Roald Dahl's books edited to be more 'inclusive'

The comedy is that history books were being rewritten eons before Matilda

Pandering to the lunatic fringes is stupid.

How are his works dated if people are still buying the books and enjoying them.

Surely that tells you how universal and undated they are .

Works of literature tends to reflect the general attitudes of the time they were written in.

Iirc in the case of Matilda for her narration/inner thought they scrubbed it of “nasty” etc remarks for Trunchbold, the antagonist. Presumably to give the idea that Matilda is pure, even in thought? Lol

The OP.

As someone who loved Roald Dahl's books when I was a child, and who has bought his collected works for my own children last year,

The whole boxset can be got for about 20-30 quid.

It's a marketing nostalgia thing, AFAIK there is even an annual day for him.

The moral of Gloop was greedy gluttonous kids get punished.

Pretty amazing point to miss. Completely negates the point of the character/story.

Can these talentless hacks not just write their own books?

They'll do this ridiculous $hit with films yet. No coincidence its Netflix who currently owns the Roald Dahl estate who is allowing this to happen. If you truly value the artistic and cultural works from artists you enjoy, you need to acquire actual physical hard copies of the works you enjoy. Because relying on the big tech streaming media companies to preserve the historical artistic works you do enjoy is like asking an alligator to preserve and leave alone some lads foot stepping in a alligator filled tropical swamp.

A more pertinent question is whether or not 100% of the people who actually read the books as children, would care?

From what I can see, 99.999% of the people who are complaining about these things have never read the books, they’re complaining because they’ve only just become aware of something that has happened since the printing press was invented, and think it must be part of some greater agenda that they already find offensive 😒

They kinda remind me of people who claim they became anti-theist after reading the Bible. It’s generally a sign that they’ve never so much as opened a Bible.

The Bible is the prime example of why reversioning is stupid though.

If its that unnoticeable then surely that's an argument for not changing them too?

Sorry I see another poster made the same point.

Honestly though I can't see this being anything other than cynical or misguided. Tbh I think I find it offensive that it was even contemplated or attempted (if its going to generate publicity and drive sales and profits then it's cynical and thats best case scenario imo)

I enjoyed Dahls books as a kid, they were deeply satisfying to read, I don't think they gave me any worldviews I wouldn't have formed due to much more immediate influences in my life...tbh I think their influence was positive, they don't preach hate or division/bigotry etc or indoctrinate....they are imo just fantastic stories with great vivid characters, they were something that made the world a better place (as were the william books by richmal Cropton, asterix and obelix, the Lord of the rings and then later fantasy and sci fi by Stephen Donaldson, gap series, thomas covenant chronicles, iain m banks culture novels, hitchhikers guide etc etc, the thought of anyone making changes to any of those I find quite disquieting tbh....and part of the pictures painted in Dahls books is to do with the language used imo....looking at some of the edits posted they haven't been improved they've been made a little more sanitised/grey to the detriment of future readers imo

Tbh I think this type of shite will have its day and people will actively reject it the more it goes on.....ironically enough I think it will be most rejected by those young people they claim they are "protecting" is it?........if I know anything about young people or humans in general its that attempts to dictate culture fail in the end...

Maybe we can edit the works of Shakespeare, Patrick Kavanagh, The Coen Brothers, Wilfred Owen, James Joyce, F Scott Fitzgerald, to make them, more inclusive ?

You’re just giving people ideas now 😁