United Kingdom: soon a rewritten version of Roald Dahl not to shock anyone
"Matilda", "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory": Roald Dahl's books displayed in a store in New York in 2011. AP - Andrew Burton
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
Two versions of Roald Dahl soon in UK bookstores.
The heirs of the author of
Matilda
and
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
want to change hundreds of passages in the novelist's books because they are considered offensive to today's readers.
A controversy broke out and the publishing house decided to keep the original version... and the modified version.
Advertisement
Read more
With our correspondent in London,
Marie Boëda
The one who weighed in on the debate is Camilla, the queen consort.
As she inaugurated her own book club, the king's wife called on authors "
not to be embarrassed by those who want to restrict freedom of expression or impose limits on their imagination
".
The next day, the publisher gave up his project in part, he lasted five days before backtracking.
From the start of the controversy, the detractors stepped up to the plate.
Absurd censorship, for writer Salman Rushdie.
"
The works must be preserved and not retouched
," said Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister.
Eventually, the original version will be reprinted in a special collection, and another version will take into account contemporary sensibilities regarding obesity, gender, skin color and mental health.
Thus, Matilda, heroine of the author for children, will no longer read Rudyard Kipling, a man, but Jane Austen, a woman.
In
Sacrées witches
, a witch wanting to go unnoticed becomes a high-level scientist or business manager instead of a cashier or secretary.
And the words “big” or even “ugly” are deleted.
►To read also Cinema: "Sacred witches", when Robert Zemeckis respects the morality of Roald Dahl
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
United Kingdom
Literature
Culture