''Kiss Kiss'' is a collection of short stories by
Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British author of popular children's literature and short stories, a poet, screenwriter and a wartime Flying ace, fighter ace. His books have sold more than 300 million copies ...
, first published in 1960 by
Alfred A. Knopf. Most of the constituent stories had been previously published elsewhere.
Contents
It contains the following short stories:
*"
The Landlady" (first appeared in ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'' magazine, November 28, 1959
["All works by Roald Dahl."]
''The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
''. Retrieved 1 October 2014.)
*"
William and Mary"
*"
The Way Up to Heaven" (first appeared in ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'' magazine, February 27, 1954
[)
*" Parson's Pleasure"
*" Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat"
*" Royal Jelly"
*" Georgy Porgy"
*" Genesis and Catastrophe: A True Story"
*" Edward the Conqueror" (first appeared in '']The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'' magazine, October 31, 1953[)
*" Pig"
*" The Champion of the World" (first appeared in '']The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'' magazine, January 31, 1959[)
" The Champion of the World" is a condensed version of the story that would become Dahl's 1975 children's book '' Danny the Champion of the World''.
]
Editions
* Knopf, New York, 1960, 309 pp.
* McCleland, Toronto, 1960
* M. Joseph, London, 1960, 255 pp.
* Hayakawa, Japan, 1961, Paperback, Japanese as ''Tales of Menace 1''
* Dell:F128, New York, 1961, 288 pp., paperback
* Bonnier, Stockholm, 1961, Swedish as ''Puss puss''
* Penguin:1832, Harmondsworth, 1962, 233 pp., paperback, (1973 reprint)
* Feltrinelli, Milano, 1964, 276 pp, Italian as ''Kiss Kiss: 11 storie macabre (con humour)''
* Rowohlt, Reinbek, German as ''Küsschen, Küsschen''
Audiobook
Unabridged recordings have been made of all 11 stories and released by Penguin Audiobooks. These are available individually as audio downloads, or together in a CD collection. The narrators are Stephanie Beacham, Juliet Stevenson, Derek Jacobi, Adrian Scarborough, Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig.
Critical response
Lorna Bradbury, Deputy Literary Editor for ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'', listed the collection as one of "25 Classic Novels for Teenagers." Zoe Chace of NPR told interviewer Cara Philbin her reactions during reading the collection as a child: "''Kiss Kiss'' is for grown-ups...It was actually the marriages that I remember feeling the worst about...Reading ''Kiss Kiss'' is one of the first times I can remember a real-life truth staring back at me from a book. I hadn't yet thought about the nasty tricks adults play on each other just to hurt each other. Particularly, married adults who aren't in love and who might know the other's weakness best. My imagination matured."
See also
* ''Switch Bitch
''Switch Bitch'' (1974) is a book of adult short stories by British writer Roald Dahl. Four stories, originally published in '' Playboy'' between 1965 and 1974, are collected. They are linked by themes of rape by deception: in each one, some m ...
'' (1974) collection of short stories
* ''Tales of the Unexpected'' (book)
References
Further reading
*
{{Roald Dahl
1960 short story collections
Short story collections by Roald Dahl
Alfred A. Knopf books