Censorship has always been a divisive practice. Altering works of the past to reflect current socially acceptable norms can be a controversial thing. This is exactly what publisher Puffin Books is doing with Roald Dahl‘s works. The current publication run of the ever popular children’s books have been censored [not for the first time], and folks are not happy.
Puffin Books, a branch of Penguin Random House, is receiving a lot of backlash. “Matilda” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” are some of the works getting edits. The motivation behind the changes, according to Puffin, is so “Dahl’s wonderful stories and characters continue to be enjoyed by all children today.”
Classics Getting Updated
Some of the changes are minor. A character description of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’s” Augustus Gloop has been changed from “enormously fat” to “enormous.” Reportedly, uses of the word ‘fat’ are being removed from all of Dahl’s books. [Editor’s note: Original descriptions of the Oompa Loopas in 1964, which were originally based on African pygmies, were actually changed in 1974 after children’s author Eleanor Cameron suggested it.]
A line from “Witches” [long criticized for being misogynistic] describing ‘a supernatural female posing as an ordinary woman’ who was “working as a cashier in a supermarket or typing letters for a businessman,” now reads “top scientist or running a business.”
The terrible tractors in “The Fabulous Mr. Fox” were previously described as “black, murderous, brutal-looking monsters,” and will now simply be “murderous, brutal-looking monsters.”
Literary World Reacts
Difficult topics can be easier to explain through children’s literature. Dahl’s books have been enjoyed readers of all ages for generations. Many critics of updating such works believe the practice undermines the author’s original context.
Salman Rushdie, the Booker Prize-winner and author of “The Satanic Verses,” was incensed by the “absurd censorship.”
Suzanne Nossel, Chief Executive of PEN America, is of a similar mind as Rushdie.
These changes, which The Roald Dahl Story Company calls “small and carefully considered,” came after a review process that has been ongoing since 2020.
Netflix closed a deal to adapt several of Dahl’s works in both animated and live-action form. A new version of the story of Willy Wonka, starring Timothée Chalamet, is due out December 15th 2023.
