{"id":5532,"date":"2023-03-02T19:47:40","date_gmt":"2023-03-03T01:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/?p=5532"},"modified":"2023-03-11T20:31:01","modified_gmt":"2023-03-12T03:31:01","slug":"woke-british-publisher-backtracks-saves-roald-dahls-uncut-classics-but-dont-breathe-sighs-of-relief-just-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/woke-british-publisher-backtracks-saves-roald-dahls-uncut-classics-but-dont-breathe-sighs-of-relief-just-yet\/","title":{"rendered":"British publisher backtracks, \u201csaves\u201d Roald Dahl’s uncut classics (but don\u2019t breathe sighs of relief just yet)"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Michael Grossberg<\/a><\/p>\n

Good news for lovers of liberty, culture and artistic integrity: Matilda, The Witches, Charlie and the Chocolate Factor<\/em>y and Roald Dahl\u2019s other children\u2019s classics will continue to be published and reprinted in their original uncensored forms.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

That sudden and welcome reversal (see our previous blog post)<\/a> is thanks to a remarkably wide range of principled and thoughtful responses from across the political spectrum objecting to the plans by the late great Dahl\u2019s cowardly and conformist British publisher to bowdlerize his bestselling children\u2019s classics in doctored reprints.<\/p>\n


\n\"\"<\/a>Now, instead of canceling Dahl\u2019s subversive, pungent and anti-authoritarian books in their original form \u2013 certainly, a deplorable violation of artistic integrity and artistic freedom, even if not formally an act of government censorship – the publisher Puffin Books has announced plans to reprint two different sets of his books: the beloved originals and their absurdly reworded and abridged versions re-edited to conform to today\u2019s regnant puritanical impulses.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not as bad as before. After all, what libertarians or other human beings don’t prefer to be given a choice?<\/p>\n

BRADBURY, LEVIN AND ORWELL’S WARNINGS, AGAIN?
\n<\/strong>Yet the publisher\u2019s new two-separate-editions policy seems craven and still panders to the stuffiest, most cautious, fearful and politically incorrect precincts of today\u2019s Orwellian \u201cdown-the-memory-hole\u201d culture.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>This doleful and disturbing trend – mostly coming from the authoritarian-progressive left but with similar impulses directed at other artistic works from the reactionary and populist right – was envisioned in bestselling classics by major authors.<\/p>\n

Yet were their warnings heeded?<\/p>\n

Among those eloquently dramatizing the more disturbingly authoritarian aspects of the world we increasingly live in were George Orwell in Nineteen Eighty-Four<\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>Ray Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>and Ira Levin in This Perfect Day<\/a><\/em>\u00a0.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Not by coincidence, all are past Prometheus Hall of Fame winners that portray dystopian futures in which \u201csoft tyranny\u201d substitutes for, or reinforces, the institutionalized coercion of outright “hard” dictatorships. Either way, such Orwellian cancellations of diverse cultural expressions always constrains the healthier, pluralistic and more dynamic spontaneous order of culture, innovation and change that marks free or largely free societies.<\/p>\n

THE ABSURDITIES OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS
\n<\/strong>Just consider some of the absurd yet disturbing deletions and word replacements that will still be published in the \u201cnew,\u201d \u201cimproved,\u201d \u201csocially conscious\u201d editions of Dahl\u2019s bestsellers still being planned by Puffin and The Roald Dahl Story Company, which manages the copyrights of Dahl\u2019s books and works with publishers.<\/p>\n

Ironically, at a time when so many works and individuals are accused (often wrongly) of being racist or sexist, the critics of Dahl\u2019s books were largely unable to find any offensive words in those extreme categories.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

According to British columnist Piers Morgan, who poked fun at the absurdities of the new edition while condemning the plan, Dahl\u2019s 1983 novel The Witches<\/em> has 59 chilling changes \u2013 chilling but absurd.<\/p>\n

Among them: \u201cthe word \u201cchambermaid\u201d becomes \u201ccleaner,\u201d \u201cgreat flock of ladies\u201d is changed to \u201cgreat group of ladies,\u201d \u201cYou must be mad, woman!\u201d is now \u201cYou must be out of your mind!\u201d and \u201cthe old hag\u201d is altered to \u201cthe old crow.\u201d Even \u201cfoul bald-headed females\u201d is cut to \u201cfoul females\u201d despite the fact the witches are all bald in the book,\u201d Morgan wrote.<\/p>\n

Columnist Stephen Kruiser, writing for the conservative-leaning PJ Media,<\/a> observed that “If the endgame here weren\u2019t so detrimental to the future of freedom, this could be dismissed as so much silliness. Rewriting fiction using the excuse that the context at the time it was written is offensive now dovetails with the woke left\u2019s attempts to rewrite history… Leftists can keep using the delicate sensibilities of the fragile young woke kids as the reason they need to take a big historical eraser to everything.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

STANDING UP FOR ARTISTIC FREEDOM<\/strong>
\nHowever, this time, happily, it wasn\u2019t just libertarians, civil libertarians, classical liberals and some conservatives who cried foul over the cancellation and re-writing of Dahl\u2019s classics, from Matilda\u00a0<\/em>and The Witches\u00a0<\/em>to The BFG,<\/em>\u00a0Charlie and the Chocolate Factory <\/em>and\u00a0James and the Giant Peach<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Everyone from author Salman Rushdie<\/a> and the far-left The Nation\u00a0<\/em>to a CNN columnist condemned the publisher, prompting Puffin Books to switch gears and give some respect to Dahl’s artistic integrity \u2013 at least, for now.<\/p>\n

For instance, on CNN, London writer-editor Holly Thomas wrote an opinion column<\/a>, titled \u201cTaking \u2018fat\u2019 out of Roald Dahl makes no sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEven from a modern woke perspective, some of the changes border on the absurd \u2013 and unintentionally restigmatize such neutral and objective terms as \u201cfat.\u201d (I say this, being obese myself.),\u201d Thomas wrote.<\/p>\n

“…I doubt that high schoolers of the future will be forced to study \u201cOf Mice And People,\u201d but the anxiety over the effect outdated references and representations could have on kids neglects the possibility of more positive input from elsewhere. Publishers\u2019 success ought not to be predicated on yassifying classics into relevancy, but instead on nurturing wonderful new writers that can offer readers a rich and varied diet of influences and ideas. Attempting to squeeze old work into new molds is a messy solution that seems doomed to fail,” Thomas wrote.<\/p>\n

The latest crop of aspiring Prohibitionists (who I\u2019ve dubbed the \u201cDahl Denialists\u201d) also received criticism with a soupcon of wit from former New York Times<\/em> journalist Bari Weiss\u2019 increasingly indispensable, objectively well-reported, wide-ranging, open-minded and truly liberal online website, The Free Press:<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cThe long-dead British children\u2019s books author… has not escaped\u00a0our moment<\/a>, and now his books are getting a modern makeover to remove offensive bits. I forget, were those books racist? Sexist? Not exactly, no, but lots of people might be offended, for example, by the fact that Dahl describes witches as bald,” Nellie Bowles writes in her droll report on “Dignity for Oompa-Loompas” in the Free Press’s TGIF round-up<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“And so now there is a new line in the book right after his description of a witch\u2019s hairless head:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cThere are plenty of other reasons why women might wear wigs and there is certainly nothing wrong with that.\u201d (I\u2019m dead serious.)\u201d<\/p>\n

A CAUTIONARY WARNING
\n<\/strong>Columnist Christian Toto, writing for the Hollywood in Toto blog,<\/a> offered some wise perspective \u2013 and a sadly timely warning of things to come.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cSuch a fearful approach to historic books, one that treats each volume as though it may be the only one a child will ever consume, undermines the whole point of reading.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bigger question remains.\u00a0Why is anyone surprised?<\/p>\n

Sensitivity readers are now an entrenched part of the literary world. Works in other media have been censored or removed entirely, from sitcoms … to films….\u00a0At best, challenging art now arrives with \u201cwarning labels<\/a>\u201d to make sure we don\u2019t fall under their deep, dark spell.<\/p>\n

\u201c…It may be encouraging that Dahl\u2019s book sales are spiking at the moment, with consumers eager to snatch up his work before the Thought Police has its way with it. That doesn\u2019t change the fact that Puffin Books will produce watered-down versions of Dahl\u2019s work moving forward. And, for many, those stories will be the official Dahl language. … The only thing surprising about the Dahl extreme makeover is that it didn\u2019t happen already. Or that anyone thinks it will stop here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE:
\n<\/strong>
\n<\/u><\/strong>* Prometheus winners:\u00a0<\/strong>For the full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees \u2013 for the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards \u2013 visit the enhanced\u00a0Prometheus Awards page\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>on the LFS website, which now includes convenient links to the full set of published appreciation-reviews of past winners.<\/p>\n

* Read\u00a0\u201cThe Libertarian History of Science Fiction,\u201d<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0an essay in the international magazine\u00a0Quillette<\/em>\u00a0that favorably highlights the Prometheus Awards, the Libertarian Futurist Society and the significant element of libertarian sf\/fantasy in the evolution of the modern genre.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Watch\u00a0 <\/strong>videos <\/strong>of the 2022 Prometheus ceremony with Wil McCarthy, and past Prometheus Awards ceremonies, Libertarian Futurist Society panel discussions with noted sf authors and leading libertarian writers, and other LFS programs on the Prometheus Blog\u2019s\u00a0Video page.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

*\u00a0Join us<\/strong>! To help sustain the Prometheus Awards,\u00a0join\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>the Libertarian Futurist Society (LFS), a non-profit all-volunteer association of freedom-loving sf\/fantasy fans.<\/p>\n

Libertarian futurists believe that culture matters! We understand that the arts and literature can be vital, and in some ways even more powerful than politics in the long run, by sparking innovation, better ideas, positive social change, and mutual respect for each other\u2019s rights and differences.<\/p>\n

Through recognizing the literature of liberty and the many different but complementary visions of a free future via the Prometheus Awards, the LFS hopes to help spread better visions of the future that help humanity overcome tyranny, slavery and war and achieve universal liberty and human rights and a better world (perhaps eventually, worlds) for all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Michael Grossberg Good news for lovers of liberty, culture and artistic integrity: Matilda, The Witches, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Roald Dahl\u2019s other children\u2019s classics will continue to be published and reprinted in their original uncensored forms. That sudden and welcome reversal (see our previous blog post) is thanks to a remarkably wide … Continue reading British publisher backtracks, \u201csaves\u201d Roald Dahl’s uncut classics (but don\u2019t breathe sighs of relief just yet)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1585],"tags":[58,1575,1706,1817,1884,1879,641,60,1820,141,1881,1883,976,1267,1880,1819,1885,1882,1818,61],"class_list":["post-5532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction-in-the-news","tag-58","tag-bari-weiss","tag-bradbury","tag-charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory","tag-christian-toto","tag-cnn","tag-fahrenheit-451","tag-ira-levin","tag-matilda","tag-orwell","tag-piers-morgan","tag-prohibitionists","tag-roald-dahl","tag-salman-rushdie","tag-soft-tyranny","tag-the-bfg","tag-the-free-press","tag-the-nation","tag-the-witches","tag-this-perfect-day"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe8nGl-1re","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5532"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5577,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5532\/revisions\/5577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}