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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

#161

Post by ilyt »

ajross wrote: post #93
nhchris wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are correct, it's not censorship. It's lying, fabricating a past that is more in line with the present. Creating a false consensus on modern sensibilities using the voices of dead authors. Your mention of translation is apt - it often is used as a fig leaf for exactly this kind of deception. They call it "localization", and defend it by offering a false dichotomy between it, and literal word-for-word translation.…

Meh. I still think you're just inventing Political Enemies Propagating Horrific Injustice when the simpler explanation is a publisher trying to sell more books. The kinds of edits here simply aren't consistent with the ideas you're trying to ascribe to them. It's just updating stuff like "jobs women do" to match modern standards. It's routine, and it doesn't change the art, and you know that. It's just dumb. It doesn…

I'd like to see any proof original would have worse sales than the edit

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

#162

Post by galangalalgol »

narrator wrote: post #131
dclusin wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The technical/organizational details around implementation of this and how it came to be realized would probably also be interesting to a readership as nerdy as hn. I think I’ve seen a few of these posts but can’t seem to remember them.

[dead]

The books by dugin appear well received in russia, are they only difficult to dind in the west? I indeed cannot find any book about the censored industrial complex. Not even sure if you are talking about the military or prison instance of this pattern.

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

#163

Post by vnchr »

tedunangst wrote: post #145
furyofantares wrote: post #132

The changes all look fine to me, and many of them probably make me more likely to continue reading Dahl books to my kid. I mean, none of the old language would stop me in my tracks but it adds up. There's plenty of options and I'm always picking the ones that I find the best, in many cases having a bunch of outdated language will cause me to pick something else next time.

What are you going to do with all the old books?

I suppose burning them is an option. There could be organized events where like minded individuals surrender literature deemed to be incompatible with recent social norms and fashion.

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

#164

Post by Robotbeat »

Dig1t wrote: post #65
watwut wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The new one sounds more like people speak today.

The choice of the word female in the original feels intentional. Using a more clinical term like that instead of “girl” or “woman“ can change the whole feel of the sentence.

And because of the alliteration.

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

#165

Post by marcellus23 »

narrator wrote: post #131
dclusin wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The technical/organizational details around implementation of this and how it came to be realized would probably also be interesting to a readership as nerdy as hn. I think I’ve seen a few of these posts but can’t seem to remember them.

[dead]

I guessed what the censored word was but I can't find that book -- there's a similar-looking one called "[censored], Inc.", is that it?

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

#166

Post by stuaxo »

bko wrote: post #15

Here's a good list of changes. Most are about removing any references to ugly or fat. But also other strange things like changing the author's Matilda likes to read to include Jane Austin and John Steinbeck, not calling people crazy, swapping screeching to annoying, removing brothers and sisters to favor "siblings" and using "folks" instead of "ladies and gentlemen" https://twitter.com/incunabula/status/1626860237104…

"folks" is possible the most egerious of these as it's an American version of English and Roald Dahl, while not English was spoke in the English version of English, not the US version.

"Everyone" or "people" would make more sense

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

#167

Post by ilyt »

darth_avocado wrote: post #49
trieste92 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You left out the full quote > She went on olden-day sailing ships with Joseph Conrad. She went to Africa with Ernest Hemingway and to India with Rudyard Kipling > She went to nineteenth century estates with Jane Austen. She went to Africa with Ernest Hemingway and California with John Steinbeck Possibly because both Kipling and Conrad wrote books with colonial themes At the same time, if that tone gets erased (e.g. t…

The whole idea that colonial history needs to be swept under the rug is absurd. In fact it needs to be preserved, talked about and taught in a context of modern society. That’s how we stop the history from repeating itself. - A person who grew up in a former colony

The people wanting that seem to be entirely fine with repeating that history.

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

#168

Post by ajross »

tedunangst wrote: post #145
furyofantares wrote: post #132

The changes all look fine to me, and many of them probably make me more likely to continue reading Dahl books to my kid. I mean, none of the old language would stop me in my tracks but it adds up. There's plenty of options and I'm always picking the ones that I find the best, in many cases having a bunch of outdated language will cause me to pick something else next time.

What are you going to do with all the old books?

Burn them, of course? Is that what you want to hear?

No one involved cares about the old books. This isn't about the old books. They're still in libraries. They're still classics, and worth preserving and reading. Go check them out!

What's happening here is that the owner of the copyright wants to sell new books to parents. And some of the content is a little off to modern parents, and they think they'll sell more if they modernize it a bit. This has happened before, and it'll happen again.

Basically: it's all about making a buck, and in particular capitalizing on the Matilda film.

Everyone here is thinking "ZOMG Political Correct Censorship Claims Another Victim", but what we actually have is "Han Shot First". Not as fun to yell about I guess.

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

#169

Post by faeriechangling »

a2tech wrote: post #40

Media changes, art is reshaped by new generations. Roald Dahl is dead, the rights to his books have been sold and people are updating them to keep them relevant. This happens to translations (as an example) all the time as the popular lexicon changes. This is how media and art stays relevant. The world changes. The owners of the books have a vested interest in modifying them to continue to be relevant. The tweaks hav…

They can call the book by a different name, "The new adventures of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" or something of the sort or even add a prominent "updated for modern readers" subtitle so as to avoid any confusion.

The problem I have isn't with somebody being able to edit or remix an old work, I think it's fantastic to do such a thing. It's that after this comes out it's going to be virtually impossible to find the old edition available for purchase, and only the re-write will be available. It's that the new intellectual property owners are replacing a classic book with their own in effect and what gives them the right to do this? Apparently just being rich.

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

#170

Post by 55555 »

tedunangst wrote: post #145
furyofantares wrote: post #132

The changes all look fine to me, and many of them probably make me more likely to continue reading Dahl books to my kid. I mean, none of the old language would stop me in my tracks but it adds up. There's plenty of options and I'm always picking the ones that I find the best, in many cases having a bunch of outdated language will cause me to pick something else next time.

What are you going to do with all the old books?

Burn them, obviously.
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