Roald Dahl's writing is well known across the world and is loved by adults and children alike. Born in Wales in 1916, and of Norwegian descent, Dahl is famous for such children's classics as 'James and the Giant Peach'�, 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'� and 'The BFG'�. He was also a consummate writer of adult literature and some of his most beloved short stories are collected in 'The Great Automatic Grammatizator and Other Stories'�. This collection is a reflection of his parallel career as a writer of macabre adult fiction. Most of Dahl's adult short stories are characterised by a surprise ending, and a dark, twisted sense of humour.

'The Great Automatic Grammatizator and Other Stories'� consists of thirteen tales, some funny and some, like 'Katina'� incredibly sad and touching. Published in 1977, this collection is known as 'The Umbrella Man and Other Stories'� in the United States. The key theme running through almost each story is that of people who are outwardly rather decent and normal, but who have a slight kink in their character that results in their ultimate downfall.

The collection's title story 'The Great Automatic Grammatizator'�, tells the tale of a writer who comes upon the idea that English writing is governed by strict grammatical rules that can be created by a machine. This leads him and a co-conspirator to create a fantastic machine that automatically writes reams of novels, poetry and stories ' all rather mediocre bits of work but incredibly quickly written. The two fellows make a packet of cash publishing these works of fiction and consequently put many an honest writer out of work. Good writers are convinced to never write again by offers of vast amounts of money. The narrator of the tale is revealed in the last paragraph as a writer who, although struggling and poor with many mouths to feed, is steadfast in his morals and refuses to sell out. This is an example of a story where a person or persons work towards their own benefit through the application of ill morals and preying on the innocent or stupid.

Similar tales include 'The Man From The South'� who tricks people into making insane bets for the sake of seeing them chop off their pinky finger if they lose, and 'The Umbrella Man'� who fools kindly souls into buying stolen umbrellas so that he can enjoy a free pint at the pub.

'Katina'� is a powerfully emotional story about a beautiful young Greek girl orphaned by the war and who becomes a mascot of sorts for the British fighter pilots who take her into their care. Tragically, a strafing German pilot kills Katina as she runs across an airstrip, waving her little fists at the attackers. Haunting and beautifully written, 'Katina'� stands alone as a departure from the macabre, and shows Dahl's ability to write a brilliant depiction of the utterly atrocious and tragic nature of war.

Delving deeply into the theme of the macabre, the tale 'Neck'� has a rather grotesque near-ending. A jealous husband, Sir Basil Turton, very nearly chops off the head of his wife to free her after she gets her head stuck in a hole in a Henry Moore sculpture, while her lover, a dashing Major Jack Haddock, looks on. The butler, Jelks, clearly not fond of Lady Turton nor her flim-flammery, presents Sir Basil a choice of either an axe to chop his wife's head off (and thereby saving the sculpture), or a saw to free his wife without causing her harm (but thereby destroying the sculpture). In true Dahl humour, the butler holds the axe ever-so-slightly closer to Sir Basil ' dark humour at its best. At the last moment Sir Basil chooses the saw and saves his wife.

Dahl is able to delve deeply into the dark side of human nature and make it funny. This collection of stories pokes fun at the silly norms of so-called civilized society and displays its raw underbelly for what it really is.

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