The British publisher Puffin called on “sensitivity readers” to rewrite passages from the classics of the famous British writer.
Several books by Roald Dahl such as Mathilda, holy witches or Charlie and the chocolate factorywere rewritten under the supervision of UK publisher Puffin to remove language deemed offensive, reports The Telegraph.
According to the British daily, the publishing house has hired “sensivity readers” for this mission, whose role is to identify in the manuscripts phrases or situations that are offensive to ethnic or sexual minorities.
The aim of the publisher, with the collaboration of Roald Dahl’s heirs, is to ensure that its classics “can still be enjoyed today by everyone”. To do this, several descriptions of the physical appearance of the characters have been reworded.
“Big” replaced by “huge”
The words “gros” (“fat”) and “laide” (“ugly”) have thus been removed. Augustus Gloop, in Charlie and the chocolate factoryis now “enormous”, while The Two Rascals, Commère Gredin is no longer “hideous and dirty”, but just “unclean”. The word “female” (“woman”) has also been replaced by that of “woman”.
In holy witchesa paragraph explaining that witches are bald under their wigs ends with a new sentence: “There are many reasons why women might wear wigs and there is nothing wrong with that”, can we read in this new edition.
The use of neutral terms has also been systematized. In Charlie and the chocolate factory, the famous Oompa Loompas were described as “little men”. They are now referred to as “little people”. In James and the Giant Peach“Cloud-Men” became “Cloud-People”.
“Carefully considered” changes
According to the Roald Dahl Story Company, the company that oversees Dahl’s work, “it is not unusual to revisit certain language elements” when a new edition comes out. The changes – estimated at several hundred – were “minimal and have been carefully considered”, the company says.
“Our guiding thread has been to respect the stories, characters and irreverent spirit of the original text,” insists a statement from the company.
Puffin and the Roald Dahl Story Company made those choices with the help of Inclusive Minds, which describes itself as “a collective of people who are passionate about the inclusiveness and accessibility of children’s literature.”
For the Roald Dahl Story Company, it is also a way of restoring the image of Roald Dahl, whose works have often been criticized in the press in recent years. In December 2020, the company also offered its “deep apologies” after openly anti-Semitic statements by the novelist in a 1983 interview, where he seemed to find justifications for the crimes of Adolf Hitler.
A partnership with Netflix
The decision to modify the texts of the author is surely a consequence of the acquisition of the Roald Dahl Story Company by Netflix in 2021. The author’s grandson, Luke Kelly, who manages the company, had also announced at the time that he wanted to propose new publishing projects, games, theater and derivative products around the work of Dahl.
Several adaptations in films and animated series of the great successes of Roald Dahl are planned within the framework of this cooperation. Taika Waititi is currently working on a series inspired by the world of Charlie and the chocolate factory. Wes Anderson will reveal at the end of the year The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.
Born in Wales to Norwegian parents, Roald Dahl, who died in 1990, achieved worldwide fame with his novels for young people, around twenty baroque tales in which adults often have the wrong role, and his childhood memories. He has sold over 300 million books worldwide, translated into 63 languages.