ABSTRACT
Over the last 60 years or so, three writers have dominated the sales of British children’s fiction, and, if only in terms of popularity, they form a sort of ‘apostolic succession’. Each of them created a market for their particular way of writing, and there are several links between them. Roald Dahl figures significantly among the many influences that J.K. Rowling has assimilated: Charlie Bucket (of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) is a precursor of Harry Potter, while Harry’s persecution at the hands of the dreadful Dursleys recalls James’s experiences in James and the Giant Peach. Like Blyton, Dahl appealed directly to child readers, often over the heads of parents, teachers and librarians. His work aroused a certain amount of criticism, though it hardly compared with the much-publicised banning of Blyton’s work by school libraries, the BBC and other upholders of middle-class ‘values’. As David Rudd’s essay points out, Blyton had learned the art of appealing to children partly from Arthur Mee, whose aims are discussed by Gillian Avery at the end of the previous section.
