"Skin" is a macabre short story written by author Roald Dahl. It was first published in the May 17, 1952 issue of The New Yorker , [1] and was later featured in the collections Someone Like You , published in 1953, and Skin and Other Stories , published in 2000. It was adapted for television as part of Anglia Television's Tales of the Unexpected , broadcast on March 8, 1980.
A destitute old man named Drioli walks through the streets of Paris. When he passes by an art gallery and sees a painting by Chaïm Soutine, he reminisces about a time long-ago when they were friends. Over thirty years earlier, Soutine had been in love with Drioli's wife Josie, and on a particular day in autumn 1913, Drioli, a tattoo artist, had been fortunate to work on nine clients, most of whom had paid in cash. This resulted in unusually large earnings for that day, and he had decided to celebrate by buying their fill of bottles of wine. When he had become drunk, Drioli asked Soutine to paint a picture of Josie on Drioli's back and then tattoo over it, which Soutine agreed to; once taught how to by Drioli and discussing the artistic merits of tattooing, Soutine is pleased enough with the resultant artwork to sign it. After the First World War, Soutine was discovered by a dealer and sent to Céret, and Drioli and Josie moved their tattoo business to Le Havre. During the Second World War, Josie died in a bombing incident and in his grief Drioli lost his business, being forced into panhandling.
Drioli enters an art gallery that is running an exhibition of Soutine's work. The proprietor tries to remove Drioli who then shows the incredible tattoo by Soutine that is on his back. Several people attending the exhibition make bids for the tattoo, also inquiring after Drioli's health because the picture does not have much value as long as he is alive. Two men in particular offer unusual proposals. One says he will pay for a skin-grafting operation so that the artwork may be removed from Drioli's back, and that he will also pay for the artwork thus obtained; other patrons warn that at such poor health and advanced age, Drioli would never survive the skin-grafting surgery. The other man, claiming to be the owner of the Bristol Hotel in Cannes, offers that Drioli becomes an employee of sorts at said hotel and live instead a life of luxury and leisure while exhibiting his back to the guests whilst sunning and drinking cocktails at his private beach. Drioli, who is hungry, accepts the latter's proposal and leaves the gallery with him.
The narrator then explains that there is no Bristol Hotel in Cannes, and that a heavily varnished painting matching the description of Drioli's tattoo turned up for sale at an auction in Buenos Aires a few weeks later, and that this "causes one to wonder a little, and to pray for the old man's health, and to hope fervently that wherever he may be at this moment, there is a plump attractive girl to manicure the nails of his fingers, and a maid to bring him breakfast in bed in the mornings".
Groff Conklin in 1954 called the story "a hair-curling slice of macabre". [2]
Roald Dahl was a British author of popular children's literature and short stories, a poet, screenwriter and a wartime fighter ace. His books have sold more than 300 million copies worldwide. He has been called "one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century".
Chaïm Soutine was a French painter of Belarusian-Jewish origin of the School of Paris, who made a major contribution to the Expressionist movement while living and working in Paris.
Edward Groff Conklin was an American science fiction anthologist. He edited 40 anthologies of science fiction, one of mystery stories, wrote books on home improvement and was a freelance writer on scientific subjects as well as a published poet. From 1950 to 1955, he was the book critic for Galaxy Science Fiction.
The BFG is a 1982 children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. It is an expansion of a short story from Dahl's 1975 novel Danny, the Champion of the World. The book is dedicated to Dahl's oldest daughter, Olivia, who had died of measles encephalitis at the age of seven in 1962.
Michel Kikoïne was a Lithuanian Jewish-French painter who belonged to the Ecole de Paris art movement.
The Witches is a 1983 children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. A dark fantasy horror, the story is set partly in Norway and partly in England, and features the experiences of a young English boy and his Norwegian grandmother in a world where child-hating societies of witches secretly exist in every country. The witches are ruled by the vicious and powerful Grand High Witch, who arrives in England to organise her plan to turn all of the children there into mice.
James and the Giant Peach is a children's novel written in 1961 by British author Roald Dahl. The first edition, published by Alfred Knopf, featured illustrations by Nancy Ekholm Burkert. There have been re-illustrated versions of it over the years, done by Michael Simeon, Emma Chichester Clark, Lane Smith and Quentin Blake. It was adapted into a film of the same name in 1996 which was directed by Henry Selick, and a musical in 2010.
Kiss Kiss is a collection of short stories by Roald Dahl, first published in 1960 by Alfred A. Knopf. Most of the constituent stories had been previously published elsewhere.
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More is a 1977 short story collection by British author Roald Dahl. The seven stories are generally regarded as being aimed at a slightly older audience than many of Dahl's other children's novels.
The Golden Apples of the Sun is an anthology of 22 short stories by American writer Ray Bradbury. It was published by Doubleday & Company in 1953.
Untouched by Human Hands is a collection of science fiction short stories by American writer Robert Sheckley. It was first published in 1954 simultaneously by Ballantine Books, both in hardback and paperback.
"The Landlady" is a short horror story by Roald Dahl. It initially appeared in The New Yorker, as did other short stories that would later be reprinted in the 1960 anthology, Kiss Kiss.
"The Way Up to Heaven" is a macabre short story by Roald Dahl. It was originally published in The New Yorker, as were some of the other short stories that would later be reprinted in the 1960 collection Kiss Kiss.
Someone Like You is a collection of short stories by Roald Dahl. It was published in 1953 by Alfred Knopf.
"Lamb to the Slaughter" is a 1954 short story by Roald Dahl. It was initially rejected, along with four other stories, by The New Yorker, but was published in Harper's Magazine in September 1953. It was adapted for an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (AHP) that starred Barbara Bel Geddes and Harold J. Stone. Originally broadcast on April 13, 1958, this was one of only 17 AHP episodes directed by Hitchcock. The episode was ranked #59 of the Top 100 Episodes by TV Guide in 2009. The story was adapted for Dahl's British TV series Tales of the Unexpected. Dahl included it in his short story compilation Someone Like You. The narrative element of the housewife killing her husband and letting the policemen eat the evidence was used by Pedro Almodóvar in his 1984 movie What Have I Done to Deserve This?, with a leg of mutton.
Ophelia Magdalena Dahl is a British-American social justice and health care advocate. Dahl co-founded Partners In Health (PIH), a Boston, Massachusetts-based non-profit health care organization dedicated to providing a "preferential option for the poor." She served as executive director for 16 years and has since chaired its board of directors.
The Great Automatic Grammatizator is a collection of thirteen short stories written by British author Roald Dahl. The stories were selected for teenagers from Dahl's adult works. All the stories included were published elsewhere originally; their sources are noted below. The stories, with the exception of the war story "Katina", possess a deadpan, ironic, bizarre, or even macabre sense of humor. They generally end with unexpected plot twists.
Tattoo is a 2002 German film written and directed by Robert Schwentke.
'Way Out is a 1961 American horror, fantasy, and science fiction television anthology series hosted by writer Roald Dahl. The macabre black-and-white 25-minute shows were introduced by Dahl, his face projected in a disconcerting hall of mirrors effect, dryly delivering a brief introductory monologue, expounding on such unusual subjects as undertakers or frogs or murdering a romantic rival with ground tiger's whiskers.
Roald Dahl (1916–1990) was a British author and scriptwriter, and "the most popular writer of children's books since Enid Blyton", according to Philip Howard, the literary editor of The Times. He was raised by his Norwegian mother, who took him on annual trips to Norway, where she told him the stories of trolls and witches present in the dark Scandinavian fables. Dahl was influenced by the stories, and returned to many of the themes in his children's books. His mother also nurtured a passion in the young Dahl for reading and literature.