Puffin books in the UK has done a U-Turn on its plans to sanitize Beloved British author Roald Dahl’s classic books. They will now be republished without the editing after a huge outcry that even saw the Queen Consort Camilla cheered by a gathering of authors when she told them, “please remain true to your calling, unimpeded by those who may wish to curb the freedom of your expression or impose limits on your imagination.”
The publisher has been under fire ever since it announced plans to rewrite phrases and altering words such as ‘fat’ – Augustus Gloop can now be referred to only as ‘enormous’ – and Charlie and The Chocolate Factory’s Oompa Loompas being made gender neutral.
Today the publisher announced it would release the Roald Dahl Classic Collection ‘to keep the author’s classic texts in print’ saying they had ‘listened to the debate’ following criticism of recent changing of his work to remove words such as ‘fat’.
The unedited versions will be offered alongside the newly released Roald Dahl books, which have been sharply criticized by authors and readers alike.
A poll for MailOnline by Redfield & Wilton Strategies found almost two out of three Britons (60 per cent) disagree with changing language in classic children’s books and 63 per cent opposed recent changes to the books of Roald Dahl. Just 20 per cent supported the edit.
Some samples of the Puffin proposed edits:
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
2001 – Mrs Salt was a great fat creature with short legs, and she was blowing like a rhinoceros
2022 – Mrs Salt was so out of breath, she was blowing like a rhinoceros
THE TWITS
2001 – Mrs Twit may have been ugly and she may have been beastly, but she was not stupid
2022 – Mrs Twit may have been beastly, but she was not stupid.
MATILDA
2001 – Get your mother or father
2022 – Get your family
THE BFG
2001 – ‘BFG,’ she said, ‘would you please tell these rather dim-witted characters exactly what to do.’
2022 – ‘BFG,’ she said, ‘would you please tell them exactly what to do’.
Dahl, who died in 1990 was a WWII fighter pilot who after being injured in combat was assigned to a diplomatic post in Washington. There, he became involved in espionage around Britain’s efforts to get the US to enter the conflict. It was in this period that he started writing, His children’s literature work was described as possessing caustic wit. There were some criticisms of Dahl’s work during his lifetime—one critic calling him misogynistic.
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