{"id":75711,"date":"2023-07-28T11:56:11","date_gmt":"2023-07-28T16:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=75711"},"modified":"2023-07-28T11:56:11","modified_gmt":"2023-07-28T16:56:11","slug":"museum-honoring-author-roald-dahl-updated-to-recognize-his-antisemitism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/museum-honoring-author-roald-dahl-updated-to-recognize-his-antisemitism\/","title":{"rendered":"Museum honoring author Roald Dahl updated to recognize his antisemitism"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"article-meta-str\">(<em>JNS.org<\/em>) \u2013 \u201cSo shines a good deed in a weary world,\u201d Gene Wilder whispered at the climax of \u201cWilly Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,\u201d the first of many film adaptations in a book collection that has now become canonical for generations of young readers.<\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_75712\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Roald-Dahl-Signing-Books-for-Kids-880x495-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-75712\" class=\"wp-image-75712 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Roald-Dahl-Signing-Books-for-Kids-880x495-1-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Roald-Dahl-Signing-Books-for-Kids-880x495-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Roald-Dahl-Signing-Books-for-Kids-880x495-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Roald-Dahl-Signing-Books-for-Kids-880x495-1.jpg 880w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/169;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-75712\" class=\"wp-image-75712 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Roald-Dahl-Signing-Books-for-Kids-880x495-1-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Roald-Dahl-Signing-Books-for-Kids-880x495-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Roald-Dahl-Signing-Books-for-Kids-880x495-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Roald-Dahl-Signing-Books-for-Kids-880x495-1.jpg 880w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-75712\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Roald Dahl signs books for children in Amsterdam on Oct. 12, 1988. Credit: Rob Bogaerts\/Anefo via Wikimedia Commons.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre in Buckinghamshire, England, where the author lived and wrote for 36 years, has now&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/books\/2023\/jul\/19\/roald-dahl-museum-acknowledges-authors-antisemitism\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">erected<\/a>&nbsp;a notice at its entrance acknowledging his antisemitic words.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The statement also appears on the museum\u2019s website,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/roalddahlmuseum.org\/aboutthemuseum\/antiracismstatement\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">saying<\/a>, in part: \u201cThe Roald Dahl Museum condemns all racism directed at any group or individual\u201d and \u201cRoald Dahl\u2019s racism is undeniable and indelible but what we hope can also endure is the potential of Dahl\u2019s creative legacy to do some good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the museum\u2019s initiatives is to create teaching resources for utilizing the characters in Dahl\u2019s stories to educate about prejudice. Some of his most popular novels included&nbsp;<em>James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Witches, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The BFG,&nbsp;<\/em>and&nbsp;<em>Danny, the Champion of the World<\/em>. The books are characterized by fantastical scenarios, sympathetic youthful protagonists, dark comedy and inventive wordplay.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Decades after Dahl\u2019s death, as the debate around his hateful attitudes still continues, little has yet emerged explaining what may have driven the author\u2019s beliefs. Another of Wonka\u2019s memorable lines from the 1971 film might apply, cast in a different light than intended: \u201cA little nonsense, now and then, is relished by the wisest men.\u201d<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Museum%20honoring%20author%20Roald%20Dahl%20updated%20to%20recognize%20his%20antisemitism\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":75712,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7135],"tags":[8790,8795,8788,13238],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75711"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75711"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75713,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75711\/revisions\/75713"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}