Outrage over Puffin's reedition of Roald Dahl books: This is how Rishi Sunak has reacted

Today, everyone can get access to the ‘classics’ and discover how people lived and thought before our time. Since writing is a reflection of our mind, texts from years ago, whether centuries or only decades, are a testimony of the time in which they were written. Roald Dahl’s children's books are no exception.

Washing history

A lot of people have expressed outrage over the rewriting of Roald Dahl's children stories by Penguin Books' children section, Puffin. Many called the action 'washing history', or acting as if the past did not happen. Although Dahl was a divisive character, to say the least, his writing had not been modified since his death, thirty years ago.

Readers are notified of the changes made by Puffin to the text in an editor's note at the beginning of each book:

'Words matter. The wonderful words of Roald Dahl can transport you to different worlds and introduce you to the most marvellous characters. This book was written many years ago, and so we regularly review the language to ensure that it can continue to be enjoyed by all today,'

Some critics have said Puffin has fallen into political correctness, which should not happen in children books. Inclusive rewriting may be popular, but when applied to stories most of us have grown up reading or hearing, people will not let it fly. In such well-known texts, any changes, as small as they may seem, can shock readers. It would be an understatement to say the changes were small in this reedition: chunks of text have disappeared and words were replaced.

Renowned author Salman Rushdie, who was attacked for his Satanic Verses book tweeted:

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A good idea taken too far?

Although it was meant as a positive initiative, Puffin editors are being accused of taking it too far. Not only replacing controversial expressions, they also removed anything slightly offensive to any minority. For example, when Dahl wrote ‘something crazy is going to happen now’, editors replaced it with ‘something bizarre is going to happen now’, in case the word ‘crazy’ might be offensive to people suffering from any type of mental illness.

Several critics have argued that every writer has their own style, and no word is placed on the page by chance. Each word has its meaning and special place within the story, so changing the words means actually changing the narrative, and dishonoring Dahl’s memory, thirty years after his death.

Also, Bérangère Viennot wrote in an opinion piece for Slate that by not giving children access to the hardships of the world, we are sending them unprepared into a world that is becoming more and more violent. The whole point of children's stories is to ease them into understanding the world is a difficult place, and for them to feel strong enough when hardships happen as they grow up. Some even called the reedition a disservice to children and a gross case of censorship.

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Rishi Sunak's reaction

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has reacted to the rewriting of Roald Dahl's children stories in a statement made by his spokesperson, which read:

When it comes to our rich and varied literary heritage, the prime minister agrees with the BFG that we shouldn't gobblefunk around with words.

He has borrowed a word from Dahl's colourful vocabulary, 'gobblefunk' and argued that we should not change works that belong to our literary classics, but see it as our heritage. Dahl's writing may be offensive to some people, but it is a reflection of the writer's mind and the world he lived in. The PM recommended that we use this type of text to learn from our collective history and do better in the future.

Sources used:

Slate.fr: Un roman de Roald Dahl réécrit n'est plus un roman de Roald Dahl (et c'est dommage)

Le Monde: Des oeuvres de Roald Dahl modifiées sur des sujets sensibles, pluie de critiques au Royaume-Uni

Telegraph: The rewriting of Roald Dahl

The Guardian: Roald Dahl's books rewritten to remove language deemed offensive

DeseretNews: Authors react to 'absurd' changes to Roald Dahl's children's books to make them less offensive