Cardiff-born author Roald Dahl's books are reportedly being rewritten to remove language that is deemed offensive. Publisher Puffin is believed to have hired writers to go through chunks of text to make sure the books "can continue to be enjoyed by all today".
It is understood that new editions of books like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will not longer use the world 'fat' and characters like Augustus Gloop will not be described as 'enormous', The Daily Telegraph has reported. They are saying that Mrs Twit's 'fearful ugliness' has been chopped to 'ugliness' and Mrs Hoppy in Esio Trot is not an 'attractive middle-aged lady' but a 'kind middle-aged lady'.
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Miss Trunchbull in Matilda, once a 'most formidable female', is now a 'most formidable woman' while her 'great horsey face' is now called 'her face'. Oompa-Loompas, who were once 'small men', are now 'small people' and Fantastic Mr Fox's three sons have become daughters.
Some passages have also reportedly been changed. In The Witches a paragraph describing them as bald under their wigs is followed shortly by a new line: 'There are plenty of other reasons why women might wear wigs and there is certainly nothing wrong with that.'
A total of 59 changes have been made in that book to avoid offence such as the phrases: 'You must be mad, woman!' and: 'great flock of ladies' being changed to: 'You must be out of your mind!' and: 'great group of ladies'. A witch posing as a 'cashier in a supermarket' now works as a 'top scientist' and Matilda reads Jane Austen instead of Rudyard Kipling.
In 2020 the author's family has apologised for the author's "incomprehensible" anti-Semitic comments. Read more about that here. In 1983, in an an interview with the New Statesman he said: “There is a trait in the Jewish character that does provoke animosity. Maybe it’s a kind of lack of generosity towards non-Jews. I mean, there’s always a reason why anti-anything crops up anywhere.” He added: “Even a stinker like Hitler didn’t just pick on them for no reason.”
According to The Daily Telegraph Dahl's biographer Matthew Dennison said the author carefully chose his vocabulary. "I'm almost certain that he would have recognised that alterations to his novels prompted by the political climate were driven by adults rather than children."
The new changes were made by Puffin and the Roald Dahl Story Company in conjunction with Inclusive Minds, which its spokesperson describes as "a collective for people who are passionate about inclusion and accessibility in children's literature". Co-founder of the group Alexandra Strick said they "aim to ensure authentic representation, by working closely with the book world and with those who have lived experience of any facet of diversity".
A spokesman for the Roald Dahl Story Company: said: “We want to ensure that Roald Dahl’s wonderful stories and characters continue to be enjoyed by all children today. When publishing new print runs of books written years ago, it’s not unusual to review the language used alongside updating other details including a book’s cover and page layout. Our guiding principle throughout has been to maintain the storylines, characters, and the irreverence and sharp-edged spirit of the original text. Any changes made have been small and carefully considered..
“As part of our process to review the language used we worked in partnership with Inclusive Minds, a collective for people who are passionate about inclusion and accessibility in children's literature. The current review began in 2020, before Dahl was acquired by Netflix. It was led by Puffin and Roald Dahl Story Company together.”
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