Historical Context

‘Matilda‘ has remained an evergreen phenomenon, with a film adaptation being released in 1996. ‘Matilda‘ has also been converted into an audiobook and a musical version by Netflix as well.

Publication History

‘Matilda‘ is Roald Dahl’s last long children’s book. According to Dahl’s daughter, Dahl wrote the book to preserve and promote the fascination for reading within children. This was when televisions were becoming popular in the United Kingdom, which is why Dahl wrote a book about a genius child, Matilda Wormwood, who loves reading. 

The story of ‘Matilda‘ was published on October 1, 1988, by Jonathan Cape in London. The novel is Roald Dahl’s 27th published book and originally had 232 pages and illustrations by Quentin Blake.

It rose to fame and broke sales records mere months after its publication. Within six months of its release, ‘Matilda‘ had sold more than half a million copies. 

After its publication, ‘Matilda‘ won the Children’s Book Award from the Federation of Children’s Book Groups in the United Kingdom. In 1998, ‘Matilda‘ was voted the “Nation’s Favourite Children’s Book” in a BBC Bookworm Poll. In 2012, ‘Matilda‘ made it to number 30 in a survey published by School Library Journal as an all-time children’s novel. Time Magazine also included ‘Matilda‘ in the 100 Best Young Adult Books of All Time. Worldwide sales of the novel have reached almost 17 million and since 2016, ‘Matilda‘ has remained the best-selling novel by Roald Dahl.

The book has been released as an audiobook with the narration provided by the actress Kate Winslet and has been converted into a hugely successful film as well. The film, released in 1996, was directed by Danny DeVito and starred Mara Wilson. A musical version starring Alisha Weir as Matilda has been released in 2023.

Roald Dahl Personal Context

Roald Dahl wrote his first story for children, ‘The Gremlins,’ for Walt Disney In 1942. The story was not successful, so Dahl went back to writing mysterious and macabre stories for adults. However, Dahl revisited the world of children’s literature once again in 1961. Over his career, he wrote 19 children’s books, of which ‘Matilda‘ is the last long novel. 

The first children’s book he wrote was ‘James and the Giant Peach‘ which was published in 1961 to great acclaim. Dahl has commented that the origins of his children’s novels lie within the bedtime stories that he narrated to his children. Over the years, Dahl published several other children’s books including ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory‘ in 1964, ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’ in 1970, and ‘The BFG‘ in 1982.

‘Matilda‘ was admittedly extremely difficult for Roald Dahl to write. The original version of the story featured a villainous Matilda who was wicked and used her powers for evil. However, Dahl decided that the story was not right, and he rewrote the entire novel. Dahl recounts this in a letter written to his daughter:

The reason I haven’t written you for a long time is that I have been giving every moment to getting a new children’s book finished. And now at last I have finished it, and I know jolly well that I am going to have to spend the next three months rewriting the second half. The first half is great, about a small girl who can move things with her eyes and about a terrible headmistress who lifts small children up by their hair and hangs them out of upstairs windows by one ear. But I’ve got now to think of a really decent second half. The present one will all be scrapped. Three months work gone out the window, but that’s the way it is.

Dahl died shortly after the publication of ‘Matilda’ in 1990. 

Real-Life Inspirations

Matilda’s father, Mr. Wormwood, was inspired by a real-life character from the home village of Roald Dahl, which was an English village called Great Missenden in Buckinghamshire. The library that Matilda visits between the ages of 4 and 5 was also inspired by the library in Great Missenden in England.

It has been speculated that Roald Dahl’s grandchildren were the inspiration behind Matilda. However, this has not been confirmed by the author or his family.

Political and Cultural Influences

Although ‘Matilda‘ is a light-hearted children’s novel, its plot has been influenced by the general political and cultural climate of the 1980s. Television was an established form of entertainment by the time ‘Matilda‘ was published, although Roald Dahl depicts it as a form of evil in the novel.

It was during the 1980s that the second-wave feminist movement brought about several changes as well. This is reflected within the novel in several ways. For instance, the female protagonist is extremely independent and can take care of herself without the help of her parents, even at a young age. The feminist movement is also alluded to when Matilda and Miss Jennifer Honey discuss the fact that Miss Honey would be more independent if she was able to gain control over her income. 

Miss Trunchbull, the mean headmistress of Crunchem, speaks regretfully about the recent ban on corporal punishment for children. This reflects the ban on corporal punishment in English public schools in the United Kingdom that was effected in the year 1986. 

Dahl also refers to the ‘Star Wars’ franchise by mentioning stormtroopers in the novel. 

Literary Context

Roald Dahl was greatly influenced by Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ and ‘Through the Looking Glass‘. His children’s literature was also influenced by Norwegian folk and fairy tales, which he heard from his mother, who was a Norwegian immigrant. ‘

‘Matilda’ also alludes to several popular authors and their works, such as ‘Great Expectations‘ and ‘Nicholas Nickleby’ by Charles Dickens, ‘Tess of the d’Urbervilles‘ by Thomas Hardy, ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ by Ernest Hemingway, ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ by John Steinbeck, ‘The Sound and the Fury’ by William Faulkner, ‘Animal Farm’ by George Orwell, ‘Secret Garden’ by Frances Hodgson Burnett, ‘The Good Companions‘ by J.B Priestley, ‘Mary Webb Kim’ by Rudyard Kipling and so on. These books transform the tiny girl, Matilda, into new worlds, all from a little room in the public library.

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