A handwritten letter from Roald Dahl to a 20-year-old student, sent the year before he died, is going to auction.
In 1989 Christine Wotton was a 20-year-old student writing a dissertation on themes within Dahl’s children’s books. She stumbled upon the author’s address in the back of an old book at the university library which, she says, was a pretty lucky find!
The rare letter gives an insight into Dahl’s own view of his work, admitting his books had “very few messages” and were “mostly pure fantasy”. Dahl had a real passion for children’s literacy, and writing that his secret to a good book was to “never shelter children from the world.”
He wrote:
“The “content” of any children’s book is of no importance other than that it enthrals the child – and thus it teaches or seduces him or her to ‘like’ books and to become a fit reader – which is vital if that child is going to amount to anything in later life. The book-reading child will always outstrip the non-book-reading child in later life. There are very few messages in these books of mine.
“They are there simply to turn the child into a reader of books. Damn it all, they are mostly pure fantasy.
“Have you read the latest one, Matilda? It seems to have broken every sales record in the history of hardback publishing.”
Christine Wotton explained how lucky she was to get such an insight into the author’s work: “On a whim I asked him questions which intrigued me regarding his style and attitude towards children’s literature, never really dreaming of a response.
“So, I was amazed to receive a chatty double-sided, handwritten A4 reply, plus another dissertation which he lent me, presumably written in his famous garden shed, discussing the importance of reading for children and referring to his newly published book Matilda, now a movie and West End musical.
“As he indicated himself, it was unusual for him to reply to letters like mine, so I really struck lucky. With the happy-go-lucky optimism of youth, I don’t think I fully appreciated my good fortune.
“I’ve enjoyed and treasured the letter for over 30 years and the time has come to share it, for others to read and enjoy his wise words which are dashed off in his wonderfully inimitable, flamboyant style.”
The letter will be auctioned on June 15th at Hansons Auctioneers, Staffordshire at their specialist library, with a guide of £500 to £800, with thoughts it could go much higher with the right bidders.