Conveying Literature in the Museum: The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre Nora Hawich Literaturmuseen stehen einer besonderen Herausforderung gegenüber, da Charaktere und Geschichten erst im Kopf der Leserinnen und Leser lebendig werden. Wie kann man also Literatur ausstellen – jenseits von Schaukästen mit ver- staubten Originalausgaben? Nora Hawich (Berlin) hat das Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre in Great Missenden, England, als Beispiel für ein gelungenes Literaturmuseumskonzept ausgewählt. Sie beschreibt in ihrem Artikel das Museum, sein Anliegen und die vielseitigen interaktiven Stationen, die Besucher erkunden können. Museum concepts and practices draw their own conclusions.”2 Fit- are the consequence of various ting Jordan’s description extremely processes and have changed sig- well, the Roald Dahl Museum and nificantly since the late 1980s. Story Centre is one example of Acknowledging the museum as this ongoing progress within the part of the service sector as well field of literary museums. as its educational and social im- “It smells like chocolate!” “Did portance for the public influenced you see the mouse in the jar?” “Ew and shaped literature museums is that his hipbone?” “Look, there just as much as the traditional is an airplane!” Exclamations like forms, perhaps even more. Often these are no rarity in the colour- ignored in favour of the “more” ful museum situated at the High visual arts, science, and history Street of Great Missenden, a vil- museums, literary museums face lage in England where for over 35 several challenges in legitimising years some of the most famous their exhibitions. Experts in the children’s stories of the United field of museum studies describe Kingdom were written. Charlie the literature museum as a special and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda case due to the problems of visual- and The Fantastic Mr. Foxare just ising something as abstract as liter- a selection of the books emerg- ature. The reason for the attribute ing from Great Missenden. Their “problematic” is based on the as- author, Roald Dahl (1916-1990), sumption that literature museums loved the village that lies within can only rely on literary texts, for a 45-minute distance from Lon- example books or manuscripts, don and often drew inspiration as exhibition objects. However, Looking into Roald Dahl’s original writing hut for his stories from it. The small, trends in museum practice such colourful museum on the High as the use of different modes of repre- sion. Lothar Jordan, President of the Street was established in his honour sentation besides the “authentic” object International Committee for Literary and opened in 2005. The Roald Dahl have helped literature museums to han- Museums (ICLM), explains that “the Museum is a charity. The idea for the dle perceived disadvantages, particular- literary museum will always be a more museum developed after Roald Dahl’s ly, the problem of visuality. problematic genre than the art mu- death when his wife Felicity Dahl tried As museums are on the path of be- seum”, though, “[f]resh new concepts to find a place for the author’s archive coming essentially about ideas and are being developed that emphasize to be kept together. Since Dahl was in- not objects1, new literature museums presentation, make the most of multi- tent on promoting the love of reading present themselves as centres of com- media technology and integrate other to children, the museum aims at en- munication, interpretation and discus- art forms, and visitors are often left to couraging children between 6 and 12, Hard Times – Nr. 94 (Herbst 2014) 29 The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre along with their families, to discover Visualising Literature in the tured around three galleries, with the the joy of literature. This way, the mu- Museum first two rooms, Boy and Solo, focussing seum hopes to continue Dahl’s achieve- So how do you visualise literature? on Roald Dahl’s life and the third, the ments of making children fall in love Creativity is a key word and one that Story Centre, dealing with his work as with books. characterises the Roald Dahl Museum a writer. The Boy and Solo Gallery owe and Story Centre. As a children’s mu- their names to two autobiographies by A Lesson from Literature: Telling seum, it aims at stimulating the imagi- Roald Dahl. TheBoy Gallery is about Stories in the Museum nation of its small visitors right away. his early life in Wales, his family and his Museums fulfil a vital role in extracur- In order to help this process along, the adolescence in boarding schools. In or- ricular and individual learning con- museum design tries to recreate the at- der to connect the life of the visitors with cepts. As one of the most important mosphere of the books. The front of the life of a young man living in Britain public learning institutions nowadays, the house depicts one of Roald Dahl’s shortly before the Second World War, museums aspire to offer an educational most famous characters, the BFG – also the walls of the Boy Gallery are filled experience to a more and more diversi- known as the Big Friendly Giant – on with little short stories extracted from fied audience. Accordingly, many mu- a light blue background. The courtyard Dahl’s autobiography. Accompanied by seums have been refurbished in the last invites people in through customised big comics or enlarged photos, these ten years, opening new exhibitions that gates that Warner Brother’s made for stories talk about Dahl’s experiences as embrace modern education concepts the museum after shooting the recent a big brother, practising his target skills in order to connect with the public. Museums now aim at sharing as well as discussing knowledge, relating their in- formation material on display with the personal lives of their visitors. In order to achieve that, they engage in a com- municative act that has been familiar to humans since the earliest of times: storytelling. The telling of stories is a natural part of day-to-day communication. Re- search suggests that telling stories with and in exhibitions enhances the expe- rience of the museum visit, making it one of the most useful education mod- els in the museum context. Museums establish stories around their objects or information and use narrative struc- Inside Roald Dahl’s Writing Hut, Solo Gallery tures in order to guide audiences and to kick-start their imagination. As cura- tors and educators provide storylines by version of Charlie and the Chocolate on his little sisters, or they are about his developing exhibitions, audiences con- Factory. And inside the museum corri- preferred teacher at boarding school. nect the presented stories to their socio- dor, visitors find the enormous croco- One favourite amongst young visitors cultural knowledge as well as their own dile, another character of Roald Dahl’s. is “The Great Mouse Plot,” a prank in life. As a result, the concept of story- Even though the museum is traditional which the young Roald Dahl put a dead telling in museums, although already in layout – the estate comprises of three mouse in a candy jar of the candy shop employed in earlier times, experiences a galleries, a project room, a lunchroom, owner Mrs. Pratchett. Further gadgets, new popularity. By providing informa- a museum shop, a courtyard, a café and like a real candy jar, including a mouse, tion and memory cues that can be con- office rooms – a creative exhibition set standing in the glass display beneath nected to personal life stories and expe- up can be found throughout all the gal- the story, encourage the children to ac- riences, museums offer narratives that leries. This is an important feature, as tually read the story written on the wall. help the visitors to understand contexts the museum wants to foster creativity Also, the Boy Gallery hopes to connect and processes. Furthermore, by creating in their visitors; and the exhibition de- with its audience by displaying letters exhibitions that encourage individual sign is a tool for doing so. In addition, of Roald Dahl to his mother, photos of paths, audiences can direct their own it is also one of many narrative devices his home and old school records. The museum experience and influence the the museum employs to visualise Roald latter, in particular, triggers recognition story of the visit according to their per- Dahl’s life and literature. and a sharing of experiences as most sonal interests. The Roald Dahl Museum is struc- visitors are familiar with school records 30 Hard Times – Nr. 94 (Herbst 2014) The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre Looking in the Mr Twit Mirror Teamwork at the Ideas Table and compare their results with those on of the writing hut in the Story Centre, Involving the audience into various display. Consequently, by telling stories enabling each visitor to sit in a writ- fun-activities is, in fact, an important about Dahl’s pranks or school experi- ing chair that is a replication of Roald aspect of the museum’s concept since ences, the museum encourages self-re- Dahl’s original one. active participation increases the visi- flection and informs about similarities tors’ attention span and enthusiasm. as well as differences in school between Installations and Interactive Exhibits This proves to be particularly effective the 1920s, 1930s and today. The children’s museum communicates for children as they learn whilst hav- A similar concept is used in the sec- with its audiences via various channels ing fun. Several other activities can be ond gallery of the museum, Solo, which such as audio- and video installations. found in all the galleries, such as the deals with the circumstances that led In the Solo Gallery, for instance, visi- fresco on the wall of Solo illustrating the to Dahl becoming an author after he tors can listen to an audio recording of different heights of characters in Roald left school.