Roald Dahl publisher announces unaltered 16-book
‘classics collection’
Series will be released alongside controversially
amended versions to leave readers ‘free to choose which version they prefer’
Sarah
Shaffi and Lucy Knight
Fri 24 Feb
2023 13.26 GMT
A
collection of Roald Dahl’s books with unaltered text is to be published after a
row over changes made to novels including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and
The Witches.
Dahl’s
publisher Puffin, the children’s imprint of Penguin Random House, was
criticised this week after the Telegraph reported that it had hired sensitivity
readers to go over the beloved author’s books and language deemed to be
offensive would be removed from new editions. In response, Puffin has decided
to release Dahl’s works in their original versions with its new texts.
The Classic
Collection will “sit alongside the newly released Puffin Roald Dahl books for
young readers”, the publisher said in a statement, adding that the the latter
series of books “are designed for children who may be navigating written
content independently for the first time”.
On
Thursday, Camilla, the Queen Consort, appeared to weigh in on the debate. At a
Clarence House reception for her online book club, she told authors : “Please
remain true to your calling, unimpeded by those who may wish to curb the
freedom of your expression or impose limits on your imagination.”
Changes to
Dahl’s books in the 2022 editions include using “enormous” rather than “fat” to
describe the antagonist Augustus Gloop in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and
“beastly” rather than “ugly and beastly” to describe Mrs Twit in The Twits.
In James
and the Giant Peach, a rhyme by the Centipede originally read: “Aunt Sponge was
terrifically fat / And tremendously flabby at that,” and, “Aunt Spiker was thin
as a wire / And dry as a bone, only drier.” Now it has been changed to say:
“Aunt Sponge was a nasty old brute / And deserved to be squashed by the fruit,”
and, “Aunt Spiker was much of the same / And deserves half of the blame.”
Salman
Rushdie, who is published by Penguin Random House, was among those to criticise
Puffin, writing on Twitter that “Roald Dahl was no angel but this is absurd
censorship. Puffin Books and the Dahl estate should be ashamed.”
Philip
Pullman – also published by Penguin Random House – said Dahl’s books should be
allowed to go out of print, while prime minister Rishi Sunak said the issue was
one of free speech.
The
singer-songwriter and activist Billy Bragg also weighed in on the discussion on
Twitter, expressing his support for the changes made to the 2022 editions.
“Suppose your mum wears a hairpiece due to chemotherapy and kids in your class
call her a witch because they read in Dahl’s book that witches all wear wigs”
he tweeted in response to a comment piece for the Telegraph by Suzanne Moore.
The Roald
Dahl Classic Collection will consist of 16 titles. In a letter to staff,
Penguin Random House UK CEO Tom Weldon said the publisher acknowledged “the
importance of keeping Dahl’s classic texts in print”.
The
collection will come out later this year. “Readers will be free to choose which
version of Dahl’s stories they prefer,” said Weldon.
He said the
publisher was used to “taking part in cultural discourse and debate”. He added:
“Sometimes that can be challenging and uncomfortable, and this has certainly
been one of those times.”
In a public
statement, Francesca Dow, managing director of Penguin Random House Children’s,
said the publisher had “listened to the debate over the past week” and it had
“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”.
The
Telegraph’s associate editor Christopher Hope described the announcement of the
new collection as an “extraordinary win” for the reporters who broke the
original story, but others were critical of the publisher’s move. Sam
Missingham, publishing commentator and founder of The Empowered Author book
marketing service, said the decision was “truly pitiful” and that the debate
has been a distraction from more important issues.
Others
pointed out that, with two sets of editions on sale, Puffin could make even
more money from Dahl’s books. Bookseller D Franklin tweeted: “Puffin and the
Dahl Estate really have worked out how to cash in here: first a sales spike
from the controversy seeing people buying up the previous printing, then a
spike in people ‘supporting’ the changes, and now TWO sets of books in print.”
Puffin’s
current 16-book Roald Dahl set is now at No 2 in the Amazon children’s books
bestsellers chart.
The
Independent
Camilla forces U-turn in Roald Dahl censorship row
Roisin
O'Connor
Fri, 24
February 2023 at 12:24 pm GMT·3-min read
The Queen Consort has forced publisher Puffin
UK to back down on its censorship of Roald Dahl books after she intervened in
the row over the decision to edit his words.
Camilla gave an impassioned defence of free
speech and the right of writers to express themselves at Clarence House on
Thursday 23 February, just days after she let it be known privately that she
had serious concerns over the changes to Dahl’s books.
Last week, it emerged that the best-selling
children’s books were being rewritten to remove language considered offensive.
The word “fat”, for example, had been cut from
every book. Augustus Gloop in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is instead
described as “enormous”, an investigation by The Telegraph found.
Puffin has now issued a statement announcing
that it will make both the original and censored versions available to readers.
Francesca Dow, MD of Penguin Random House
Children’s – which owns Puffin UK – said it has “proudly” published Roald
Dahl’s “mischievous” books for more than 40 years.
“We’ve 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,” she said.
“As a children’s publisher, our role is to
share the magic of stories with children with the greatest thought and care.”
Dow said it was “both a privilege and a
responsibility” to publish books for children and that Dahl’s books were often
the first stories young children would read independently.
“We also recognise the importance of keeping
Dahl’s classic texts in print. By making both versions available, we are
offering readers the choice to decide how they experience Roald Dahl’s magical,
marvellous stories.
“Roald Dahl once said: ‘If my books can help
children become readers, then I feel I have accomplished something important.’
At Puffin, we’ll keep pursuing that ambition for as long as we make books.”
In her speech to mark the second anniversary
of her literary initiative Reading Room at Clarence House, Camilla urged
writers “to remain true to your calling, unimpeded by those who may wish to
curb the freedom of your expression or your imagination”.
In what was interpreted as her disapproval of
the changes made to the text of Dahl’s classic books, the Queen Consort said:
“Let there be no squeaking like mice but only roaring like a pride of lions!”
The decision to censor Dahl’s books also
attracted sharp condemnation from a number of leading literary voices,
including Salman Rushdie, who called the edits “absurd”.
“Roald Dahl was no angel but this is absurd
censorship. Puffin Books and the Dahl estate should be ashamed,” he tweeted.
American author Michael Shellenberger also
criticised the changes, branding them a case of “totalitarian censorship”.
“The publisher of the books of the late Roald
Dahl has made hundreds of changes to them, supposedly to make them more
palatable to ‘sensitive’ audiences,” he wrote. “This is totalitarian censorship
and should be broadly condemned by authors and publishers.”
The Roald Dahl Classic Collection will now sit
alongside the newly released Puffin Roald Dahl books for young readers, which
are designed for children who may be reading on their own for the first time.
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