Originally published in Playboy, the Switch Bitch stories are all about sexual deception and manipulation. In The Great Switcheroo, two men decide to liven up suburban life by devising a ploy to sleep with each other’s wives; in The Last Act, an embittered former lover plots violent revenge on a grieving widow. Critics have found these stories crude and misogynistic – any contemporary screen treatment would require some hefty revisions. The Swan What started off as a fun, entertaining, well-written frolic ultimately, due to its sexism, homophobia, and glorified rape-culture left a horrendous taste in my mouth. urn:lcp:myuncleoswald00dahl:epub:dacd9d90-0431-48b7-bd99-0aae324f9880 Extramarc Duke University Libraries Foldoutcount 0 Identifier myuncleoswald00dahl Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t3st8f18r Isbn 0394510119 Roald Dahl was a British novelist, short story writer and screenwriter of Norwegian descent, who rose to prominence in the 1940's with works for both children and adults, and became one of the world's bestselling authors.

Oswald yang genius dan selalu mendambakan tantangan memilih cara yang tidak biasa untuk meraup uang, yaitu dengan menjual sperma milik tokoh-tokoh terkenal. Tidak sendirian pastinya. Dia dibantu profesornya yang menciptakan wadah penyimpan sperma agar bisa tahan hingga puluhan tahun, dan gadis cantik keturunan Persia, Yasmin, yang menjadi 'pancingan' agar para lelaki hebat itu bisa berejakulasi. Tapi gadis cantik saja tentu tidak cukup. Toh maestro-maestro seni seperti Puccini hampir tiap hari didekati wanita cantik yang mengaguminya. Maka Oswald pun melibatkan bubuk Sudanese Blister Beetle yang dibelinya di Sudan setelah mendengar cerita seorang veteran tentara Inggris. Dengan bubuk ini, dijamin lelaki paling steril pun bakal panas dingin melihat perempuan, apalagi perempuan secantik Yasmin. Oswald travels Europe with Yasmin, collecting samples for his sperm bank from a roster of famous men: Monet, Picasso, Freud, etc. Each sexual conquest is outrageous, but the first few are best because the book grows repetitive. Dahl works variety into the scenes, but a clear pattern emerges nonetheless. Right when I worried the book was ruining its premise by becoming routine, Oswald says as much himself. Shaggy Dog" Story: A surprising amount of the story turns out to be one... from Oswald's perspective, that is. Sex is the main theme in this novel and it is all Oswald is concerned about. Although Oswald promises to tell his reader about how he amassed his fortune, he ends up describing his sex life in obscene detail. Dahl paints this in a humorous light, understating some darker elements in the texts that seem to suggest coercion.

About

The Vamp: Yasmin. Or rather, she's used this way by Oswald; not that she herself's not into it though.

Narrated by Oswald's twenty-something nephew, who learns the story via his uncle's Secret Diary, the first part of the book takes place in 1912 and details the insatiable young Oswald Cornelius's globe-trotting adventures as he searches for the world's most powerful aphrodisiac (with a lot of digressions into his sexual escapades). Framing Device: The story is presented as the diary of Oswald, left to his nephew and only seeing the light of day now because its contents were too explosive, etc. Implied to be Oswald's fate after contracting an incurable disease. He lasts many years yet though, and it's implied that he blew his fortune trying to find a cure in vain, leaving only his diaries to the narrator.Like most of Dahl’s work, the novel is nasty: casually cruel, even sadistic in places. In real life, Oswald would be a menace—he makes the sexist social-media influencer Andrew Tate look like Gloria Steinem. As a fictional protagonist, he’s a delight. I myself have always found it difficult to treat anything too seriously and I believe the world would be a better place if everyone followed my example. I am completely without ambition. […] All I want out of life is to enjoy myself. But before one can achieve this happy end one must obviously get hold of a lot of money. Money is essential to a sybarite. It is the key of the kingdom. […] I refuse to have anything to do with money-making unless the process obeys two golden rules. First, it must amuse me tremendously. Second, it must give a good deal of pleasure to those from whom I extract the loot. (171)