Revelations the works of deceased British children's author Roald Dahl have been updated in recent years has stoked debate about revising language to suit changing social standards.
Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper was the first to report that hundreds of changes have been made to Dahl's books by his UK publisher Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Random House.
Authors Will Kostakis, Jackie French and Andy Griffiths write for young audiences, and shared their views on the controversy with ABC News.
Will Kostakis, author of The Sidekicks
It's déjà vu for Young Adult author Will Kostakis, who says the debate around revisions to Dahl's work is something the world has seen before.
Kostakis pointed out that British author Enid Blyton's books have also been subject to changes.
"Those books were quietly edited over the course of years, sometimes not quietly," Kostakis told ABC News.
In Blyton's The Magic Faraway Tree series, Fanny is now Frannie and cousin Dick is now cousin Rick.
Kostakis also references the fact Dame Slap, a teacher who used corporal punishment, was updated to Dame Snap, a teacher who would yell at children.
"While I think something is lost in that translation, kids nowadays have no reference for a teacher hitting them," Kostakis said.
Kostakis was just 17 years old when he got his first book deal, with his debut novel Loathing Lola published when he was 19. He said there are words he has used in the past that he wouldn't be comfortable with using now.
"I've been published for 15 years, but writing far longer," Kostakis said.
"A short story I wrote when I was 16 was published in the newspaper. And that short story is still studied in schools.
"The problem is, I use the R word. So, I use retard in it as a throwaway line because in the early 2000s, teenagers were throwing it around, like it was a comma that you are punctuating sentences with."
He said nowadays if he distributes the story to schools, he edits the word out.
"It's not a way of changing the story. Or trying to pretend that I've always been a 100 per cent pure; it's about I don't want to harm someone with my writing.
"And that word, sure it added a certain meaning, but that meaning doesn't negate the harm that seeing that word could cause somebody."
Kostakis said it's the job of Roald Dahl's publisher and estate to preserve the viability of his books going forward, as it is with most authors.
"I don't own my books anymore," Kostakis said.
"I've sold the rights to publish them to a publisher, and they can edit and tweak however they see fit. That's just the way that it works.
"No story remains static. And if we believe that, then we're kidding ourselves."
Sensitivity readers are part of a 'completely separate' debate
Kostakis said bringing sensitivity readers into the debate, as some have done, is conflating the issue.
A sensitivity reader identifies offensive content, stereotypes, bias and misrepresentations, outlining those problems to a publisher or author before a story goes to print. Kostakis has both used sensitivity readers and been one himself.
He says they're "incredibly useful", but he thinks the way the publishing industry uses them can be problematic as they're sometimes used as a shield at the eleventh hour. He also questions whether some authors need sensitivity readers – maybe they just need to abandon the story.
"Let's say I am writing out of my experience," Kostakis said.
"And writing a first-person narrative of a Wiradjuri man, or writing a first-person narrative from the perspective of a refugee.
"There's always that moment where, if I'm relying on a sensitivity reader to get so many of those details right, and I haven't done the research, then it's like, why the hell am I writing that story?
"Why does that story speak to me as a 30-something, gay, Greek Australian?
"And wouldn't it be better if I uplifted marginalised voices that lived that experience and can say something that isn't just reheating old tropes and cliches and stereotypes?"
Jackie French, author of Diary of a Wombat
"In the last 30 years, particularly in the last 10 years, we've made revisions to my books," said children's author Jackie French.
French said the changes made weren't for reasons of political correctness but because cultural mores had changed. She said in new editions, the words Aboriginal and Indigenous have been capitalised.
"That's primarily because all publishers have a style manual that they refer to," she said.
"And as things change in that style manual, then reprints will be changed to accord with it."
French said technology has also played into alterations.
"We might have someone looking at their watch," French said.
"Instead, they might look at their mobile phone or take their mobile phone out."
The Americans got it wrong
French is perfectly fine with making changes to her books as long as they're not arbitrary.
In the case of changes made to the American edition of her book Diary of a Wombat, French describes them as both "horrifying" and "hilarious".
"Of the 40 countries or so that have taken up Diary of a Wombat, the Americans are the only ones who have censored it."
She said a line in the voice of a wombat that discredits humans was removed.
"They've removed the line 'I can't believe how stupid human beings can be' because that might offend someone. Speaking as a human being, I don't find it offensive."
She said references to the wombat being malicious were also removed.
"I pointed out that the animal in question was actually a very real wombat who at that very moment was actually chewing up my gum boots with malice.
"She was not a sweet little animal ... and the reply was, 'oh, no, but people want to think they're nice'. And so that entire page was removed from the American edition."
French said she's "worried" about those changes.
"That showed a very deliberate kind of change. We know life is not like that. But we're going to pretend to children and to adults that life is like that.
"And I think that is a very, very dangerous belief for readers, whether they are four years old, or 40 or 104, we should read what life is really about, not what we'd like it to be like."
Of the changes to Roald Dahl's books, French said alterations like replacing "fat" with "enormous" are fair enough.
"As a kid I was called fatty. Fatty is definitely used as an insult. And because it's used as an insult, yes, I would put in another word.
"That's the kind of change where I think Roald Dahl may very well have actually said 'oh yeah, enormous is better than fat, let's bung that in'".
She does, however, warn against making changes that challenge the intent of the author, whether they're socially or culturally subversive or not.
French said if a line in Little Red Riding Hood in which a small girl "whips a pistol from her knickers" was changed, she thinks Roald Dahl would be "justifiably upset".
"That would be the kind of change where you are deliberately going beyond the author's intent, which was to shock.
"I gather in his lifetime Roald Dahl did agree to changes like the pygmies becoming Oompa-Loompas [in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory].
"So, he was certainly open to change as social attitudes changed, but I don't think he would have been open to removing the revolting aspect of revolting rhymes."
Andy Griffiths, author of the Treehouse series
Andy Griffiths's books sales have been in excess of 10 million in Australia alone, not to mention he, along with illustrator Terry Denton, has been published in more than 35 countries.
Griffiths shared his thoughts on Roald Dahl in this article for the Sydney Morning Herald and told ABC News that he's responsive to his audiences and has updated his own books in subsequent reprints when challenged, but only within reason.
"I've noticed over 25 years, that the publishing climate into which I'm publishing my books has changed," Griffiths said.
"And that I would freely use words back then that I would think twice about now.
"I'm much more conscious of the many diverse groups who read my books and I question carefully everything that I do put into a book and that's just part of the normal process of writing.
"And I don't see that as censoring my material."
'Things change'
He believes in Roald Dahl's case, the publishers are right to make some of the changes they've made but he's "not going to go in to bat for every change".
He said swinging around the word "fat" in a pejorative way can be damaging for some children.
"If you imagine what it might be like to be that kid in real life, I don't want to be the author who's done that," he said.
But there are some places where he thinks the publishers in Roald Dahl's case may have "gone over and beyond what they needed to do".
"I think there are some additional sentences being added, such as 'women wear wigs, and that's okay'.
"I think that's getting into an interfering kind of insertion."
Ultimately, Griffiths thinks people debating the issue need to avoid going to extremes.
"To say that any small change is censorship and it's terrible and it should not happen, I don't think gets us very far and it's not the real world.
"Things change all the time. And if you can make those changes sensitively to keep the integrity of the text, then I think there's a good argument to do it."
UK publisher releases statement
Roald Dahl's French publishers say they won't be making changes. But in the UK, Puffin has released the following statement saying no further comments will be made at this time, if at all.
The statement reads in full:
Over the course of the last year, Puffin has published updated editions of 16 of Roald Dahl's books, in close partnership with The Roald Dahl Story Company as the custodian of his legacy. These included a relatively small number of textual edits, as well as routine changes to covers and inside layouts, to bring them up to date. Like many authors, Roald Dahl has been edited through the years, including in his own lifetime.
At Puffin, we've been publishing and editing children's books for over 80 years. It is not unusual for publishers to review and update language as the meaning and impact of words changes over time. Children as young as five or six read Roald Dahl books and, often, they are the first stories they will read independently. With that comes a significant responsibility, as it might be the first time they are navigating written content without a parent, teacher or carer.
Within the context of the word count of the wider books, these textual changes are minimal. Roald Dahl's stories remain unchanged and his mischievous spirit undiminished. They still celebrate and showcase his unique voice and his brilliantly rich storytelling. We are honoured to have been his publishers since 1980, and we're proud to continue to introduce Roald Dahl stories to new generations of readers.
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2023-02-23 04:28:11Z
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