Romain Rouillard with AFP 4:35 p.m., February 20, 2023

According to the "Daily Telegraph", the British publisher Puffin has embarked on a vast enterprise of rewriting the works of Roald Dahl in order to replace words and expressions deemed offensive.

The objective being that new generations of readers can appreciate these texts "without the slightest embarrassment".

Fans of

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

will certainly remember Augustus Gloop, this greedy child, tirelessly devouring all kinds of sweets until he fell into a river of chocolate.

Described as "big" in the novel of the same name published by Roald Dahl, he is now "huge" according to the rewrite of the work by British publisher Puffin.

The

Daily Telegraph

reports that certain passages from the great classics of the novelist have been modified because they are considered too "offensive". 

In collaboration with the Roald Dahl Story Company, the company that represents the author's rights holders, the publisher says it wants to ensure that these works "can still be enjoyed today by everyone".

Thus, still in

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

, the famous Oompa Loompa are no longer "little men" but "little people".

In 

Les deux gredins

, Commère Gredin, once "hideous and dirty" is now only "unclean".

Another example: the "cloud men" of

James and the giant peach

now free themselves from all genres to become the "cloud people". 

Restore the image of Roald Dahl

Finally, in

Sacrées witches

, a new sentence was added after a paragraph explaining that the said witches are bald under their wigs.

"There are many reasons women might wear wigs and there's nothing wrong with that," it read. 

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Rewrites approved by the Roald Dahl Story Company.

"When reprinting books written years ago, it's not unusual to review the language used and update other things like the cover and layout," he said. She.

According to this company, it is also a question of restoring the image of a novelist also known for certain escapades.

In 1983, he notably made openly anti-Semitic remarks during an interview in which he seemed to find extenuating circumstances for the crimes committed by Adolf Hitler.

At the end of 2020, his family had also apologized. 

indignant reactions

However, all these explanations were not enough to contain the torrent of reactions provoked by this initiative.

While acknowledging that Roald Dahl was "no angel", British writer Salman Rushdie, victim of a knife attack six months ago, denounced "absurd censorship". 

Roald Dahl was no angel but this is absurd censorship.

Puffin Books and the Dahl estate should be ashamed.

https://t.co/sdjMfBr7WW

— Salman Rushdie (@SalmanRushdie) February 18, 2023

“Selective editing to make the words of literature conform to particular sensitivities could represent a dangerous new weapon,” said Suzanne Nossel, the boss of PEA America, an organization that brings together 7,000 writers for freedom. of expression.

During a regular press conference, Rishi Sunak, the British Prime Minister, himself called for "preserving" rather than "retouching" the words used in the works of Roald Dahl.