Mrs Bixby and the Colonel´s Coat
This is my second post about Dahl´s collection of short stories, Kiss, Kiss from 1959.

Mr Boggis, antique dealer and trickster, roams the English countryside to find exquisite furniture. One Sunday afternoon he stumbles on something quite extraordinary, a piece of furniture he must have, so now he just has to persuade the local farmer to sell it for a song.

Mrs Bixby is married to a boring dentist in New York but goes off to Baltimore once a month to have some fun with her more interesting colonel. She is in ecstasies when he gives her a beautiful mink coat, but how can she return home from a visit to her ´poor aunt´ with such an expensive present? Mrs Bixby comes up with a plan.

Both of these stories are of the ´he who laughs last laughs longest´ type, and though they were good, I didn´t find them quite as entertaining as "The Way Up to Heaven."

"Præstemandens fryd" & "Mrs Bixby og oberstens pels"
Her er mit andet indlæg om Roald Dahls novellesamling, Kispus.

Mr Boggis, antikvar og svindler, strejfer omkring på landet i England på jagt efter udsøgte møbler. En søndag falder han over noget helt usædvanligt; et møbel han simpelthen må eje, så drejer det sig bare om at narre det fra landmanden for en slik.

Mrs Bixby er gift med en kedelig tandlæge i New York men tager til Baltimore en gang om måneden for at more sig med sin noget mere spændende oberst. Hun er ellevild, da han forærer hende en smuk minkpels, men hvordan skal hun kunne komme hjem fra sin ´fattige tante´ med så dyr en gave? Mrs Bixby udtænker en plan.

Begge noveller er af typen ´den som ler sidst, ler bedst´, men selv om de var udmærkede, kom de ikke på højde med "Himmelstigen."
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6 kommentarer:

Elizabeth Spann Craig sagde ...

Thanks for the review, Dorte! I've been looking for some short stories lately, since life has gotten busy again. Sounds like "The Way up to Heaven" might be a better bet. :)

Off to Mason's!

Dorte H sagde ...

Elizabeth: they are a mix of excellent and more ordinary stories.

Anonym sagde ...

Dorte - I know what you mean about some excellent and some ordinary stories; I've read collections like that too. But I have to admit - I really like Roald Dahl.

Dorte H sagde ...

So do I, Margot, but some of his stories better than others.

Kelly sagde ...

Well, you've convinced me that I need to read some Roald Dahl. I've ordered a collection from Amazon that looks interesting. I'll let you know what I think.

Dorte H sagde ...

Kelly: his best are brilliant, but even the best writers have more ordinary stories in between, I think.