“Taste” a short story by Roald Dahl: This story’s very peculiar opening, in which wine is personified, suggests Dahl had multiple personality trait

“Richard Pratt was a famous gourmet. He was president of a small society known as the Epicures…He organized dinners where sumptuous dishes and rare wines were served…and when discussing a wine, he had a curious, rather droll habit of referring to it as though it were a living being. ‘A prudent wine,’ he would say, ‘rather diffident and evasive, but quite prudent.’ Or, ‘a good-humored wine, benevolent and cheerful—slightly obscene, perhaps, but nonetheless good-humored” (1, p. 53).

1.Roald Dahl. The Best of Roald Dahl. New York, Vintage Books, 1990.

For a story synopsis, go to Wikipedia and search “Taste (short story).”

Comment: Since fiction writers often say they speak with their characters, this short story’s very peculiar opening, in which wine is personified, might be what Roald Dahl was told by his character, Pratt, near the beginning of the writing process. This would suggest that Dahl, like most great fiction writers, had multiple personality trait.