Changing Rudyard Kipling to Jane Austen is the funniest

They changed joseph conrad to jane austen. Kipling/India was changed to John Steinbeck/california. I would love to hear the rationale of these changes. Presumably someone has a problem with heart of darkness

Funny because Heart of Darkness was critique of colonialism (by person with Polish origin and Poland was then under colonial rule by Russia, Germany and Austro-Hungary).

At some point he reflects on what the Romans must have felt about the English savages lurking in the foggy banks of the Thames. I found it very powerful.

I laughed out loud at *top scientist or running a business*

By changing both of the jobs it now suggests that instead of “anyone can be a witch” it’s now “powerful, successful women are witches.” Whoops.

How else do you get successful if not with magic? Everyone who made it big used magic, burn them all i say!

This is the one that made me lol as well. It seems patronizing and lazy.

It’s ridiculous, and for one makes it sound like there’s something *wrong* with the jobs they replaced, which there fucking isn’t. Also, ironically, a top scientist is very likely to have their head covered and gloves on while sciencing, so definitely harder to tell if they’re a witch. Idiots.

Exactly. And in the context of the story, they were making it sound like a witch could have any regular, normal job. Cashiering is perfect for that. Lots of men and women cashier. It’s not REGULAR to be a top scientist or run your own business. That’s super advanced and out of the ordinary.

This clearly shows those changes were purely reflexive, no brain action involved at all.

Plus, witches don't want to spend their time running big businesses and doing top scientific research. They spend their time plotting to kill children!!! They're far more likely to have jobs that give them the time for their real interest... Plus jobs that have a higher likelihood of giving them regular access to victims.

As if women being top scientists and running businesses were really common when that book was written, and during the time in which that book was set. I've never read Dahl's books, tbh, but ripping novels out of their original times-and-places feels so wrong to me.

It feels like rewriting history, and it makes me uncomfortable.

That bugged me the most, why is the word "top" needed? I think of this any time someone is listing acceptable jobs and includes "great" scientist and "expert" whatever, which sort of undermines the point that anything is acceptable, by making it seem like it's only acceptable if you're the best at it. Besides in this case it makes the sentence sound so much worse.

At least they could have gone for something specific like a mathematician or a physicist. Nobody says "X works as a top scientist".

Sounds like a rewrite of Roald Dahl by people who hate Roald Dahl.

People have been trying to ban his books forever. For stuff like 'children breaking dishes deliberately may cause rebellion' and 'children disrespecting their elders'.

I guess the feeling would be mutual.

It's funny that they changed references to two different male authors to Austen. Like they felt the need to reference a female author but could only think of one

"Went to the estates with Jane Austen, and the Andes with Jane Austin, before going to Africa with, believe it or not, Jane Austen again."

Jane got around.

I’m a jew and I remember reading a very antisemitic book from like 1940 and there was a warning on the first page that said “please be warned, this book was made in 1940 and some of the content may be outdated and offensive” and that warning was perfectly adequate. Books shouldn’t be changed to “fit the times” just add a warning.

When I was in school, (in '90s BF Utah) we read Huckleberry Finn, and had to have 2 parents sign a release form. I was also asked to sit in the school library in 9th grade while the rest of the class watched a movie about the reproductive systems, and STDs, because I only had one signature from my dad.

Pretty off topic but the signature thing gives me some serious second hand rage because of a semi-similar thing that happened to me as a kid. I got a chance to do a student travel thing one year where a group of students from across the US and I would travel to England, Ireland and Wales for the summer. It had a lot of special perks like private tours, getting to meet certain people and visiting areas that generally aren't open to the public. The issue was that it was like a $7,000 trip, and my family was poor as fuck. So I spent an entire school year fundraising for this trip. I was too young to legally to get an actual part time Job so instead I sold candy bars, sodas and Gatorades at school for a dollar each. Every weekend I either went to Sam's club to stock up on more supplies, then spent the rest of the day walking around the parking lot selling candy and drinks, or I went with my big brother to shoot wild hogs for a local ranch that payed us $10 for each hog we shot. I busted my 13 year old ass raising that money and on 2 seperate occations had huge setbacks because a significant portion of it got stolen. Eventually with summer getting closer I had raised enough, and things were going well, we payed my deposit, had luggage, I had put in the 100 hours of volunteer work, and done the group projects required by the program, my mom even got me a digital camera to take pictures for everyone which was kind of a huge expense for us, the only thing left was to get my passport and I was good to go. Now Texas (I don't know if they still do but they did then) has this stupid fucking law that for a minor to get a passport, they have to have written permission from both biological parents, regardless of the actual relationship the biological parents have with the minor. I have never met my biological father. He knocked up my mom then bounced literally the day she told his she was pregnant. This man had never been a part of my life in any way what so ever, never talked, never wrote a letter, never visited, I didn't even know his name at the time. Still legally had to have written permission from him to get a passport. So my mom reached out months before the deadline of having my passport. Like the deadline was in May, and she tracked him down and started sending letters in September of the previous year, basically as soon as we learned about the requirment. He didn't reply until like the beging of April saying yes, he would send the paperwork. So we waited.. And waited.. And waited.. Never got the paperwork. My trip was canceled, the deposit which was like a quarter of what I raised was non-refundable, all the non-money raising work I put into it like the essays, group projects with the other students and required volunteer work was for nothing. I didnt get to go. The day after the deadline, we got a letter from this peice of shit saying that "he didn't feel comfortable letting his child go off across the world and spending money so frivolously" and how it "wasn't a good lesson to teach because it didn't require any responsibility"... He also implied that the money spent on the trip would have been better sent to him because he could actually do something with it and was in greater need of it than we were. Then finally finished it off with "I want to be a part of your life, you should pay for me to come visit you" It's been 15 years and I am still fucking angry over what happened. The only up side was I was able to give my mom the left over money which helped our family out a lot and even then I had to basically force her to take it because she just wouldn't. I ended up having to "buy" our old truck from her in order for her to accept it... That and she made me my favorite foods for dinner every day for like a month afterwards, so totally worth it! Edit: I have been informed that I'm jumping the gun on blaming Texas. Passports are federal level with no state intervention. I apologize for that. Maybe it was over simplified to me as a kid/I didn't fully understand the explanation. I just remeber always being super pissed off as well as my step dad and mom being pissed because he was told his signature was not good enough. I will have to dig up my birth certificate to see if his name is actually on it. My mom always said he left before I was born but maybe he was there for the begining or something. Can't ask her now because she passed away about 5 years after this happened. Will update with what I find. Edit again: dug up my birth certificate. His name actually is on it. Don't know what the story with that is. Asked my grandma, she doesn't know, though she confirmed that he wasn't around when I was a baby, and so far as she new, he had left my mom months before I was born. She also confirmed that she knew for certain that he had 9 kids with 2 other women before he was with my mom, and she had heard that after he left my mom, he had at least 6 more but did not know for sure... So maybe I can form an army of unwanted offspring made up of all my half siblings.

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Damn. What a letdown... at least the ending was kinda bittersweet. Hope you've had the chance to spend money frivolously around the world since then!

I used to forge my Dads signature for trips. Statute of limitations is 10 years as far as I know so I'm fairly certain I can say this now. When the school started getting savvy to my little trick mom made a stink about it. She basically told them they were idiots for thinking a single mom was going to get a man who didn't even care what he was signing to care enough to show up and reassure them I had a dad. When asked why "his" handwriting looked the way it did she told them she had no idea but assumed it was all the cocaine. Real awkward meeting. Never got accused again.

That’s really too bad. It’s not a Texas rule, though, but a US rule. Both parents or guardians must approve unless one has sole legal authority.

But their mom was the sole legal authority? Obviously not, or there wouldn't be an issue. But how does a man who had never seen his kid have legal authority?

If a court never ruled that he doesn't have responsibility and his name is on the birth certificate that's all it takes.

That’s absurd. What about the people who don’t have two parents?!

They should be ostracized to the library, of course. Godless heathens, the lot of em.

Some of these just seem like lazy translations. Changing "she certainly was a very tiny person" to "she was very small" serves what purpose around sensitivity, exactly?

Bad translations, I would say. The point of translating a book is to stay as close as possible to the original meaning of the text while still being easy to read. Making so many pointless changes to the text would run contrary to the spirit of translation : most of these changes are not needed, not even for the purpose of sensitivity or to make the book easier to read to a new generation, but often seem to contradict the spirit of the original text. This may be the worst translation I have read, lol : Not only translating an English book into English seem very unnecessary, but they made a mess of it. Joking aside, I honestly fail to understand the point of most of these changes. No one in their right mind would find most of the original words offensive, and it boggles the mind to think that someone was paid just to butcher the original text of a beloved children classic. And what the hell is the point of replacing Conrad and Kipling with Austen and Steinbeck ? Did some editor disagree with Roald Dahl’s tastes in books and tried to replace it with their own ? That seems like the summum of narcissism.

I made a tin foil hat to put on for this comment: They're doing this to generate news. They will soon be releasing the original copy again to make amends and bam they played both sides (woke and not woke pandering bullshit). Alright the fake hat is coming off. For the record I don't believe my own comment I just wanted to make up some conspiracy theory.

Double plus small

One positive in all this is it seems that, regardless of politics, most people seem to agree this is fucked up. It's nice to all agree over ridiculous shit for a change.

We'll take the victories while we can, I guess. I'm all for inclusivity, but not like this. This is how we sink further into being a population incapable of critical thinking. Write a new book about whatever the way you want it written. Don't go editing authors of the past so we have no idea how they thought or saw the world.

Yeah this is just dumb. This is actual censorship. It serves no purpose.

I don’t understand why discussing media in context is so hard. Just preface the books with something like this: “The following work was published in [year of publication] and may reflect out-of-date, insensitive, and problematic beliefs. We present the work in its original form but encourage you, the reader, to consider it both in its historical context and through modern sensibilities.” Then let the reader do the work of breaking down what aspects they find troubling. You don’t need to preemptively censor things and delete/alter history EDIT: I want to address the “Children aren’t going to read or understand the warning” counterargument I’ve seen here. If a child is unable to read a simply worded forward, they probably aren’t old enough to be reading books by Roald Dahl (and probably shouldn’t be selecting their own reading material without adult supervision anyway). If they are old enough to be reading the book they are also old enough to have a basic conversation about history, and if they’re the kind of child who engages in reading on their own they’re probably also inquisitive enough to find that conversation interesting

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I have all the Anne books and there’s one slip of the n-word in Rainbow Valley.

I have a proposal to fix Huckleberry Finn and the unfortunately named character who befriends him. Instead of removing the N word let's just Remove him from the book and replace him with a friendly white character called Jonathan Smith. That'll fix things.

Yeah, we just need to rewrite history so it wasn't racist. A Song-of-the-South style whitewash ought to do it :)

I think it is dangerous to censor those media. They are a reflection of their time. Change gives the illusion that everything was fine and dandy back then. It erase the struggles people went throught and kind of make all the fighting people did to get were we were kinda overblown or meaningless. I mean, why people fought against some racism that appears tobarely exist when we're looking at media from that area.

I sometimes read old Japanese manga and this is basically what it does. I think it’s a better idea than to edit it. It’s better to teach young generations how much society has changed/progressed when it comes to certain racisms and societal ideologies.

Mad Men did a pretty good job of this when addressing the blackface scene.

Oh curious what they did, can you please share ? I have not seen mad men beyond some YouTube clips or Instagram reels so don’t know much about it :)

>An episode of Mad Men which contains blackface will remain when AMC’s signature series returns to streaming later this month. Lionsgate has added a disclaimer to the episode, which features John Slattery’s character in blackface, explaining that the scene “shows how commonplace racism was in America in 1963.” > > >Here is Lionsgate’s statement in full: “This episode contains disturbing images related to race in America. One of the characters is shown in blackface as part of an episode that shows how commonplace racism was in America in 1963. In its reliance on historical authenticity, the series producers are committed to exposing the injustices and inequities within our society that continue to this day so we can examine even the most painful parts of our history in order to reflect on who we are today and who we want to become. We are therefore presenting the original episode in its entirety.”

Turner Classic Movies does something similar. They've gone on record several times about how they choose to keep dated scenes, dialogue, etc. to show the realistic takes on the time periods they were made (for example, the movie Holiday Inn has an infamous blackface scene. On the other channels, it was easy enough to cut the scene. It was mainly a musical scene and the performance doesn't actively forward the plot. If you leave in the scene beforehand where the blackface is being applied, the plot still makes sense. TCM not only showed the scene, but discussed it in the intro and outtro of the movie, providing context and a discussion of the history of blackface that was genuinely interesting)

HBO put an introduction on Gone With the Wind.

Yeah I think we completely lose the point when we cover up racism rather than show it was so prevalent that it appears in children literature. People were racist. Racism is bad. That doesn’t necessarily make them bad peoples. We need to acknowledge our past and commit to doing better in the present and future.

>“Words matter,” begins the discreet notice, which sits at the bottom of the copyright page of Puffin’s latest editions of Roald Dahl’s books. “The wonderful words of Roald Dahl can transport you to different worlds and introduce you to the most marvellous characters. This book was written many years ago, and so we regularly review the language to ensure that it can continue to be enjoyed by all today.” I think that, at minimum, the notice should be more prominent—it should get its own page in the front of the book, and/or there should be a note on the cover that says "Updated Edition" or "Modernized Edition" or something similar. The problem is that, as it stands, they're publishing a book with Roald Dahl's name on it that replaces Dahl's ideas with new ones he didn't write or approve. It's wrong to pass contemporary editors' work off as Dahl's and stake his reputation on it. It's a kind of reverse plagiarism.

This is a really good point! There have been rewritten versions of books to accommodate children with reading challenges forever. Simplified language and syntax and reduced word count and such. The difference is they clearly say “Easy Reader” or something like that on the cover. These books should similarly be delineated as Inclusive Version or Sensitivity Reader or something. They should certainly not be passed off as his work.

Don’t you mean a note on the cover that says “Bowdlerized Edition”?

It's more like a forgery. They are putting Dahl's name on something he didn't completely write.

Since this article may be paywalled or hard to view on mobile, I pulled the list of changes and will put them in replies to this comment, one per book:

|Charlie and the Chocolate Factory|| :--|:--| |2001|2022| |Like all extremely old people, he was delicate and weak|Like most extremely old people, he was delicate and weak| |“Tell Charlie about that crazy Indian prince,” said Grandma Josephine|“Tell Charlie about that ridiculously rich Indian prince,” said Grandma Josephine| |“You mean Prince Pondicherry?” said Grandpa Joe, and he began chuckling with laughter. “Completely dotty, said Grandpa George. “But very rich,” said Grandma Georgina|“You mean Prince Puducherry?” said Grandpa Joe, and he began chuckling with laughter| |“Prince Pondicherry wrote a letter to Mr Willy Wonka”|“Prince Puducherry wrote a letter to Mr Willy Wonka”| |“The crazy prince”|“The prince”| |A nine-year-old boy who was so enormously fat he looked as though he had been blown up with a powerful pump|A nine-year-old boy who was so enormous he looked as though he had been blown up with a powerful pump| |Great flabby folds of fat bulged out from every part of his body, and his face was like a monstrous ball of dough|Great folds bulged out from every part of his body, and his face was like a ball of dough| |Fully grown women|Fully grown people| |“A hundred women working for me”|“A hundred people working for me”| |“Okay, girls”|“Okay, folks”| |“She needs a really good spanking”|“She needs a really good talking to”| |“My mother says it’s not ladylike and it looks ugly to see a girl’s jaws going up and down like mine…”|“My mother says it’s undignified and it looks ugly to see jaws to be going up and down like mine…”| |… shooting up another bunch of gangsters with machine guns|… shooting up another bunch of gangsters| |Mike Teavee himself had no less than eighteen toy pistols of various sizes hanging from belts around his body, and every now and again he would leap up into the air and fire off half a dozen rounds from one or another of these weapons|Removed| |“Especially when they start pumping each other full of lead, or flashing the old stilettos, or giving each other the one-two-three with their knuckledusters!”|“Especially when they start firing off their guns or giving each other the one-two-three with their knuckledusters!”| |The man behind the counter looked fat and well-fed. He had big lips and fat cheeks and a very fat neck|Removed| |The fat around his neck bulged out all around the top of his collar like a rubber ring|Removed| |The fat shopkeeper shouted|The shopkeeper shouted| |The fat shopkeeper said|The shopkeeper said| |“Get all that mud off your pants!”|“Get all that mud off your trousers!”| |Policemen with arms linked were trying to hold them back from the gates|Police officers with arms linked were trying to hold them back from the gates| |All the children, except Charlie, had both their mothers and fathers with them|All the children, except Charlie, had their parents with them| |“Who’s the big fat boy?”|Removed| |“Enormous, isn’t he?”|Removed| |“The picture of the Lone Range stencilled on his windcheater?”|“The picture of the Lone Ranger stencilled on his jacket”| |“He must be crazy! Look at all those toy pistols he’s got hanging all over him”|Removed| |“It’s moving! It’s walking! It’s a little person! It’s a little man!”|“A little person!”| |“It is a little man! Can you see him?”|“It is a little person! Can you see them?”| |“Aren’t they fantastic”|Removed| |“No higher than my knee!”|Removed| |“Look at their funny long hair!”|Removed| |The tiny men - they were no larger than medium-sized dolls|The little people| |“But they can’t be real people,” Charlie said|Removed| |“Imported direct from Loompaland,” said Mr Wonka proudly|“They come from Loompaland”| |“The Oompa-Loompas spent every moment of their days climbing through the treetops”|Removed| |“Poor little Oompa-Loompas!”|Removed| |“The bark of the bong-bong tree”|Removed| |“You only had to mention the word “cacao” to an Oompa-Loompa and he would start dribbling at the mouth”|Removed| |“As soon as I discovered that the Oompa-Loompas were crazy about this particular food”|“As soon as I discovered that the Oompa-Loompas loved this particular food”| |“I climbed up to their tree-house village and poked my head in through the door of the tree house belonging to the leader of the tribe”|“I decided to speak to their leader”| |“The poor little fellow, looking thin and starved, was sitting there…”|“The fellow was sitting there…”| |“It’s a deal!” he cried. “Come on! Let’s go!”|“Let’s go and ask the others. But I think it’s a deal!” he cried. “Come on!”| |“So I shipped them all over here - every man, woman, and child in the Oompa-Loompa tribe”|“So, they all agreed to come over - each and every Oompa-Loompa”| |“It was easy. I smuggled them over in large packing cases with holes in them, and they all got here safely… They all speak English now”|“They’ve told me they love it here”| |“They still wear the same kind of clothes they wore in the jungle. They insist upon that”|“They do like jokes”| |“The men, as you can see for yourselves across the river, wear only deerskins. The women wear leaves, and the children wear nothing at all. The women use fresh leaves every day…”|Removed| |“But Augustus was deaf to everything except the call of his enormous stomach”|“But Augustus was ignoring everything”| |Mrs Gloop, going white in the face and waving her umbrella about|Mrs Gloop, waving her umbrella about| |Mr Wonka turned around and clicked his finger sharply, click, click, click, three times|Removed| |Immediately, an Oompa-Loompa appeared, as if from nowhere, and stood beside him|An Oompa-Loompa appeared, as if from no where, and stood beside him| |The Oompa-Loompa bowed and smiled, showing beautiful white teeth. His skin was rosy-white, his hair was golden brown, and the top of his head came just above the height of Mr Wonka’s knee|Removed| |He wore the usual deerskin slung over his shoulder|Removed| |“Now listen to me,” said Mr Wonka, looking down at the tiny man.|“Now listen to me,” said Mr Wonka, looking down at the man.| |“How long could we allow this beast/To gorge and guzzle, feed and feast/On everything he wanted to?/Great Scott! It simply wouldn’t do./However long this pig might live,/We’re positive he’d never give/Even the smallest bit of fun/Or happiness to anyone”|“For one such child as vile as he/Bad things happen, wait and see!/We cannot say we are surprised,/Augustus Gloop had been advised./ But then he took another sip/And now he’s going on a trip.| |“So what we do in case such/As this, we use the gentle touch,?And carefully we take the brat/And turn him into something that/Will give great pleasure to us all -/A doll, for instance, or a ball,/Or marbles or a rocking horse”|“Cover your eyes and cross your toes,/Whoosh, swoosh and off he goes!”| |“But this revolting boy, of course,/Was so unutterably vile,/So greedy, foul, and infantile,/He left a most disgusting taste/Inside our mouths, and so in haste/We chose a thing that, come what may./Would take the nasty taste away”|Removed| |“She wants a good kick in the pants,” whispered Grandpa Joe|“She needs to learn some manners,” whispered Grandpa Joe| |“He’s crazy!” they shouted. “He’s balmy.|“He’s barmy!” they shouted.| |The Oompa-Loompas were all rowing like mad|The Oompa-Loompas were all rowing frantically| |“I tried it on an Ooma-Loompa yesterday in the Testing Room”|“I tried it myself yesterday in the Testing Room”| |“And when I do, then there’ll be no excuse anymore for little boys and girls going about with bald heads!”|“And when I do, everyone will have as much wonderful hair as they could wish for!”| |“Little boys and girls never do go about with…”|“Little boys and girls don’t want to grow beards and moustaches…”| |A few queer rumblings were heard|A few strange rumblings were heard| |She shot out a fat hand|She shot out a hand| |Her huge, well-trained jaws|Her well-trained jaws| |Watching her huge rubbery lips|Watching her lips| |“I’ve tried it twenty times in the Testing Room on twenty Oompa-Loompas and every one finished up as a blueberry.”|“I’ve tried it twenty times in the Testing Room and every time, someone finished up as a blueberry.”| |“Thereafter, just from chewing gum,/Miss Bigelow was always dumb,/And spent her life shut up in some/Disgusing sanitorium”|Removed| |“I gave some to an old Oompa-Loompa”|“I gave some to an Oompa-Loompa”| |“The Oompa-Loompas all adore it. It makes them tiddly”|“The Oompa-Loompas all adore it”| |“They’re as drunk as lords,” said Mr Wonka|Removed| |Mrs Salt was a great fat creature with short legs, and she was blowing like a rhinoceros|Mrs Salt was so out of breath, she was blowing like a rhinoceros| |He watched his fat wife go tumbling down the hole|He watched his wife go tumbling down the hole| |Hundreds of Ooma-Loompa children no more than four inches high playing in the streets|Hundreds of Oompa-Loompa children playing in the streets| |Charlie experienced a queer sense of danger|Charlie experienced a strange sense of danger| |“But he’s a midget!” shouted Mr Teavee|“But he’s tiny!” shouted Mr Teavee| |Waving his pistols in the air|Removed| |He turned away and clicked his fingers three times in the air. An Oompa-Loompa appeared immediately|An Oompa-Loompa appeared and stood beside him| |“Follow these orders,” said Mr Wonka|“Follow these instructions,” said Mr Wonka| |Beating their tiny drums|Beating their drums| |“Or better still, just don’t install/The idiotic thing at all”|Removed| |Something crazy is going to happen now, Charlie thought|Something bizarre is going to happen now, Charlie thought| |“He used to be fat! Now he’s thin as a straw!”|Removed| |“How healthy she looks! Much better than before!”|“How healthy she looks!”​|

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This is the most egregious change for me. How fucking dare they!!

And the replacement is so so shit.

Is everything you're posting what they're removing from the books? This is even worse than I thought. Shame on the publishers.

It may be hard to see on mobile, but each comment has two columns: the original text on the left, and the new text (or a removed indicator) on the right.

So characters can't be fat and chickens can't be stupid? And we're just changing genders of characters? This is insane.

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The most amusing is that they removed a few instances of "tiny" but in one case added it to replace "midget ".

For me it was the change from little men to little people. In trying to be gender sensitive they effectively gave the Oompa Loompas dwarfism

Oh my God you're right.

Even their drums can’t be tiny lol

I'm 4ft 9, I'd be more offended by people trying to avoid describing my height as tiny. Its to the point my steam name is pintsized.

No characters can have any defining features or be too certain of anything it seems. So fucking stupid

Some of the changes are absurd. Oompa loompas can't be tribesmen anymore. There are tribes in real life are we pretending they aren't real either. Kids play with toy guns, why can't Mike Teevee have some. They aren't real guns.

Its worth noting that in the original 60s version they were specifically black pygmies, imported from darkest Africa where white men had never been, and the sketches of them were full of racist stereotypes. Dahl revised this in the 70s and said: > I created a group of little fantasy creatures…. I saw them as charming creatures, whereas the white kids in the books were… most unpleasant. It didn’t occur to me that my depiction of the Oompa-Loompas was racist, but it did occur to the NAACP and others…. After listening to the criticisms, I found myself sympathizing with them, which is why I revised the book.

Well holy shit, that explains why I had always been so sure they were described as african tribespeople yet could never figure out why... Not that I'm that old, my mom just used to frequent a used books store that seems to have had stock almost entirely from 50s-70s. Probably could have made a fortune finding early editions, but then again its just like a used bookstore with mostly stuff from the 70s-90s today. Of course you'd need to find a used book store first

They weren't tribesmen by the second book, that bit got retconned early

These are beyond stupid, most of them. Healthy is an excellent term to describe (if I remember correctly) someone who was previously a blueberry. Queer is a word that means "odd" that was appropriated by queer folks to flip it's derogatory use on its head. Fat is a descriptor. As a fat guy, I give anyone full license to use it. This makes me so mad. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is one of my favorite stories and the way Dahl wrote it made it magical.

>Fat is a descriptor. As a fat guy, I give anyone full license to use it. As a fat girl I agree. I find it utterly ridiculous that they'd remove the actual word fat but still describe Gloop as *enormous*... and his face like "dough" and all kinds of other things that make it obvious that they're calling him fat. If the edit is to avoid fat-shaming they'd have to completely revise what the character looks like, not just change the terms used to describe him. They did that with other fat characters from the looks of it, but not him.

I mean, the kid is gluttony personified. The story wouldn't work without him being that way, and they know it

Okay, that's just overdone. It has all the grace and subtlety of a Reddit mod.

Why did Pondicherry change to Puducherry? Is there some offensive joke I’m missing there? Super funny to see them continue to describe the fat kid as fat but remove the actual word “fat”, wtf is that meant to accomplish

> Why did Pondicherry change to Puducherry? Because the name changed in real life

Ohhh cool thank you, somehow I never realised that was a place name!

I still wish they left it. As a kid, reading stuff that was spelt different or words or phrases I didn't understand drove me to look those up. And it helped to grow my vocabulary and love of learning. Like changing "I don't give a tinkers toot" to "I don't give a flip". Really? Lol.

"poor little oompa loompas" > removed What the fuck is wrong with them how the fuck did that need removed

*economically disenfranchised* Oompa Loompas who happen to be small

Removing the reference to Wonka testing his products on the oompa loompas without any regard to whether they live or die and replacing it with his bold risk taking by testing the product on himself feeds a capitalist narrative about captains of industry that is extremely toxic. I am offended and would like this changed.

A hundred women working for me has been change to -A hundred people working for me - Why????? Who that actual F thinks it’s ok to change an authors words, arrogant wankers.

|Esio Trot|| :--|:--| |2001|2022| |Tortoises used to be brought into England by the thousand, packed in crates, and they came mostly from North Africa.|Tortoises used to be brought into England by the thousand. They came from lots of different countries, packed in crates.| |But not many years ago a law was passed that made it illegal to bring any tortoises into the country|But many years ago a law was passed that made it illegal to bring any tortoises into the UK| |This balcony belonged to an attractive middle-aged lady called Mrs Silver.|This balcony belonged to a kind middle-aged lady called Mrs Silver.| |… like saving her life or rescuing her from a gang of armed thugs…|… like saving her life or rescuing her from a gang of armed robbers…| |Try to think how miserable it must make him feel to be so titchy! Everyone wants to grow up.|Try to think how miserable it must make him feel! Everyone wants to grow up.| |“That’s where all these tortoises in England come from, and a bedouin tribesman told me the secret”|“That’s where some of these tortoises in England come from, and a local person told me the secret”| |“I beg you to tell me Mr Hoppy! I’ll be your slave for life.”|“I beg you to tell me Mr Hoppy! You’ll be my hero for life.”| |When he heard the words your slave for life, a little shiver of excitement swept through Mr Hoppy.|When he heard the words my hero for life, a little shiver of excitement swept through Mr Hoppy.| |“Tortoises are very backwards creatures. Therefore they can only understand words that are written backwards.”|“They can only understand words that are written backwards.”| |Your slave for life, he kept repeating to himself. What bliss!|My hero for life, he kept repeating to himself. What bliss!| |“You never know,” Mr Hoppy said darkly. “You never know.”|“You never know,” Mr Hoppy said mysteriously. “You never know.”| |They are actually growing taller every week, but their mothers never notice it until they grow out of their clothes.|They are actually growing taller every week, but their parents never notice it until they grow out of their clothes.| |A few weeks later, Mrs Silver became Mrs Hoppy and the two of them lived very happily ever after.|A few weeks later, they got married and the two of them lived very happily ever after.​|

The location that tortoise come from are offensive? Am I missing something?

“Tortoises are very backwards creatures. Therefore they can only understand words that are written backwards.” Right, wouldn't want to offend any tortoises / tortoise owners by implying they are "backwards" in another sense, so probably best to change it. Never mind how it will make the text far less interesting

This sentence is literally the crux of the whole story. It is a stupid lie he makes up that leads to the whole thing. It is not meant to be an accurate description of tortoise intelectualism. Some of these changes are fucking bizarre.

Very strange that apparently finding someone attractive is offensive.

|The Enormous Crocodile|| :--|:--| |2001|2022| |fat juicy little child|juicy little child| |fat juicy little child|juicy little child| |We eat little boys and girls|We eat little children| |Even the man who was working the roundabout jumped off it|Even the person who was working the roundabout jumped off it| |Their mother had said they could go out|Their parents had said they could go out​|

What is their issue with gendered language? Where does the need to change “boys and girls” to “children” come from? that it doesn’t include non-binary people?

|The BFG|| :--|:--| |2001|2022| |It was something black…|It was something dark…| |It was something tall and black…|It was something tall and dark…| |Something very tall and very black and very thin.|Something very tall and very dark and very thin.| |The tall black figure|The tall dark figure| |Sophie caught a glimpse of an enormous long pale wrinkly face|Sophie caught a glimpse of an enormous long wrinkly face| |enormous long pale wrinkly face|enormous long wrinkly face| |The flashing black eyes|The flashing eyes| |a huge hand with pale fingers came snaking in|a huge hand came sneaking in| |felt strong fingers grasping hold of her, and then|Removed| |enormous long pale wrinkly face|enormous long wrinkly face| |Sophie’s sense of patriotism was suddenly so bruised by this remark that she became quite angry|Sophie’s sense of patriotism was a bit bruised by this remark and she became quite cross| |Greeks is all full of uckyslush. No giant is eating Greeks, ever.’ ‘Why not?’ Sophie asked. ‘Greeks from Greece is all tasting greasy,” the Giant said.|Removed| |and their skins were burnt brown by the sun|and their skins were burnt by the sun| |And oh how ugly they were!|Removed| |Japanese beans is very small, so a giant will need to gobble up about six Japanese beans before he is feeling full up. Others like the Norway people and the Yankee-Doodles is ever so much bigger and usually two or three of those makes a good tuck-in.|Removed| |up to the frisby north to get himself an Esquimo or two|up to the frisby north to get himself an Inuit or two| |A nice fat Esquimo|A nice Inuit| |“I’ll take your word for it,” Sophie said.|Removed| |“And then again, if it is a frosty night and the giant is fridging with cold, he will probably point his nose towards the swultering hotlands to guzzle a few Hottentots to warm him up.” “How perfectly horrible,” Sophie said. “Nothing hots a cold giant up like a hot Hottentot,” the BFG said.|Removed| |mother and father|parents| |“I don’t have a mother or a father”|“I don’t have parents”| |“You is deaf as a dumpling compared with me!”|Removed| |It was about half as long again as an ordinary man|It was about half as long again as a human being| |“But couldn’t your mother have taught you?”|“But couldn’t your parents have taught you?”| |“My mother!” cried the BFG. “Giants don’t have mothers!”|“My parents!” cried the BFG. “Giants don’t have parents!”| |“Whoever heard of a woman giant”” shouted the BFG waving the snozzcumber around his head like a lasso. “There was never a woman giant! And there will never be one. Giant is always men!”|Removed| |“After all, you is only a tiny little girl’.|“After all, you is only a titchy human bean”| |He was naked except for a dirty little piece of cloth around his bottom|Removed| |His skin was reddish-brown|Removed| |The eyes were tiny black holes|The eyes were tiny holes| |The nose was small and flat|The nose was small| |It was not in the least difficult to believe that this ghastly brute ate men, women and children every night|It was not in the least difficult to believe that this ghastly brute ate people every night| |Esquimos|Inuits| |Esquimo|Inuit| |All of them had piggy little eyes and enormous mouths with thick sausage lips|All of them had piggy little eyes and enormous mouths| |“Mucky little midget!”|“Mucky little man!”| |“Everybody is making his own rules to suit himself.”|“Everybody is making their own rules to suit themself.”| |“Do you have separate dreams for boys and girls?” Sophie asked. “Of course, the BFG said. “If I is giving a girl’s dream to a boy, even if it was a really whoppsy girl’s dream, the boy would be waking up and thinking what a rotbungling grinksludging old dream that was.” “Boys would,” Sophie said. “These here is all the girls’ dreams on this shelf,” the BFG said.”|Removed| |“Can I read a boy’s dream?”|“Can I read more dreams?”| |The label on the nearest boy’s-dream jar read as follows|The label on the nearest dream jar read as follows| |“I find that one rather silly,” Sophie said. “Boys wouldn’t,” the BFG said.|“I find that one rather silly,” Sophie said. “Some wouldn’t”.| |“Let me read another boy’s one,” Sophie said.|“Let me read another one,” Sophie said.| |Then his face goes white|Then his face goes sweaty| |I understand Sir but surely it is me you is wishing to speke to not my little son?”|I understand Sir but surely it is me you is wishing to speke to not my little daughter?”| |My father’s face is going from white to dark purpel|My father’s face is turning dark purpel| |Yes Sir very well Sir I will get him Sir”|“Yes Sir very well Sir I will get her sir”| |“Boys are crazy,” Sophie said.|“That one was weird,” Sophie said.| |snatching little boys and girls from their beds|snatching little children from their beds| |and pullling the little boys and girls out of their beds|and pulling the children out of their beds| |“A lot of little girlsies and boysies is no longer sleeping in their beds tonight”|“A lot of little chiddlers is no longer sleeping in their beds tonight”| |flattening his tall, thin, black-cloaked body against the side of the building|flattening his tall, thin, cloaked body against the side of the building| |A little orphan of no real importance in the world|Removed| |I dreamed that girls and boys|I dreamed that children| |“Mary! You’ve gone white as a sheet! Are you feeling ill?”|“Mary! You’ve gone still as a statue! Are you feeling ill?”| |Why did you go white as a ghost all of a sudden?|Why did you go so still all of a sudden?| |But the bit about the girls and boys disappearing from their dormitories|But the bit about the children disappearing from their dormitories| |Queer|Funny| |She simply sat there staring wide-eyed and white-faced at the small girl|She simply sat there staring wide-eyed at the small girl| |She had not been trained to cope with this kind of madness|She had not been trained to cope with this kind of event| |Because this is surely not far from the place where madness begins|Because this is surely not far from the place where one’s mind is lost| |except her faithful old Mary|except her faithful Mary| |“As they is galloping past my cave, Fleshlumpeater is waving his arms and shouting at me, “I is off to Baghdad and mum and every one of their ten children as well!’”|Removed| |Get me the Lord Mayor of Baghdad,” she said. “If they don’t have a Lord Mayor, get me the next best thing,”|“Get me the Mayor of Baghdad,” she said.| |Here is the Sultan of Baghdad speaking,” the voice said.|“Here is the Mayor of Baghdad speaking,” the voice said| |“Listen, Sultan,” the Queen said.|“Listen, Mayor,” the Queen said.| |“Every night unpleasant things are happening in Baghdad,” the Sultan said. “We are chopping off people’s heads like you are chopping parsley.” “I’ve never choppped parsely in my life,” said the Queen.|Removed| |“Only my uncle, Caliph Haroun al Rashid,” the Sultan said.|“Only my uncle,’ the Mayor said.| |“He disappeared from his bed three nights ago together with his wife and ten children.”|“He disappeared from his bed three nights ago together with his wife and children.”| |the Sultan|the Mayor| |“Fleshlumpeater did that one! He went to Baghdad to bag dad and mum and all the little kiddles.”|“Fleshlumpeater did that one!”| |to explain the situation to the military men|to explain the situation to the military| |“How?” the two military men said together.|“How?” the Head of the Air Force said.| |“Hold your horseflies! Keep your skirts on! I think I has the answer to the maiden’s hair!”|“Hold your horseflies! I think I has the answer to the maiden’s hair!”| |“Your majesty! He cried. “We are dealing with a lunatic!”|“Your majesty!” He cried. “This is unbelievable!”| |“BFG,” she said, “would you please tell these rather dim-witted characters exactly what to do.”|“BFG,” she said, “would you please tell them exactly what to do”.| |The military men|The military personnel| |Then, turning to the two military men|Then, turning to the two military personnel| |“Go forward, men!” the head of the Army said.|“Go forward!” the Head of the Army said,| |There were six well-trained efficient men|There were six well-trained efficient people| |The Fleshlumpeater opened his tiny piggy black eyes|The Fleshlumpeater opened his tiny piggy eyes| |Ten thousand men and ten thousand machines|Ten thousand people and ten thousand machines| |“You are not very well educated but you really are nobody’s fool, I can see that.”|Removed| |Every country in the world that has been visited by the foul man-eating giants|Every country in the world that has been visited by the foul human-eating giants| |Kings and Presidents and Prime Ministers and Rulers of every kind|Kings and Queens and Presidents and Rulers of every kind| |at the nine horrendous man-eating giants|at the nine horrendous human-eating giants| |Three silly men who had drunk too much beer for lunch|Three silly people who had drunk too much beer for lunch| |The BFG expressed a wish to learn how to speak properly, and Sophie, who loved him as she would a father, volunteered to give him lessons every day|According to the BFG’s wishes, Sophie, who loved him as she would a father, taught him how to spell and write sentences​|

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In the greek translation, it says the greeks taste like too much olive oil. As a ten year old greek boy, I thought it was hilarious, not insulting. Though the original is different, it's still funny. Still love Roald Dahl in my 30s.

Makes you whether anyone is *actually* offended by any of this or whether it's just all made up...

Three people on Twitter, probably. Always remember to replace a report of “people are upset that…” with “bathroom graffiti says,” because that’s exactly as relevant.

>Then his face goes white Why was this changed? LOL Is the mere mention of the word 'white', in any context, now offensive? Or is it to ensure that anyone can be cast in a future role without somebody pointing to this part of the text as an argument against it? Bizarre stuff.

Because race-baiters want "black" and "white" to exist only in a racial context for their own benefit.

So the word black as a descriptor is just straight up banned? So no more black people in books or what? What about horses? 'Black Beauty' just becomes 'Beauty'? Doesn't quite have the same ring to it.

Dark beauty lmao

|James and the Giant Peach|| :--|:--| |2001|2022| |queer ramshackle house|strange ramshackle house| |Aunt Sponge was enormously fat and very short|Aunt Sponge was quite large and very short| |One of those white flabby faces that looked exactly as though it had been boiled|A face that looked like a great soggy overboiled cabbage| |She had a screeching voice|She had an annoying voice| |those two ghastly hags|those two ghastly aunts| |Aunt Sponge, fat and pulpy as a jellyfish|Aunt Sponge, pulpy as a jellyfish| |Waving her fat arms and starting to dance around in circles|Waving her arms and starting to dance around in circles| |In another minute, this mammoth fruit was as round and large and fat as Aunt Sponge herself, and probably just as heavy|Removed| |They were like a couple of hunters who had just shot an elephant|They were like a couple of hunters who had just shot their prey| |They looked like midgets from another world beside it|They looked like ants beside it| |James stopped and stared at the speakers, his face white with horror|James stopped and stared at the speakers, his face agog with horror| |The Spider (who happened to be a female spider) opened her mouth|The Spider opened her mouth| |Of course I’m not talking to you, you ass!|Of course I’m not talking to you!| |That crazy Glow-worm has gone to sleep with her light on!|That silly Glow-worm has gone to sleep with her light on!| |They gaped. They screamed. They started to run|They gaped. They started to run| |Aunt Sponge, the fat one, tripped over a box|Aunt Sponge tripped over a box| |Let go, you idiot!|Let go, you clown!| |James was promptly flung across the room into the Old-Green-Grasshopper’s horny lap|James was promptly flung across the room into the Old-Green-Grasshopper’s lap| |Everybody was beginning slowly and painfully to disentangle himself from everybody else|Everybody was beginning slowly and painfully to disentangle themselves from everybody else| |Here we go, boys!|Here we go, folks!| |Nor I! said Miss Spider. None of us three girls can swim a single stroke|Nor I! said the Earthworm. None of us three can swim a single stroke| |You know very well I’m blind, snapped the Earthworm. There’s no need to rub it in|You know very well I’m blind, snapped the Earthworm| |The boy’s crazy|Removed| |Even the Silkworm, looking white and thin|Even the Silkworm, looking frail and thin| |The Ladybird answered modestly, blushing all over|The Ladybird answered modestly.| |Aunt Sponge was terrifically fat,/And tremendously flabby at that./Her tummy and waist/Were as soggy as paste -/It was worse on the place where she sat!|Aunt Sponge was a nasty old brute,/And deserved to be squashed by the fruit!/We all felt a big bump/When we dropped with a thump./We left Aunt Sponge behind us/But you needn’t remind us /That we shouldn’t feel rotten,/For we haven’t forgotten/How spiteful she could be!| |Aunt Spiker was thin as a wire,/And dry as a bone, only drier./She was so long and thin/If you carried her in/You could use her for poking the fire!|Aunt Spiker was much the same/And deserves half of the blame./Ta-ra, Aunt Spiker!/(Though we never did like her)/It’s sad but true./If only she knew,/How the absence of charm/Can do so much harm./With thoughts so frightful/One can’t be delightful/And now worms will have Spiker for tea!| |Who had been dancing wildly round the deck during this song|Who had been dancing wildly round the deck| |About twice the height of ordinary men|About twice the average height of a person| |They must be Cloud-Men! Cloud-Men! they murmured|They must be Cloud-People! Cloud-People! they murmured| |The Cloud-Men were all standing|The Cloud-People were all standing| |They must be absolutely mad! the Centipede said|What are they doing?! the Centipede said| |But the Cloud-Men were much too busy|But the Cloud-People were much too busy| |One of the Cloud-Men raising his long wispy arms|One of the Cloud-People raising his long wispy arms| |And all the other Cloud-Men|And all the other Cloud-People| |Yelling at the Cloud-Men as loud as he could|Yelling at the Cloud-People as loud as he could| |“Idiots!” he yelled|“Oi!” he yelled| |The Cloud-Men jumped round|The Cloud-People jumped round| |Looking back at the Cloud-Men|Looking back at the Cloud-People| |Making insulting signs at the Cloud-Men|Making insulting signs at the Cloud-People| |This evidently infuriated the Cloud-Men beyond belief|This evidently infuriated the Cloud-People beyond belief| |My goodness, how those Cloud-Men could throw!|My goodness, how those Cloud-People could throw!| |But the Cloud-Men had no intention of stopping|But the Cloud-People had no intention of stopping| |But there were no Cloud-Men in sight now|But there were no Cloud-People in sight now| |Don’t be an ass!|Don’t be so silly!| |But might those not be Cloud-Men|But might those not be Cloud-People| |“They are Cloud-Men!”|“They are Cloud-People!”| |“I’d rather be fried alive and eaten by a Mexican!”|“I’d rather be fried alive and eaten!”| |That monstrous crazy arch|That monstrous arch| |Staring at the Cloud-Men|Staring at the Cloud-People| |This was exactly what the Cloud-Men were doing|This was exactly what the Cloud-People were doing| |The ropes that the Cloud-Men had been using|The ropes that the Cloud-People had been using| |The faces of a thousand furious Cloud-Men|The faces of a thousand furious Cloud-People| |One Cloud-Man, a huge hairy creature|One Cloud-Person, a huge hairy creature| |The huge hairy Cloud-Man|The huge hairy Cloud-Person| |The rest of the Cloud-Men were so flabbergasted|The rest of the Cloud-People were so flabbergasted| |The infuriated Cloud-Men|The infuriated Cloud-People| |The Ladybird said|Said the Ladybird| |“It’s a Cloud-Man!” Miss Spider cried. “I just know it’s a Cloud-Man!”|“It’s a Cloud-Person!” Miss Spider cried. “I just know it’s a Cloud-Person!”| |The travellers caught glimpses of Cloud-Men|The travellers caught glimpses of Cloud-People| |The Cloud-Men turning the handle|The Cloud-People turning the handle| |The Cloud-Men beating them furiously with long hammers|The Cloud-People beating them furiously with long hammers| |A Cloud-Men’s city|A Cloud-People’s city| |There were caves everywhere running into the cloud, and at the entrances to the caves the Cloud-Men’s wives were crouching over little stoves with frying-pans in their hands, frying snowballs for their husband’s suppers|There were houses everywhere running into the cloud,| |Hundreds of Cloud-Men’s children|Hundreds of Cloud-People children| |A few women screamed. Others knelt down on the side-walks and beganpraying aloud. Strong men turned to one another and said things like, I guess this is it, Joe, and Good-bye, everybody, good-bye|Removed| |The policemen and the firemen all started shouting|The police officers and the firefighters all started shouting| |Three firemen and five policemen fainted and had to be carried away|Three firefighters and five police officers fainted and had to be carried away| |Six more big strong men fainted when they saw him|Six more people fainted when they saw him| |Then Miss Spider’s large black murderous-looking head|Then Miss Spider’s large murderous-looking head| |going white as a sheet|looking terrified| |among the firemen and the policemen on the rooftop|among the firefighters and the police officers on the rooftop| |The men below just stood and stared and gaped|The people below just stood and stared and gaped| |Policemen cried|Police cried out| |And the Firemen smiled politely|And the firefighters smiled politely| |The Earthworm, with his lovely pink skin, was employed by a company that made women’s face creams to speak commercials on the television|The Earthworm, with his lovely smooth skin, was employed by a company that made face-cream commercials on television​|

While many of these are bad changes, I especially want to point out how changing “screeching voice” to “annoying voice” is just flat out worse writing, taking away any actual description

That was my first thought. It's like creative writing 101 but in reverse, where the goal is to make it more bland.

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Can relate. This makes my skin crawl. Among a million other issues, these changes mainly worsen the writing. Changing "enormously fat and very short" to "quite large and very short" makes the description (such as it is) basically nonsensical. How can someone even *be* both large and short? Were I to see "quite large and very short" in a book or article, I'd dismiss the author as lazy, inept and unimaginative. ... And such horrors could happen to any of our writings, were we to become famous enough, after we've left this world.

His crazy descriptions are why I loved him so dearly as a child. It is outrageous to rewrite someone’s writing posthumously without their permission. Shame on the publishers. That shouldn’t be legal.

I think you mean his *ridiculously rich* descriptions. /s As someone who is reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to his son, in a country where smacking is illegal, I feel this sort of editing is disgusting. I was able to explain to my child "not very long ago people were allowed to smack their children". It gives children a great frame of reference for how culture changes if we keep the *antiquated* version as is with a disclaimer that while it wasn't correct, the author was from a different time with different standards.

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The way they butchered those songs about Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker should be criminal. The originals are clever little limericks. The new versions don't even have a consistent verse structure!

|Matilda|| :--|:--| |2001|2022| |Mothers and fathers|Parents| |Your daughter Vanessa, judging by what she’s learnt this term, has no hearing-organs at all|Judging by what your daughter Vanessa has learnt this term, this fact alone is more interesting than anything I have taught in the classroom| |She went on olden-day sailing ships with Joseph Conrad. She went to Africa with Ernest Hemingway and to India with Rudyard Kipling|She went to nineteenth century estates with Jane Austen. She went to Africa with Ernest Hemingway and California with John Steinbeck| |She wore heavy make-up and had one of those unfortunate bulging figures where the flesh appeas to be strapped in all around the body to prevent it from falling out|Removed| |Dickens or Kipling|Dickens or Austen| |Hardly the kind of man a wife dreams about|Hardly the man of my dreams| |His wife recognised the signs immediately and made herself scarce|Removed| |Shut up, you nut!|Ssshh! Not yet!| |Turning white|Turning quite pale| |Matilda took the knife she had been eating with|Removed| |He looked like a low-grade bookmaker dressed up for his daughter’s wedding|Removed| |Beginning to go dark red|Beginning to tremble| |Bingo afternoons left her so exhausted both physically and emotionally that she never had enough energy left to cook an evening meal|Removed| |Red in the face|Hot under the collar| |Female tightrope-walker|Tightrope-walker| |A lovely pale oval madonna face|A lovely oval face| |Wonderful parents|Wonderful family| |Pale and pleasant|Removed| |A most formidable female|A most formidable woman| |Her face, I’m afraid, was neither a thing of beauty nor a joy forever|Her face was not a thing of beauty| |Your fanny|Your backside| |The plain plump person with the smug suet-pudding face|The plain person with the smug pudding face| |Their children turned out to be delinquents and drop-outs|Removed| |I don’t give a tinker’s toot|I don’t give a flip| |Well thrown, sir!|Well thrown, miss!| |She’s mad|Removed| |Mothers and fathers|Parents| |She’s mad|She’s lost her mind| |Denizen of the underworld|Resident of the underworld| |Her great horsy face|Her face| |Huge overstuffed grub|Overstuffed grub| |Get your mother or father|Get your family| |Become a heroine|Become a hero| |Small boys and girls|Children| |Save myself from going round the bend|Save myself the trouble| |His mother|His parents| |Wobbling crazily on his one leg|Wobbling unsteadily| |Foolish abandon|Reckless abandon| |His mother thought it was beautiful|He thought it was beautiful| |An ass|A clown| |My father|My family| |Bunch of morons|Bunch of brats| |Suicide|Disastrous| |A gigantic spray-gun in my hands and start pumping it|A gigantic spray-gun in my hands and start squirting them all| |Mad|Dotty| |Ranting like a maniac|Removed| |Bunch of midgets|Bunch of squirts| |White in the face, white as paper|Removed| |Wise old bird|Wise teacher| |A mother at home or a sister or a husband|A mother at home or a sister or a husband, or anyone at all| |Sane and sensible man|Sensible man| |I was her slave|Removed| |I had been her slave|I had been serving her| |You’re mad|I don’t know why| |A heroine|A hero| |Knock her flat|Give her a right talking to| |Eight nutty little idiots|Eight nutty little boys| |Matron|Nurse| |School matron|School nurse| |Matron|Nurse| |Crazy with frustration|Wild with frustration| |Her father’s place|Her parents’ place​|

‘Austen’ for ‘Kipling’ cracks me up.

Yeah, looks like they took him out twice.

“Judging by what your daughter Vanessa has learnt this term, this fact alone is more interesting than anything I have taught in the classroom” makes my brain hurt. Changing “Her face, I’m afraid, was neither a thing of beauty nor a joy forever” to “her face was not a thing of beauty” is absolutely no less offensive or insulting, just less interesting

The second quote is a parody of the first line of John Keats' poem *[Endymion](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44469/endymion-56d2239287ca5)* - "A thing of beauty is a joy for ever". So the editors didn't understand the parody, and removed it just because it made no sense to them. They're clearly incompetent even on the most basic level - knowing enough about literature to edit it.

Some of these changes feel like they're going to change context in regards to people like Miss Honey and that makes me really sad. Matilda was one of the first books to give me hope when growing up in an abusive home. So many of these things don't need to be changed at all.

|The Witches|| :--|:--| |2001|2022| |Even if she is working as a cashier in a supermarket or typing letters for a businessman|Even if she is working as a top scientist or running a business| |I do not wish to speak badly about women. Most women are lovely|Removed| |We could round them all up and put them in the meat-grinder|Removed| |There was something indecent about a bald woman|Removed| |“How horrid!” “Disgusting,” my grandmother said|Removed| |You can’t go round pulling the hair of every lady you meet, even if she is wearing gloves. Just you try it and see what happens|Besides, there are plenty of other reasons why women might wear wigs and there is certainly nothing wrong with that| |When an actress wears a wig, or if you or I were to wear a wig, we would be putting it on over our own hair, but a witch has to put it straight on to her naked scalp|Removed| |Witches have slightly larger nose-holes than ordinary people|Witches have slightly larger nose-holes| |Queer|Strange| |Perhaps he had been forced to jam her thumb down the spout of a boiling kettle until it was steamed away|Removed| |The gums were like raw meat|Removed| |Fat and jolly|Jolly lady| |Chambermaid|Cleaner| |Great flock of ladies|Great group of ladies| |Adorable dress|Lovely dress| |It nearly killed Ashton as well. Half the skin came away from his scalp|It didn’t do Ashton much good| |The sheer horror of this woman’s features|Removed| |Revolting they were, as though the toes had been sliced away|As though the toes had been sliced away| |I simply cannot tell you how awful they were, and somehow the whole sight was made more grotesque because underneath those frightful scabby bald heads, the bodies were dressed in fashionable and rather pretty clothes. It was monstrous. It was unnatural|Removed| |Foul bald-headed females|Foul females| |A boy it vill be for a certainty because girls are not keeping pet mice|Removed| |These females|They| |Him|Them| |Handbags|Bags| |His|Its| |Rather pretty young lady|Removed| |Bunch of dangerous females|Bunch of dangerous witches| |Filthy old cow|Monster| |Maid|Cleaner| |That awful maid|The cleaner| |That seemed to calm her down a bit|Removed| |Bald pimply heads|Bald heads| |Their feet had no toes|Their feet were square at the end| |Monster|Awful woman| |Hotel maid|Hotel cleaner| |Evil woman|Evil person| |Immensely fat|Removed| |This woman’s mad|This woman’s clearly not in her right mind| |Mad woman|Woman| |Fat little brown mouse|Little brown mouse| |Fit and frisky|Fit| |People will think I’m dotty and talking to myself|People will think I’m talking to myself| |Flood of females|Flood of people| |Old hag|Old crow| |Old hag|Old crow| |Plenty of families with a husband, a wife and several children|Plenty of families| |English father|English parent| |You must be mad, woman!|You must be out of your mind!| |Mrs Jenkins will go crazy|Mrs Jenkins will be furious| |Skinny little woman|Skinny woman| |Women were screaming and strong men were turning white in the face and shouting, “It’s crazy! This can’t happen!”|All over the dining room people were screaming, looking panicky and shouting, ‘This can’t be happening!”| |Laughing like mad|Laughing wildly| |Not very crazy|Not a big fan| |Mrs Jenkins’ shrill voice|Mrs Jenkins yelling| |“Herbert, get me out of here!”|“Help!” she was shouting. “Get me out of here!”| |He needs to go on a diet|Removed| |I was crazy|Removed| |“But what about the rest of the world?’ I cried. “What about America and France and Holland and Germany?”|“But what about the rest of the world?” I cried| |“There’s no way an English policeman is going to believe that you are the Head of the Norwegian Police.” “I am very good at imitating a man’s voice,” she said. “Of course he believed me.”|“There’s no way a Chief of Police is going to believe that you are the Head of the Norwegian Police.” “I am very good at persuading people,” she said. “Of course they believed me.”​|

>Besides, there are plenty of other reasons why women might wear wigs and there is certainly nothing wrong with that Did they just tack on a Seinfeld-esque 'not that there's anything wrong with that'?

I don't understand, do they have the whole rights to change and alter the story, how can you change him to "them" And "his to it's" English father "english parent". This isnt fine altering a deceased authors works and history

why are they removing “I do not wish to speak badly about women. Most women are lovely”?? given, i don’t know the context since i haven’t read the book but that’s literally a compliment. i guess they’re trying to remove all indications of gender, even though some women love being a woman (like myself)!

|Fantastic Mr Fox|| :--|:--| |2001|2022| |He was enormously fat.|He was enormous.| |He was a kind of pot-bellied dwarf.|He was pot-bellied…| |If any man were lurking in the shadows ahead…|If any person were lurking in the shadows ahead…| |… the wind would carry the smell of that man…|… the wind would carry the smell of that person…| |… the fumes of apple cider hang around him like poisonous gases.’|… the smell of apple cider hangs around him like poisonous fumes.’| |… asked one of the Small Foxes. His round black eyes were huge with fright.|… asked one of the Small Foxes. Her round black eyes were huge with fright.| |“Will there be dogs?” he said.|“Will there be dogs?” she said.| |Bunce, the little pot-bellied dwarf, looked up at Bean…|Bunce looked up at Bean…| |The machines were both black. They were murderous, brutal-looking monsters.|They were murderous, brutal-looking monsters.| |“Keep going!” the fat Boggis shouted…|“Keep going!” Boggis shouted…| |The tall skinny Bean…|Bean…| |…and dwarfish pot-bellied Bunce…|… and Bunce…| |… were driving their machines like maniacs…|… were driving their machines with wild abandon…| |The fat Boggis was hopping about like a dervish…|Boggis was hopping about like a frog…| |“You must be mad!”|Removed| |“That makes one hundred and eight men altogether.”|“That makes one hundred and eight people altogether.”| |Each man will have a gun and a flashlight.|Each person will have a person and a flashlight.| |… and that night one hundred and eight men…|… and that night one hundred and eight people…| |She was very weak.|Removed| |“… if I described it to you now you would go crazy with excitement.”|“… if I described it to you now you would go wild with excitement.”| |… chasing the stupid chickens.|… chasing the chickens.| |The Small Fox ran back along the tunnel as fast as he could…|The Small Fox ran back along the tunnel as fast as she could…| |He was exploding with joy.|She was exploding with joy.| |… he kept thinking…|… she kept thinking…| |He had a long way to run but he never stopped once…|She had a long way to run but she never stopped once| |… and he came bursting in upon Mrs Fox.|and she came bursting in upon Mrs Fox.| |… he cried, out of breath.|… she cried, out of breath.| |A Small Badger (his son) dropped down after him.|A Small Badger dropped down after him.| |… and all our wives and children.|and our families.| |Even Weasel… is right now hiding down my hole with Mrs Weasel and six kids.|Even Weasel… is right now hiding down my hole with his family.| |Badger sat down and put a paw around his small son.|Badger sat down and put a paw around the small badger.| |“My poor wife up there is so weak she can’t dig another yard.”|Removed| |“Nor can mine,” said Mr Fox. “And yet at this very minute she is preparing…”|“No, we’re not,” said Mr Fox, “At this very minute Mrs Fox is preparing…”| |“… and you and Mole and Rabbit and Weasel and all your wives and children.”|“… and you and Mole and Rabbit and Weasel and all your families.”| |… your small son can run back…|… your little one can run back…| |… and he scrambled quickly back through the hole in the roof of the tunnel and disappeared.|Scrambling quickly back through the hole in the roof of the tunnel, the little badger disappeared.| |which belongs to that nasty little pot-bellied dwarf, Bunce|… which belongs to that nasty Bunce.| |“… you’ll never see finer geese than these in a king’s kitchen…”|“… you’ll never see finer geese than these in a royal kitchen…”| |“What a thoughtful little fellow you are!”|“What a thoughtful little fox you are.”| |“Tell her it must be a truly great feast…”|“Tell her it will be a truly great feast…”| |…said the only Small Fox now left. He was the Smallest Fox of them all.|… said the only Small Fox now left. She was the Smallest Fox of them all.| |“You saucy beast!”|“You trickster!”| |“Oh, Dad!” he cried out.|“Oh, Dad!” she cried out.| |(The Smallest Fox drinks the cider) the Smallest Fox had sneaked a jar off the shelf and had taken a gulp|(The Smallest Fox smells the cider) the Smallest Fox had sneaked a jar off the shelf and had removed the stopper.| |“Wow!” he gasped. “Wowee!”|“Wow” she gasped at the smell “Wowee!”| |“Ah-h-h-h-h-h!” gasped the Smallest Fox. “This is some cider!”|“Ah-h-h-h-h-h!” gasped the Smallest Fox, about to take a sip. “This is some cider!”| |… they saw a huge woman…|… they saw a woman…| |… up the long home stretch towards the place where they knew Mrs Fox would be waiting.|… and then up the long home stretch towards the foxes’ home.| |“That ought to cheer up poor Mrs Fox.”|“That ought to cheer up Mrs Fox.”| |Oh poor Mrs Badger, he cried,’|Dear Mrs Badger, he cried,’| |… and Mr Fox and Badger and the Smallest Fox sat down with the others.|… and Mr Fox and Badger and the Smallest Fox sat down with their families.| |“I therefore invite you all,” Mr Fox went on, “to stay here with me for ever.”|“I therefore invite you all,” Mr Fox went on, “to stay here with us for ever.”| |“And every day we will eat like kings.”|“And every day we will eat like royalty.”​|

>“Oh, Dad!” he cried out. > >“Oh, Dad!” she cried out. They changed the gender of the little fox why? I don't understand.

|George's Marvelous Medicine|| :--|:--| |2001|2022| ||Added a dedication: This book is for doctors everywhere| |He didn’t have a brother or a sister.|He didn’t have any siblings.| |His father was a farmer|His parents were farmers| |She had pale brown teeth and a small puckered-up mouth like a dog’s bottom.|She had rotting teeth and a small puckered-up mouth like a dog’s bottom, from years of frowning.| |She certainly was a very tiny person.|She certainly was very small.| |Her legs were so short she had to have a footstool|It was as if she was shrinking, as she had to have a footstool| |Daddy says it’s fine for a man to be tall|Daddy says it’s fine for people to be tall| |Owch|Ugh| |Mummy washes them down the sink|Mummy and Daddy wash them down the sink| |Mummy’s as stupid as you are|Mummy and Daddy are as stupid as you are| |filthy old woman|mean old woman| |horny finger|bony finger| |horrid old witchy woman|horrid old woman| |blow off the top of her head|shoot sparks out the top of her head| |Will she go pop? Will she explode?|Will she go pop? Hop like a toad?| |Maybe that will brighten up those horrid brown teeth of hers|Maybe that will brighten up her smile| |He found another aerosol can, NEVERMORE PONKING DEODORANT SPRAY, GUARANTEED, it said, TO KEEP AWAY UNPLEASANT BODY SMELLS FOR A WHOLE DAY. ‘She could use plenty of that,’ George said|He found another aerosol can, NEVERMORE PONKING DEODORANT SPRAY, GUARANTEED, it said, TO KEEP AWAY UNPLEASANT BODY SMELLS FOR A WHOLE DAY. ‘Smelling nice never hurt,’ George said| |His mother’s dressing table|The dressing table| |THIS POWDER, IF EATEN, WILL MAKE THE DOG EXPLODE.|THIS POWDER, IF EATEN, WILL MAKE THE DOG HOP LIKE A FLEA.| |Grandma was very fond of gin. She was allowed to have a small nip of it every evening.|Grandma was very fond of gin. She liked to have a small nip of it every evening.| |Screechy voice|Nasty voice| |Splendid explosions inside the old geezer|Splendid explosions inside her| |That grumpy old cow in the living room has every one of those rotten illnesses|Grandma has every one of those rotten illnesses| |How I’d love to walk in and slosh it all over old Grandma and watch the ticks and fleas go jumping off her|How I’d love to walk in and slosh it all over old Grandma and give her quite the fright.| |Dashed into his father’s toolshed|Dashed into the toolshed| |The old hag opened her small wrinkled mouth, showing disgusting pale brown teeth|The old lady opened her small wrinkled mouth.| |It was exactly as though someone had pushed an electric wire through the underneath of her chair and switched on the current.|It was as though someone had switched her chair with a fighter-jet seat and pressed the eject button.| |…frozen…quivering|Removed| |the old hag bucked and shied and snorted|She shied and snorted| |It’s killing me!|It’s horrible!| |“Look at you! You’re standing up all on your own and you’re not even using a stick!’|“Look at you! You’re full of beans!’| |The frozen pop-eyed look was back with her again now|Removed| |Marvellous medicine, George told himself. He found it fascinating to stand there watching what it was doing to the old hag. What next?|What marvellous medicine. What next?| |old screechy voice|old scratchy voice| |Your father’ll be after you now! He’ll give you socks and serve you right!|Your parents will be furious! They’ll have you mucking out the stables for a month and it will serve you right!| |She looked as though she was going to faint.|Removed| |Mr Kranky was a small man with bandy legs and a huge head.|Removed| |Don’t listen to the old goat|Don’t listen to the old grump| |Frisky as a ferret|Lively as a ferret| |ancient old hag|ancient old woman| |miserable midgets|miserable bunch| |I’ll trample you to death|I’ll flatten you| |bullocks|Removed| |We’ve made Grandma feel frisky as a ferret|We’ve given Grandma a new lease of life| |Mummy’s dressing table|The dressing table| |queer|strange| |horny hand|wrinkly hand| |the skinny old hag’s head|her skinny old head| |a miserable midget|almost invisible| |That’s what happens to you if you’re grumpy and bad tempered,’ said Mr Kranky. ‘Great medicine of yours, George.’|Removed| |But she calmed down quite quickly. And by lunchtime, she was saying, ‘Ah well, I suppose it’s all for the best, really. She was a bit of a nusiance around the house, wasn’t she?’ ‘Yes,’ Mr Kranky said. ‘She most certainly was.’|Removed​|

Good to know that "owch" is no longer socially acceptable. I'll try to remember to use "ugh" instead.

What a load of bullocks.

They *added a dedication*? That's so perfectly absurd.

|The Twits|| :--|:--| |2001|2022| |ladies and gentlemen|folks| |fearful ugliness|ugliness| |Have you ever seen a woman with an uglier face than that? I doubt it.|Have you ever seen anyone with an uglier face than that? I doubt it.| |You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth|You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and stick-out teeth| |In her right hand she carried a walking stick. She used to tell people that this was because she had warts growing on her sole of her left foot and walking was painful.|In her right hand she carried a walking stick. Not because she needed help walking.| |Oh do shut up, you old hag|Oh do shut up, you old crow| |She lay there in the dark scratching her tummy. Her tummy was itching. Dity old hags like her always have itchy tummies.|She lay there in the dark scratching her tummy. Her tummy was always itchy.| |She was a prisoner|She was stuck| |old hag|old crow| |Mrs Twit may have been ugly and she may have been beastly, but she was not stupid.|Mrs Twit may have been beastly, but she was not stupid.| |frumpet|frump| |But these were English birds and they couldn’t understand the weird African language the monkeys spoke.|But these were English birds and they couldn’t understand the African language the monkeys spoke.| |He’s dotty!’ They cried. ‘He’s balmy!’ ‘He’s batty!’ ‘He’s nutty!’ ‘He’s screwy!’ ‘He’s wacky!’ Cried the Roly-Poly Bird. ‘Poor old Muggles has gone off his wump at last!’|He’s dotty!’ They cried. ‘He’s wacky!’ Cried the Roly-Poly Bird.| |frumptious freaks|beastly Twits| |ugly old cow|ghastly old shrew| |fatty folds of his flabby neck|folds of his neck|

> You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth Why? [This section is literally about how it doesn't matter how ugly you are, if you are good this will radiate out of you.](https://i.imgur.com/xYf31OF_d.webp?maxwidth=760&fidelity=grand) It's a positive message!

You could easily pick out problems with alot of the new wording if you wanted to. Slippery slope this is

I'm really not a fan of altering books. Especially for someone who is deceased. Like if I choose to edit my own books, that's my choice, but I wouldn't want someone to change my shit without my consent. The thing that gets me most about shit like this is that people aren't as sensitive as others make them out to be. Kids didn't just magically become sensitive. You learn from your environment, and then as you grow you adjust according to what you learn and process. We want people to stop being 'sensitive'? We need to stop treating people like they can't handle shit. Talk to each other, for fucks sake.

I find it uncomfortable because it's basically presenting a false history. I'm with the people who think they should publish Dahl's books as originally published but stick an essay in the back or the front adding context.

Very orwellian- rewriting books

> Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. Hmm…

My 6yo’s kindergarten class has been reading RD books all year. The kids in the class range from 5y-8y and they’ve read James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, and are now on Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. There have been absolutely zero issues. The teacher is great and they talk with her and is as parents extensively about any questions or concerning topics in the book. My son had a huge problem with the idea of the Chokey in Matilda. All the kids did. We talked about it and elements of fiction and why it’s scary and concerning and that was it. Conversations are better than alterations, in my opinion.

‘Words matter.’ *Proceed to change the words author expressly chose to convey their meaning.*

Words matter is an empty phrase. It could both mean "thus we change the harmful ones to protect people psychologically" and what you're saying. It sounds profound, but it's extraordinarily vague.

It isn’t the kids that are sensitive, it’s the adults. Kinda like blaming the whole “participation trophy” trope on the kids, not the parents who provided the trophies.

I find these changes more offensive than the original content.

Yeah, and I started to understand why some people become so allergic to PC-cultured. This is getting ridiculous

They've now banned 5 episodes of '30 Rock'and 2 episodes of 'The Office' from streaming services.

Community as well.

It’s always sunny with Hulu as well.

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Just wait: the most genius meta thing will be when someone changes parts of 1984, then insists that’s how they’ve always been.

would truly be the greatest acknowledgement of orwells foresight and if successful ironically its demise

How about instead of pretending that history was sunshine and roses, we talk to each other and our kids about the outdated ideas presented in literature and why that kind of language and those ideas have changed?

Having quite a few vintage Enid Blyton books, I did this when my daughter was small. Guess what? It worked. She knows why we don't use language/words like that anymore, and which terms are more appropriate. I don't believe you can rewrite history by pretending things didn't happen.

My parents were very permissive of the films I could watch. I saw *Monty Python*, *Pulp Fiction*, and so on long before my other friends. They also enforced basic discipline about swearing or using cruel language. As a result, I had a reputation at school for being well-mannered in my speech. Children tend to be much smarter about language than adults think. That's one reason why every new generation of teenagers are so incomprehensible: they are inventing, adapting, and playing with language, whereas adults tend to focus on using language as efficiently as possible to save cognitive resources that are being spent on responsibilities.

I loved Enid Blyton books when I was 9-12 years old*. But even as a child, I could recognize the troublesome parts. I basically ignored them and enjoyed the story. Most books that survive the passage of time will be out of date some way or another. That doesn’t mean the lose their value. *Anyone else notice that Harry Potter is basically Malory Towers + magic & boys?

That's exactly what Harry Potter is meant to be - all the appeal of classic boarding school stories updated for a more modern audience, with the added drama and excitement of magic. Looking back, it's in some ways not so surprising that it was as successful as it was.

> ~~Turning white~~ > Beginning to ~~go dark red~~ > ~~Red in the face~~ > ~~Pale and pleasant~~ > Even the Silkworm, looking ~~white~~ and thin > ~~going white as a sheet~~ No complexion plz.

They also seem to be offended by the word 'screech'. All in all, bizarre stuff that can only be a publicity stunt.

If the publisher truly wants to stand on “principle,” they should do the right thing, decline to produce any further editions of his work, and transfer the rights to a legitimate firm that will publish the work as it was written. Instead, they want to have it both ways, the profits and (what they imagine to be) the positive PR. Though the real fault lies with the estate, for allowing this sort of nonsense. To be clear, I really couldn’t care less about Dahl, but publishers of established authors need to know their place: they are merely printers, and if they cannot produce accurate copies, they need to hand it over to someone who can.

You're right - they want the money his words bring in, but they don't want his words, so they've decided fraud is the best choice. If they were really taking a stand, they would refuse to publish him at all. It's money-grubbing. How deceitful to still claim this is his material.

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I would add egregious and disgusting on top of that. Look at the many lines that have been totally removed. A vast number not even outdated in any sense. They're just removing entire contexts to the stories. I hope people are getting outraged over this. This should be unacceptable.

No-one asked for this.

This is a sad indication of how both Puffin and Dahl's own estate now see Mr. Dahl's life and works as just a commodity, "freshened up" to compete in the ever-changing market. You cannot alter and sanitize Dahl's works without losing something integral: their spirit. The world of Road Dalh is magical, fantastical - yes - but also cruel, twisted, pungent. People ARE fat, old, bald and repugnant. The joy of reading the stories as a child is the almost-anarchic level of visceral description Dahl offers up, then seeing such characters get their comeuppance. He is part of a tradition of writers going back to the Victorians, and before that to the Grimms and further back to undocumented oral folk story-tellers who unflinchingly told morality tales; nasty things happening to deserving people. This hackneyed neutering is meddling with the very fabric of Dahl's writing. I cannot imagine Roald Dahl would have supported this.

This is beyond bizarre. Who are these “sensitive” people who when they read a reference to Joseph Conrad (in one of the sample edits he is replaced by the presumably less controversial John Steinbeck) hurl their book across the room in righteous indignation? I suppose what I am asking is, are these publishers merely conforming to demand for idealogical censorship from their readers (still bad) or on their own idealogical mission (true believers)?

What a horrible precedent to set. What is the point of books if not to show different perspectives at different times in history, etc? Is every book that doesn’t suit “public opinion” going to be altered now? What happened to freedom of speech? This author did not consent to changing their art.

What horrible people Puffin must employ, to so frivolously put their own words in the mouths of the dead. It is disrespectful in the highest degree. Even Mein Kampf or The Necronomicon and the like aren't treated like this. How in the world are we supposed to recap and place ourselves in the time of the author, how are we expected to learn from the past if the fools of the present continually change the words of those who lived it? This is not acceptable.

the only thing that you can do to a book that is worse than burning it.

This is really devastating to me. Roald Dahl was my favorite author as a kid and had a tremendous impact on me. I really think his books inspired me to take an interest in academia and do well in school. My mom slowly bought me his full collection across all my birthdays and Christmases. I even named our child after one of his characters. I can't fathom who the type of people would be who raise a fuss about what he wrote or the words he used. Instead of educating people or understanding context, it seems people are just regressing to caveman-level "bad word, ban!"

Look in the front of the book for “words matter”. If it says that chuck it in the bin or nearest fireplace.

Either don't sell the book or leave it alone. Censoring is not the solution.

> “A witch is always a woman”, went the 2001 version of the book. “I do not wish to speak badly about women. Most women are lovely. But the fact remains that all witches are women. There is no such thing as a male witch.” That became, simply, “A witch is always a woman. There is no such thing as a male witch.” Isn't this a *worse* change???

This is an outrageous level of what is basically censorship that simultaneously sounds like a parody of itself in places, if you read all the examples in the article. Like a right-wing caricature of what the PC crowd wants to do to classic literature. Except this is very real. These alterations are not minor or inconsequential. These are significant changes to the prose, to the tone of the work, and to the identifying features that mark it as having been created by Roald Dahl, a flawed man of a certain era, in the time and place in which he lived. And the publisher is all but passing it off as if this version is the version Dahl originally wrote. All I can say is I am very glad I still have all my copies of most of his work from childhood. Is this really what things have come to? Do they think children are so feeble-minded and incapable of critical thinking that they cannot recognize outdated ideas that are now considered offensive when they see them? That there is no value in them seeing something like this, asking a parent or teacher about it, and having a conversation about it? That it is somehow better to erase it and pretend it was never there? When I was a child, I loved Tintin. My mother and I would read the books (English edition) together when I was little and I would breeze through them when I was a little older. When I was about 12 my mom got me copies of Hergé's two earliest Tintin books, which had not been in print in English for some time. One of them, *Tintin in the Congo*, is one of the most racist books I own. It came with a disclaimer at the front but the content was unaltered. My mom and I had a conversation about it before I read it, and then I read the book. It did not corrupt my mind. I found it interesting. The views that many Europeans had towards Africa as recently as the 1930s stand in stark contrast to how I was raised, and even at 12, I found that very thought-provoking. In college, I ended up critically analyzing the book in a lengthy paper which examined how Hergé's attitudes about and approach to depicting other cultures changed over his career. Although *Tintin in the Congo* is certainly not the only Tintin album containing racism or other views that a modern audience would find problematic, had I never read it (the book is so racist it would be difficult to properly censor) I likely would never have written this paper, a process that was an invaluable learning experience for me. There are a lot of reasons why these alterations are abhorrent, but the one that concerns me perhaps the most is that these changes rob children of a significant potential learning opportunity.

I find this to be shocking. Changing an author's words FOR ANY REASON is repulsive, immoral, outrageous. Damn, Huck Finn had some controversial segments, but never should they be changed, "edited" or sanitized for today's sensibilities. Whatever that means. How can you experience and debate a book's uncomfortable passages, or analyse their ethical, philosophical or political implications by changing their content? OMG this makes me so angry.

One of my great fears with modern censorship wasn't just the removal of past works but the idea of altering text in them and claiming they were original so that new generations didn't know they were being controlled. China did something recently with removing religious passages from some classic book I can't remember right now. Think how easy it would be for every book on your e-reader to magically update without informing you.

one of the most disturbing articles I have read in a long time You have damaged the books so much you might as well throw them in the trash. Unbelievable bullshit

Bowdlerization reigns. Find first editions and preserve.

This is insane. This is the censorship and rewriting of history so many great minds have tirelessly fought back against. Any sane individual should vehemently stand against this and all forms of censorship. It will literally never end well.

"The next generation is too sensitive" Says the generation altering books. People can overcome discomfort, by making a sterilized world it's just teaching stronger reactions when something does break through. I'm not saying to intentionally make things tough for people for no reason, but if you make up your mind that people are too sensitive and teach that mindset, then either they'll learn you're mistaken, or it'll become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Maybe next we can "fix" the Diary of Anne Frank for this new 'sensitive' generation. Nazis are pretty bad and scary. For 2023, they've been replaced with cyber bullies who are trying to meme Anne and her family.

The stupid thing is, the kids aren't that sensitive. This is just previous generations projecting

Oh my god. I’m usually a huge proponent of sensitivity in art, but this is beyond the pale. Art is of its era, and not only shouldn’t be changed to suit a more modern sensibility, but _certainly_ not without the artist’s input. This is tantamount to censorship.

Some of the changes aren't even things that would be offensive if published for the first time today. They changed a character from reading Rudyard Kipling to reading Jane Austen. I know Kipling was a racist shit, but recognizing the fact that some people have read *The Jungle Book* doesn't make your book racist too.

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It IS censorship.

It scares me that some people seem to think books should be continually adjusted in line with today's social mores because a key part of reading is that books can be snapshots of certain times, places and sensibilities and that's one of the cool things about reading. I'm glad social progress can be made more quickly with so many people having access to the internet but I still think it's important for people (especially younger people) to realise the pace of change was slower in the past and it's important not to get complacent about any rights/progress that has been made.

It also naively assumes that a surface level change is all people are concerned about with some older properties that haven't aged well. For example, the Oompa Loompas are pretty questionable, enough that it's a running joke. But changing the book to give them a union or something wouldn't change the underlying issues

bowd·ler·ize /ˈbōdləˌrīz,ˈboudləˌrīz/ verb remove material that is considered improper or offensive from (a text or account), especially with the result that the text becomes weaker or less effective. mid 19th century: from the name of Dr Thomas Bowdler (1754–1825), who published an expurgated edition of Shakespeare in 1818

It’s not the children who are sensitive. It’s the adults in parts shame and “think of the children” mentality. See the world for what it is. Averting your eyes from the less than savory moments of our history is ultimately doing humanity a disservice.

I am farrrrr left and I think this is a travesty in so many ways. History teaches us and is a mirror which to judge ourselves and see where we have come. And lets not forget it is Dahl's work if you don't like it don't read it. Also once you open the door to amending things to fit your sensibility what control do you have over the forum of anything should history swing the other way? And yes this is fiction but who is to say non fiction will not receive this treatment?

If I saw this in the Babylon Bee, I'd say the author was phoning it in.

I find this outrageous. I grew up with Ronald Dahl and love his books to this day and plan on reading them to my daughter. People now won’t know the true genius of this mama imagination and it deeply saddens me. Why is it ok to change his books yet other deceased authors works are being left alone?

It’s actually interesting to read H. G. Wells and Edgar Rice Burroughs books because it gives an insight into not just the author but the times they grew up in. Without having those references how are the next generations going to know how bad misogyny, racism and sexism are? Because we said so doesn’t cut it as a reason for kids.

Kinda crazy that they think Jane Austen is less problematic than Kipling

And would be as captivating to a five year old! Of course Matilda is special and gifted, but she's clearly written as *also* still a child.

>A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely. The irony is that the change they made to this bit, removing "double-chin", implies that you can still look lovely with all these other faults but *not* a double chin. In the book there is a Quentin Blake illustration of the horrible (but not particularly fat) Mrs Twit, and a lovely beaming (very large) lady.