The beloved children’s author said Israel was like Nazi Germany. The playwright Mark Rosenblatt says it is the right time to examine his racism and legacy
Charmer, narcissist, genius, giant. Inventor, fighter pilot, spy. Despite his many faces, more than 30 years after his death a whiff remains at the centre of Roald Dahl’s legacy — the stink of antisemitism.
Now a new play at the Royal Court in London is set to explore his contradictions. Giant by Mark Rosenblatt takes place over the (imagined) course of an absolute trogglehumper of an afternoon in 1983, in which Dahl must decide how to handle the scandal that could sink his career. A book review he has written for a literary magazine, comparing Israel to Nazi Germany and calling all Jews cowards if they don’t condemn the Israeli state, has caused dismay. The Witches, the novel that could well be his masterpiece, is about to come out and his New York publishers are getting jumpy. Jewish booksellers in the US are already threatening not to stock the new story. The 67-year-old author is under pressure to make a public apology…