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Hundreds of changes made to latest editions of Roald Dahl's books

telegraph.co.uk

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Re: Hundreds of changes made to latest editions of Roald Dahl's books

#391

Post by lxm »

consumer451 wrote: post #283
krona wrote: post #231

Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered... Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right. - George Orwell

This Dahl situation seems ridiculous and deserving of derision. I would also like to bring your attention to the Florida school book ban which applies not just to new editions of one author, but to an entire state's education system. > Among the titles that have been removed and banned in the course of the vetting in her school district are Toni Morrison’s ‘The Bluest Eye,’ ‘The Kite Runner’ by Khaled Hosseini, ‘The…

This just seems to relate to school libraries, but the books presumably would be available through public libraries or Amazon? School libraries by design have a pretty limited selection, generally confined to the topics covered by the curriculum.

Or am I wrong in understanding the nature of the ban?

Re: Hundreds of changes made to latest editions of Roald Dahl's books

#392

Post by nonethewiser »

ok123456 wrote: post #279
bitwize wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Joseph Conrad and Rudyard Kipling wrote favorably about colonialism; they were replaced with more agreeable authors. Use of gendered language is marginalizing to nonbinary people. It's easy to figure out why these changes are being made in particular, once you take a position of empathy.

I'm cringing at this unironic use of the word 'empathy'.

People really need to understand that empathy isn’t strictly good. I’m also surprised how little empathy people see in others. The call for more empathy tends to come off as very self centered and emotional. Childish, really.

Re: Hundreds of changes made to latest editions of Roald Dahl's books

#393

Post by mc32 »

smaudet wrote: post #381
mc32 wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People (ok, old school liberals -like the Clintons- as well as libertarians and other freedom loving classes) used to make fun of sects and other religious minorities with uhh, different sensibilities who were too prudish or uptight for their alternative censored versions of popular works --well, the joke's on us! The speed at which history is being colonized to retroactively establish a new reality is pretty astound…

There is a time and place for both crass language and flowery language. You would get severely penalized for speaking in "high english" in some places, just as you would not (usually) want to cuss out everyone in your boardroom meeting.

No question. But let the people use what they want as is accepted within their circles and circumstances --but the current revisionism is surprising.

Re: Hundreds of changes made to latest editions of Roald Dahl's books

#394

Post by 1123581321 »

consumer451 wrote: post #335
pessimizer wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Justifying censorship with other censorship is a spiral of doom.

I'm sorry, maybe I don't understand your reply. Did you read my comment as some sort of justification of either the Dahl estate's rewriting of Dahl's work or the state sponsored censorship in happening in Florida?

It read to me as if you think there isn’t sufficient standing to criticize these edits as long as another problem exists. The “I would also like to bring to your attention…” makes the denouncement in the previous sentence seem sarcastic. Replied in good faith to what I hope was an earnest question.

Re: Hundreds of changes made to latest editions of Roald Dahl's books

#395

Post by dragonwriter »

Authors make these kind of changes all the time during their lives to. As long as we have works with rights that outlive authors, the people that exercise those rights will do this just as authors do. We might think that those heirs have less of the “good artistic sense” we see the authors themselves as endowed with, but, it is generally the author’s choice who will inherit the rights, and from there it is those heirs who choose where they are transferred.

Should we weaken that? Perhaps, for lots of good reasons besides preventing updates based on changing social conditions. But every weakening reduces the incentive to create, too. And, if the deposit part of copyright is working, nothing is lost in the changes – all are preserved. (If that’s not working, it should be fixed independent of whether there should be revisions to the rights situation.)

Re: Hundreds of changes made to latest editions of Roald Dahl's books

#396

Post by NDizzle »

marcellus23 wrote: post #126
aflag wrote: post #113

I'm a non-native English speaker. What's wrong with screeching?

Probably a similar thing as with the word "shrill" — it's a word that's mostly applied only to women, so some people interpret the word itself as being sexist (apparently notwithstanding the fact that females have biologically higher voices).

[flagged]

Re: Hundreds of changes made to latest editions of Roald Dahl's books

#397

Post by NDizzle »

DanHulton wrote: post #121
aflag wrote: post #113

I'm a non-native English speaker. What's wrong with screeching?

"Screeching" in english (at least North American english) is typically a gendered derogative. You generally wouldn't say a man was "screeching", not unless you also wanted to imply he was effeminate. By avoiding the word, you avoid insinuating the target's gender is part of the issue, and/or avoid insinuating that the target is effeminate when they "should not" be, i.e. you avoid homophobia.

> You generally wouldn't say a man was "screeching", not unless you also wanted to imply he was effeminate.

You didn't watch Saved by the Bell?!

Re: Hundreds of changes made to latest editions of Roald Dahl's books

#398

Post by dragonwriter »

pessimizer wrote: post #322
consumer451 wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This Dahl situation seems ridiculous and deserving of derision. I would also like to bring your attention to the Florida school book ban which applies not just to new editions of one author, but to an entire state's education system. > Among the titles that have been removed and banned in the course of the vetting in her school district are Toni Morrison’s ‘The Bluest Eye,’ ‘The Kite Runner’ by Khaled Hosseini, ‘The…

Justifying censorship with other censorship is a spiral of doom.

Revisions by the rights-owner are “censorship”, now?

Re: Hundreds of changes made to latest editions of Roald Dahl's books

#399

Post by Gigachad »

bee_rider wrote: post #344
gedy wrote: post #37

> A most formidable female -> A most formidable woman What is the reasoning for this? Not following what is "wrong" in the original.

In current American English, “female” has shifted to usually being an adjective, woman is a noun. Referring to people by noun-ing one of the adjectives that describes them is something considered reductive by a chunk of the population. If someone is a fan of “female” as a noun: I’m not going to change your mind. I get that changing language is annoying sometimes. I’m pointing out that “female” as a noun does bother s…

As a native English speaker, I find it hard to keep up and understand everything that’s now been deemed inappropriate. I can’t imagine how a non native would understand.

Seems like there is an effort to intentionally keep making it more complex to show who really keeps up with twitter the most.

Re: Hundreds of changes made to latest editions of Roald Dahl's books

#400

Post by lamontcg »

mcguire wrote: post #207
tptacek wrote: post #100

I'd be interested in hearing the most credible/reputable sources speaking out in favor of these changes. I've exclusively seen commentators dunking on this (rightfully so), across the political spectrum. To be clear: I'm wondering if we can find specific people speaking up for this, not an analysis of whose side of the culture war is most culpable for it.

The most cogent analysis I've seen is that the changes were made by the owners of the books in order to sell more books.

Yeah, they're doing this willingly, they're not being compelled, they're making an economic decision that the books will sell better with the edits.
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