ROALD DAHL- “DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY”: CINEMATIC PERSPECTIVE IN LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER
ROALD DAHL- “DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY”: CINEMATIC PERSPECTIVE IN LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER

Summary/Abstract: Critics have talked about terms such as “novelistic cinema” and “cinematic novel” (Saeed, 2009) to suggest the close relation between narration in both film and literature. Robert Scholes and Seymour Chatman have theorized the differences and resemblances between the two modes. This paper examines the cinematic perspective used as a literary device in Roald Dahl’s short story “Lamb to the Slaughter.” The research focuses both on the construction of the story and characters and on how the author manages to create a surprising plot by employing the cinematic point of view as a literary device. The story was written in 1953, a year that saw the release of movies such as Roman Holiday and From Here to Eternity, and that also documented the first use of the CinemaScope lens. The findings of this research show that, the literary device employed by Dahl in the short story discussed is meant to “show” rather than to “say” in order to create the atmosphere and to portray the characters while providing the readers with a camera-like view of the protagonists’ movements and actions. It is worth mentioning that Dahls’ story was later made into a short movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The conclusion is that even though this narrative has not been in the least influenced by cinema, it is closely related to it, by means of giving the action and the characters objective descriptions and detached accounts of their acts.

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