Along with releasing updated editions,Penguin said 17 of Dahl’s books would be published in previous form later this year asThe Roald Dahl Classic Collection so that readers could make their own choice.
The move follows criticism of scores of changes toCharlie and the Chocolate Factory and other classics for recent editions published under the company’s Puffin children’s label,in which passages relating to weight,mental health,gender and race have been altered.
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Augustus Gloop,Charlie’s gluttonous antagonist inCharlie and the Chocolate Factory – originally published in 1964 – becomes “enormous” rather than “enormously fat”. InWitches,an “old hag” becomes an “old crow”,and a supernatural being posing as a human woman may be a “top scientist or running a business” instead of a “cashier in a supermarket or typing letters for a businessman”.
The Roald Dahl Story Company,which controls the rights to the books,said it had worked with Puffin to review and revise the texts because it wanted to ensure that “Dahl’s wonderful stories and characters continue to be enjoyed by all children today”.
While tweaking old books for modern sensibilities is not a new phenomenon in publishing – or even for Roald Dahl books – the scale of the edits drew strong criticism from free-speech groups such as writers’ organisation PEN America,and from authors including Salman Rushdie.
Rushdie,who lived under threat of death from Iran’s Islamic regime for years because of the alleged blasphemy of his novel,The Satanic Verses,called the revisions “absurd censorship”.
Rushdie was attacked and seriously injured last year at an event in New York. He tweeted news of Penguin’s change of heart on Friday:“Penguin Books back down after Roald Dahl backlash!”
Dahl’s books have sold more than 300 million copies and have spawned numerous film and stage adaptations.
Dahl,who died in 1990,is also a controversial figure because of antisemitic comments made throughout his life. His family apologised in 2020.
In 2021,Dahl’s estate sold the rights to the books to Netflix,which plans to produce a new generation of films based on the stories.
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Francesca Dow,managing director of Penguin Random House Children’s,said the publisher had “listened to the debate over the past week which has reaffirmed the extraordinary power of Roald Dahl’s books and the very real questions around how stories from another era can be kept relevant for each new generation”.
With AP
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