– Roald Dahl was no angel, but this is absurd censorship, writes author Salman Rushdie on Twitter. He reacts to the fact that the publisher Puffin Books and the Roald Dahl Story Company, which owns the rights to Dahl’s stories, have had “sensitivity readers” go through the work and change words and phrases that can be perceived as offensive. – Puffin Books and the Dahl company should be ashamed, Rushdie added. In the new versions of Dahl’s work, several words and sentences have been removed or changed. For example, “mother and father” have changed to “parents”, and “ladies and gentlemen” have changed to “folks”, write The Telegraph. Roald Dahl presents a Norwegian edition of the children’s book “Matilda” in 1989. Photo: Inge Gjellesvik / NTB The Oompa-Loompaane in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are no longer “little men” but “little people”. They are also not “imported directly from Loompaland,” but “come from Loompaland.” “Huge” instead of “fat” The word fat has been removed from all works, and instead of being “huge fat”, Augutus Gloop in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is just “huge”. The same applies to the word “ugly”. In the book “Distene” Mrs Dust is now just “nasty”, instead of “ugly and nasty”. – I don’t quite understand that it is less stigmatizing to call people disgusting than to call people ugly, says children’s book author Christopher Phale to news. Several sentences in the book The Witches have been changed, or simply removed in their entirety. The sentence “You can’t go around and pull the hair of every woman you meet, even if she wears gloves. Just try and see what happens”, is added to “In addition, there are many other reasons why women wear wigs and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that”. Christopher Phale thinks it’s a shame that Dahl’s work is being changed. – Dahl is one of the greatest writers from the last century, but then it is also a sin on a more general level, says Phale. He believes that one is in the process of setting a standard and opening a door that perhaps should not be opened. In addition, he believes the changes indicate that children are underestimated. – Children are smart. It’s not like they swallow everything with skin and hair just because they read it in a book, says the children’s book author to news. The list above shows a selection of the changes made in the new and English editions of Roald Dahl’s children’s books. The publishing house Gyldendal will not speculate on what changes they will be forced to implement in the Norwegian editions. Planned since 2020 Forlaget Gyldendal is responsible for the Norwegian editions. They are obliged to make changes that they receive from the rights holders, says publishing manager at Gyldendal Children and Youth, Eva Thesen. – But so far we have not received anything from it, says Thesen. The publisher does not want to speculate on whether the same changes will appear in the Norwegian editions. The changes have been planned by Puffin Books and the Roald Dahl Story Company since 2020. The purpose is to adapt the books to new young readers. – Words mean something. The wonderful words of Roald Dahl can transport you to other worlds and introduce you to the most brilliant characters. This book was written several years ago, and therefore I am reassessing the language to ensure that it can still be used by everyone today, it says in the newest editions of Dahl’s books.
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Condemns changes in Roald Dahl’s children’s books – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
