Roald Dahl's most popular books have been rewritten more than three decades after his death.
Publisher Puffin Books hired sensitivity readers to remove language deemed offensive in Dahl's works.
The alterations are extensive. In the new version of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” The Guardian notes that Augustus Gloop is now described as “enormous,” not “fat,” and “Oompa Loompas are gender neutral.”
But that's not all:
Edits have been made to descriptions of characters' physical appearances. The word “fat” has been cut from every new edition of relevant books, while the word “ugly” has also been culled, the Daily Telegraph reported.
…
Hundreds of changes were made to the original text – and some passages not written by Dahl have been added. But the Roald Dahl Story Company said “it's not unusual to review the language” during a new print run and any changes were “small and carefully considered”. [emphasis added]
In The Witches, a paragraph explaining that witches are bald beneath their wigs ends with the new line: “There are plenty of other reasons why women might wear wigs and there is certainly nothing wrong with that.”
Gender-neutral terms have been added in places – where Charlie and the Chocolate Factory's Oompa Loompas were “small men”, they are now “small people”. The Cloud-Men in James and the Giant Peach have become Cloud-People.
All references to “female” characters have been purged. Dahl described Miss Trunchbull, the main antagonist in “Matilda,” as a “most formidable female.” Sensitivity readers have dictated that Trunchbull now be called a “most formidable woman.”
The Telegraph notes that Dahl's classics also have a new preamble of sorts:
“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.”
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That’s why it’s important to keep those old books. You never know when the fire department is going to come burn them or worse, change their character and meaning to something the author never intended. I wouldn’t buy another Puffin book if they paid me. Obviously, something has been lost in our current business environment. Used to be the customer was always right and I hope that plays out the same way this time with places like Puffin going belly up, their commie employees on the street, and whoever owns the intellectual property complains a lot more than those weenies did in this story.
Knowing the way Dem/Lib/Communists like to change the meaning of words and phrases, do the words “Biased and Absurd” now mean “Telling the TRUTH”?
Two other words come to mind to describe this: bowdlerize and expurgate
The world is becoming ridiculous!
I’m surprised they didn’t change genders and sexual preferences of the characters. Oh wait, they DID.
Good old Herman Cain said: ‘QUIT DREAMING OF A BETTER PAST!’ Moral: rewriting history is dangerous.