Skin, by Roald Dahl

 Audiobook

Film (Tales of the Unexpected)

Prezi presentation

Creative writing with Roald Dahl

Study guide

Chaïm Soutine famous paintings

A VERY BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
 
Roald Dahl was born in 1916 in Wales; he was the son of a rich Norwegian family who had migrated to Great Britain. Roald was named after the poles’ explorer Roald Amundsen.
In his book Boy: Tales of Childhood, he narrates his childhood, his time in the school village and in a boarding school. According to him, it was an unhappy time.
As a teenager, he attended Repton School, near Derby. In the same book, he reports about the cruel and violent atmosphere of the place, with its hazings and its physical punishments.
When he was 18, he started working for the Shell Petroleum Company, and, after four years of training in Britain, he went to Kenya and other places in Africa as its employee. From his  job in the Shell Co and his years in the RAF, another book resulted: Going Solo.
The second year he was staying in Africa, WWII started, and he had to join the British army there. He applied for flying in the RAF, and after a very short training, he piloted a plane and fought in different battles in Africa and in Greece. In one of his raids, he had a crash that left him some time blind and wounded; but once he had spent some months in hospital, he went flying and fighting again.
When the war was finished, he was given a post in the British Embassy in Washington, and later he worked for the British Intelligence. Here he met C. S. Forester (author of Captain Hornblower –in Spain, the film adaptation was called “El hidalgo de los mares”, with Gregory Peck as the star). Forester encouraged him to write his experiences as a pilot in the war, and from that moment, Roald Dahl became a writer.
After the success of narrating his RAF experiences, he started to write fiction, usually stories for children and short stories for adults. Who doesn't remember Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or The Witches?
His short stories were adapted for a television series under the name of Tales of the Unexpected, of which our story Skin is a famous one.
He also wrote a novel, My Uncle Osvald, and the scripts for James Bond’s You Only Live Twice, and for Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang.
He died at 74 of a rare cancer.

SUMMARY
This is one of the most typical stories by Roald Dahl: a tale of the unexpected. A bit of horror, a bit of thriller, sophisticated atmosphere and surprising ending.
A man called Drioli sees a picture in an art gallery and all of a sudden remembers its painter, Soutine, and the golden age in Paris where they had lived the bohemian life of the romantic artists. The painter was at that moment a young refugee from Russia and had a great talent, but he couldn’t sell any of his pictures: they were too modern. Drioli was a tattooer, and Soutine was in love with Drioli’s wife, his model.
One day, Drioli had a lucky strike (he tattooed a lot of drunken sailors) and got a lot of money from them. Now, the only thing he wanted to do with it at the moment was to celebrate this success, and the only thing he could imagine for a celebration was getting drunk. So the three of them had a party and got really boosted. In the middle of their intoxication, Drioli had a wonderful idea. He was so enthusiastic about Soutine paintings that he wanted to have something by him, and it came to his head to have a drawing tattooed in his skin made by Soutine. But Soutine didn’t know anything about the art of tattooing, and Drioli had to teach him how to use the needle. The motive had to be, of course, a portrait of Drioli’s wife, and the best part of his body where to do it was his back. The painting exhibited the Soutine's art to perfection. Once done, Soutine loved his work so much that he signed it with delight.
Then, a lot of things happened: there were two world wars and Drioli’s wife and Soutine died.
 
Now, we are just after WWII, when Europe was totally devastated, and Drioli, as almost everybody, was poor and hungry. Drioli was passing by a famous art gallery in Paris and saw Soutie’s picture in its window. Suddenly, he became aware that he was, at last, a renowned painter, and that his paintings were highly valued in the art market… and that he had a painting by him on his back!, in his skin! But he could get money from it! The thing was, how?
How could he sell the painting?
Someone from the gallery proposed him to be a sort of mobile picture, a live painting walking and exhibiting himself in a luxury tourist resort, bed and meals paid for life. The manager of the art gallery proposed to him that a surgeon stripped him of his back skin and replaced it; the other one said that would kill Drioli, but the manager assured he knew expert surgeons who could do the operation without any risk.
What did Drioli decide to do?
Sorry, but we aren’t going to give away spoilers.
 
QUESTIONS
-Do you have a tattoo? Are you pro, or against, tattoos? If you have a tattoo, or you know something about it, can you describe the process? Can a tattoo be art?
-And what about piercings? Do you have to be legally an adult (18 y-o) to have a piercing or a tattoo?
-Who decides if a painting is really a work of art? And how? Is there something really objective in the decision? How can you question this decision without appearing a simpleton?
-When a nude is art and when it isn't?
-What do you know about Chaïm Soutine, the real painter?

VOCABULARY
hedgehog, brooding, boozy, scowling, Kalmuck, peeking, jabs, impasto, collops, paw, flunkey, wings (of a nose), lacking
 

The Country Girls, by Edna O'Brien

Obituary

BIOGRAPHY & SUMMARY, by Glòria Torner

Josephine Edna O’Brien was born in 1930, in Tuamgraney, County Clare, a small rural village in the west of Ireland. The youngest of four children, she grew up in the atmosphere of Irish National Catholicism of the 1940s, marked by an alcoholic father, who was a farmer, and a strict mother in religious practice who considered writing “a path of perdition”.

After finishing primary school in her village, she was educated at the Convent of Sisters of Mercy, a boarding school in Galway.  In her 20s, she went to university in Dublin where she graduated in Pharmacy in 1950 and where she worked briefly as an apothecary. In 1952, against her parents’ wishes, she married the writer Ernest Gebler, with whom she had two children. They settled in London, where O’Brien turned to writing as a full-time occupation. Ten years later, in 1962, she escaped from a loveless marriage and moved to the desolate suburban London where, at least, she felt free to write.

Her life has been divided between England, where she has lived for more than 50 years and where she writes, and Ireland, where her writing comes from and where it endlessly returns, exploring her home country from a more detached perspective.

Edna O’Brien has publicly acknowledged that James Joyce’s works, especially A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, were her main inspiration and led her to devote to literature for the rest of her life.

Her first novel, The Country Girls, written when she was 30, was published in 1961.  It is the history of two girls who live in a backward and repressive country, especially in rural areas of Ireland. They grow up in their strict homes, attend a convent school from which they are expelled and travel to Dublin and London in search of imaginary opportunities, love and sex. This book was considered a scandal in her country and she was labelled an enemy of Ireland. Her family felt humiliated by this book. It was the first instalment of a trilogy, written in autobiographical style, completed with The Lonely Girl, later published as Girl with Green Eyes, and Girls in the Married Bliss. Now, these two books are set in London, and there the protagonists become disillusioned with marriage and men in general.

She has written more than twenty works of fiction where the main themes are Ireland and women. Some of them are: The High Road, Down by the River, In the Forest, The Light of Evening, The Little Red Chairs, and the last one, written in 2019, Girl, which was inspired by the Nigerian schoolgirls who were kidnapped by members of Boko Haram.

Other notable works include a dramatic work about Virginia Woolf, two important biographies, of James Joyce and Lord Byron, and an autobiographical essay called Mother Ireland.

She also has published nine short story collections where their setting varies, although Ireland appears in several of them. One of them is From Mrs Reinhard and Other Stories, where In the Hours of Darkness is included.

She has died recently, in London, on July 27th, 2024, at the age of 93.

THE COUNTRY GIRLS

Following the plot of the book, it’s easy to divide this novel in three parts.

First part and first chapter. Last day of the school.

Edna O’Brien writes in first person, remembering her real life when she was fourteen years old, the story of Cait and Baba, two young Irish country girls. They live in a rural area of Ireland, (County Clare), a backward and repressive country. They grow up in their strict homes and they spend their childhood together, going to the same school.

Edna O’Brien presents the following characters:

Cathleen, “Kate” or “Cait” (in Irish) Brady, the protagonist. She is a charming and naïve narrator girl who describes only one day of her life in this first chapter.

And the other ones in order of appearance:

The father’s absence. Cait begins to talk about the figure of her father with coldness, with some insinuations: “The old reason”, “He had not come here”. We will understand later her father drinks too much, has a terrible temper, and a tendency to go on benders and then returning home to beat his wife.

Deep love for her mother, called Mama in the story. Cait says, “She was the best mama in the world”. What happens to her mother along the story? There is a premonition when Cait pronounces these sentences: “She straightened the cap on my head and kissed me three or four times”.

They are the poor Brady family.

 

Bridge, “Baba” Brennan, Cait’s best friend, is the novel’s deuteragonist. Despite being opposites in most respects, because Cait is dreamy and kindly romantic, and Baba is a lying and jealous girl who wants to dominate many times Cait’s behaviour, they are sometimes allies, and sometimes enemies. She is the daughter of the rich couple Brennan.

Baba’s parents would appear frequently throughout the story.

Hickey, he is the underpaid farm labourer who preserves the family’s fields and animals, and keeps the place going. Cait says “I love him”, but later she changes the word “love” saying “what I really meant was that I was fond of him”.

Jack Holland, owner of the local grocery store who claims loving Cait and says that he wants to marry her. We know he has always been attracted to Cathleen’s mother, but now he is showing his love to Cathleen.

Miss Moriarty, the teacher. As it is the last day of school, Cait and Baba are going to say goodbye to her, and Cait brings her a bunch of lilacs.

The only one character that doesn’t appear in this first chapter is Mr Gentleman, (her real name is de Maurier), a rich French lawyer, much older than Cait. He lives in a nearby manor house with his wife and several children. He has a very important role in the novel. Cait feels attracted to Mr Gentleman, and she imagines her future life with him. Mr Gentleman will be her protector and...

If you read the book, you will know about the relationship between Cait and Mr Gentleman.

Edna O’Brien also describes the rural landscapes of green meadows and wild flowers of Ireland. We are in the poor Brady’s farm, near County Limerick, where fields must be ploughed with effort, and we’re going to discover the daily habits and the atmosphere of Cait’s home when she gets up in the morning and has her breakfast. She describes an Irish village with many small details as the names of trees, flowers, birds…

At the end of this first part, Cait, rushing home to tell her mama she’s won a scholarship to go to a convent school, something very significative happens...

Second part. The oppressive forces of the religious education.

Cait and Baba attend a convent school. They discover that life in the convent is terrible: only prayers, hours of study, and punishments. Cait feels very sorry and sad, but she shines academically. Baba gets into trouble because she hates this school so much, that on several occasions she considers running away. And according to a plan that the manipulator Baba develops, they are both expelled. Their life will change.

Third part. From repression to freedom.

After their expulsion, they move together to Dublin. Baba is sent to a secretarial college and will follow her studies, but Cait will work in a grocery store. They will go to London in search of imaginary opportunities, love and sex in the big city. They struggle to maintain their somewhat tumultuous relationship. At the end of this part, the two girls are 18 years old. And someone who appears along the story clams to find “his country girl” but…

Do you imagine how the book could finish? A happy new life in Dublin, London or another place? Or a sad ending?

SOME REMARKS

I hope to encourage you reading this sensitive book because I think:

Events, people, feelings, emotions and landscape are very well described.

It’s a realistic portrait of Irish people.

The book talks about the discovering of sex without any taboo. This frank treatment of sex and the sharp critique of Irish society in the post-World War II period was considered scandalous at the time in Ireland. But I have not found the obscenities they cite in some references.

Tender and sad book!

QUESTIONS

-What are the meaning of these expressions (page 6, lines 22), “A nun you are in my eye”, “the Kerry Order”, “two heads in one pillow”?

-In your view, using an alarm clock, is it a natural way of waking up? Timetables, are they a better way of organizing our lives, or they're only another way to control us?

-People usually reserve the best plates, tablecloth, cutlery... for visitors. What do you think it's the reason for this? Is it also your habit?

-Aren't you angry when you see an oppressed person happy with their way of life? What would you say to this person?

-In the story there's no much hygiene. In your opinion, does our society exaggerate with cleanness?

-Do you have a kind of talisman you put under your pillow (to sleep better, to have sweet dreams, to not snore...)?

-In your opinion, what is the best way to become your teacher's favourite?

-What is your point of view about religious education? Is it necessary to teach religion in the schools?

-What is the meaning of the last sentence, the maxim "Weep and you weep alone"? Is it true, or it's only an old wives' saying?

VOCABULARY

ankle socks, dew, hedge, canned sweets, turf house, beamed up, pullet, chicken run, he did his water, flag, flush, clippers, range, sharp, stingy, bog, simmering, paling, boulders, meal, moping, pick your steps, blackbird, fudge, sprees, bout