'Roald Dahl is one of the few writers I know whose work can accurately be described as addictive' Irish Times Stylish, macabre and haunting, these tales will leave you with a delicious feeling of unease. In these dark, disturbing stories Roald Dahl explores the sinister side of human nature: the cunning, sly, selfish part of each of us that leads us into the territory of the unexpected and unsettling. What could go wrong when a wife pawns the mink coat that her lover gave her as a parting gift? What happens when a priceless piece of furniture is the subject of a deceitful bargain? Can a wronged woman take revenge on her dead husband? Alfred Hitchcock, for whose television programme Dahl's story " Man from the South" was adapted, was fond of " The Visitor" and in later life recounted its plot on American talk shows as a dark joke.In Kiss Kiss you will find eleven devious, shocking stories from the master of the unpredictable, Roald Dahl. The central conceit of "The Last Act", in particular, has been described by Jeremy Treglown, Dahl's biographer, as having "no purpose as a mechanism other than to lead to a crudely sensationalist conclusion", and by British novelist Zoe Heller as describing "in obscene detail the rape of a menopausal woman by a gynecologist." In the same article for The New Republic she commented generally on Dahl's later adult stories: "the sexual sadism is at its crudest and the “wit” at its most vestigial are almost unbearable to read."ĭespite this negative reception, the stories have also been praised. The stories have been criticised for their cruel and misogynistic elements. The expert develops a perfume to stimulate the nerve, causing chaos when it is exposed during a high society dinner for an American women's movement that Oswald is attending. Oswald Cornelius becomes entangled with a Belgian olfactory expert who claims to have discovered an eighth smell-related nerve that, when stimulated, unlocks certain aspects of human sexual experience. He begins to seduce her, and a terrible revenge ensues. The man is a gynaecologist, recently separated, and unbeknownst to the woman still harbours a grudge for her breaking off their relationship. They compare sexual techniques beforehand, and one receives a rude awakening the morning after.Īfter being widowed a woman reconnects with the man she left for her late husband years ago. Two middle-class suburban men at a neighbourhood party devise a ruse whereby each can sleep with the other's wife, without either wife realising the deception. A midnight liaison occurs and Oswald wonders whom it was he spent the night with, when the businessman reveals to him new information that could be fatal. While there Oswald meets the man's wife and daughter, both of whom are extremely beautiful. Wealthy gadabout Oswald Hendryks Cornelius is stranded in Cairo when a Syrian businessman picks him up by the side of the road and offers him a room for the night in his desert mansion. Despite the stories in Switch Bitch being dark and cynical in tone, the Oswald tales are also humorous and satirical, resembling crude comic anecdotes.Ĭontents and introductions " The Visitor" Oswald is a male fantasy figure described as "the greatest fornicator of all time", his adventures recounted by a nephew who inherits his diaries and decides to edit them for publication. (Although the first story seemingly presages his imminent decline and death.) He later appeared in Dahl's comic novel for adults, My Uncle Oswald. The book is notable for its introduction of the Uncle Oswald character, a wealthy hobbyist and gadabout who stars in both the first and last stories. They are linked by themes of rape by deception: in each one some major act of cunning, cruelty, or hedonism underpins the sexuality. Four stories, originally published in Playboy between 19, are collected. Switch Bitch (1974) is a book of adult short stories by British writer Roald Dahl.