Why? Why are Roald Dahl's books being rewritten??
I'm a woke lib, I admit it, 👨❤️👨👩❤️👩🌍 but this is going too far. Roald Dahl's beloved books are now being rewritten in places to remove remove language deemed offensive by the publisher, Puffin.
They have apparently hired "sensitivity readers" to rewrite chunks of the author’s text to make sure the books “can continue to be enjoyed by all today.”
These "small and carefully considered changes" are nothing of the sort; these changes will extensive across his entire work.
Such as:
The word “fat” has been cut from every new edition of relevant books, while the word “ugly” has also been culled. Augustus Gloop in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is now described as “enormous”. In The Twits, Mrs Twit is no longer “ugly and beastly” but just “beastly”.
In The Witches, a paragraph explaining that witches are bald beneath their wigs ends with the new line: “There are plenty of other reasons why women might wear wigs and there is certainly nothing wrong with that.” Oh, and the Witches can also be "top scientists or CEOs of multinational companies" rather than "cashiers in a supermarket" or "typing letters for a businessman"
In previous editions of James and the Giant Peach, the Centipede sings: “Aunt Sponge was terrifically fat / And tremendously flabby at that,” and, “Aunt Spiker was thin as a wire / And dry as a bone, only drier.”
Both verses have been removed, and in their place are the rhymes: “Aunt Sponge was a nasty old brute / And deserved to be squashed by the fruit,” and, “Aunt Spiker was much of the same / And deserves half of the blame.”
References to “female” characters have disappeared. Miss Trunchbull in Matilda, once a “most formidable female”, is now a “most formidable woman”.
Gender-neutral terms have been added in places – where Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’s Oompa Loompas were “small men”, they are now “small people”. The Cloud-Men in James and the Giant Peach have become Cloud-People.
Oh, and I think worst of all, the tractors in Fantastic Mr Fox are no longer "[i]black, murderous, brutal-looking monsters”[/i]. Yup, you guessed it! They are now merely "murderous brutal-looking monsters..."
No wonder Puffin haven't "immediately responded to requests for comment"
Now I know Roald Dahl was far from being an angel - he was anti-Semitic for one - but.. come on!!!
So, I need to ask, was anyone actually offended by any of Dahl's books (from an inclusive perpective), and if so, why? Truly I'd be interested to know!
They have apparently hired "sensitivity readers" to rewrite chunks of the author’s text to make sure the books “can continue to be enjoyed by all today.”
These "small and carefully considered changes" are nothing of the sort; these changes will extensive across his entire work.
Such as:
The word “fat” has been cut from every new edition of relevant books, while the word “ugly” has also been culled. Augustus Gloop in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is now described as “enormous”. In The Twits, Mrs Twit is no longer “ugly and beastly” but just “beastly”.
In The Witches, a paragraph explaining that witches are bald beneath their wigs ends with the new line: “There are plenty of other reasons why women might wear wigs and there is certainly nothing wrong with that.” Oh, and the Witches can also be "top scientists or CEOs of multinational companies" rather than "cashiers in a supermarket" or "typing letters for a businessman"
In previous editions of James and the Giant Peach, the Centipede sings: “Aunt Sponge was terrifically fat / And tremendously flabby at that,” and, “Aunt Spiker was thin as a wire / And dry as a bone, only drier.”
Both verses have been removed, and in their place are the rhymes: “Aunt Sponge was a nasty old brute / And deserved to be squashed by the fruit,” and, “Aunt Spiker was much of the same / And deserves half of the blame.”
References to “female” characters have disappeared. Miss Trunchbull in Matilda, once a “most formidable female”, is now a “most formidable woman”.
Gender-neutral terms have been added in places – where Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’s Oompa Loompas were “small men”, they are now “small people”. The Cloud-Men in James and the Giant Peach have become Cloud-People.
Oh, and I think worst of all, the tractors in Fantastic Mr Fox are no longer "[i]black, murderous, brutal-looking monsters”[/i]. Yup, you guessed it! They are now merely "murderous brutal-looking monsters..."
No wonder Puffin haven't "immediately responded to requests for comment"
Now I know Roald Dahl was far from being an angel - he was anti-Semitic for one - but.. come on!!!
So, I need to ask, was anyone actually offended by any of Dahl's books (from an inclusive perpective), and if so, why? Truly I'd be interested to know!
