Some of the language included throughout author Roald Dahl’s books is being changed and critics are not happy.
Writer Andrew Doyle shared some of the changes being made to titles including “The Witches” and “Matilda.”
One of the changes made by Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Random House, to “The Witches” is language around a woman working as a “cashier in a supermarket” or “typing letters for a businessman.”
The change reads, “Even if she is working as a top scientist or running a business.”
As for Matilda, the edit changes language around books the character reads.
Instead of going on “olden-day sailing ships with Joseph Conrad,” in the updated version, Matilda is going to “nineteenth century estates with Jane Austen.”
Several users on Twitter spoke out against the changes being made to the works.
Author Salman Rushdie tweeted, “Roald Dahl was no angel but this is absurd censorship. Puffin Books and the Dahl estate should be ashamed.”
One user wrote, “So future generations are so fragile they can’t read books with an understanding of the period in which they were written? Just to be extra safe, should we burn the old books?”
Another argued, “They are erasing history in front of our eyes. By physical books now. Soon everything will be 100% PC nonsense.”
https://twitter.com/DaleStarkA10/status/1627342950828249089
Reporter Benjamin Ryan suggested Dahl’s works are “made to offend. One of the central joys about them is their unfettered naughtiness.”
https://twitter.com/benryanwriter/status/1627394655133351936
Political analyst Arieh Kovler asked, “Won’t they have to scrap whole chapters of Willie Wonka and the Great Glass Elevator?”
See more tweets below:
According to The Associated Press, the Roald Dahl Story Company, which has the rights to the books, shared that it worked with the publisher to review the texts as it wanted to guarantee “Dahl’s wonderful stories and characters continue to be enjoyed by all children today.”