Three years before Roald Dahl died, he was stumped by a five-year-old. Like many of his protagonists, Matilda Wormwood was a precocious youngster surrounded by monstrous adults and grotesque peers. But in early drafts of “Matilda,” Dahl had painted her as a wicked child who uses . . . (Subscription required.)
SOURCE: The New Yorker at 12:00AM on March 25, 2013