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

telegraph.co.uk

181–190 of 992 posts

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

#181
Those of us who grew up near various religious communities in the second half of the twentieth century are familiar with the edited and abridged versions of media made to be more palatable to the morals of whichever community, as well as the scandals over media which were an affront to them for whatever reason.

Obviously, a publisher committed to those communities and who can get the rights to do so will make a “clean” versions for them. For better or worse, it happens all the time.

The only news here is in whose morals are behind expressed in the edits, because we had gotten used to it just being a religion thing and forgot that secular morals can run just as puritanical.

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

#182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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.

>"Screeching" in english [...] is typically a gendered [...]. It's not. >You generally wouldn't say a man was "screeching". Sure you would. I've never seen it posed any other way or with any other intent.

Screeching typically concerns loud, high-pitched, emotional screaming (my connotation, backed up by a quick google).

I am under the impression that, on average, men's voices are lower than women's voices. Hence some connotation.

Doesn't mean men cannot screech, though. Just that there is some reason for making that connection, so at least some folks will make that connection.

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

#184
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But also have we reached cultural stagnation, that old media still out competes new ones by such orders of magnitude Where is the next Dahl? Why is there no modern Beatrix Potter? Kids still love those stories and style of writing, which is less trite than most of the modern children's books. It does feel like stagnation, with lots of content being churned out but none of it with great staying power. Instead the ol…

Careful what you wish for. The best candidate for a modern Beatrix Potter would probably be J.K. Rowling. And we all know what the deal is with her now.

I think all that political stuff is over blown and her opinions are way more nuanced. Personally, I just don't like her writing. The stories are probably ok but the writing itself is boring. Plenty of people obviously like it though. However, her audience is for older kids than I'm talking about.

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

#186
post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I was assuming parent already had the books, as they mentioned continuing to read them, but of course you only get the changes if you buy new books.

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

#187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, that comment is just saying you can understand the changes empathetically. It's not saying they're good.

"That comment is just saying you can understand the changes empathetically" That's not what they mean when they say empathy. They misuse empathy when they mean compassion. I think they do it because even they understand it's indecent to say they pity all of these people. empathy: The ability to identify with or understand another's situation or feelings compassion: Deep awareness of the suffering of another accompani…

If you know what they're trying to say, there's little point in making a stink about the particular words they've chosen.

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

#188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Use of gendered language is marginalizing to nonbinary people. References to brothers or sisters, or mothers or fathers, is offensive to nonbinary people? In all seriousness, not trying to start a flame war, why is that? Is a reference to hair offensive to a bald person?

[flagged]

Well said. We live in strange times.

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

#189
post #179

It turns out that Dahl was a real antisemite, to me that is more of an issue: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/dec/06/roald-dahl-fam...

Turns out a person being something you dislike has no direct bearing on the quality of their writing and storytelling. If you can’t appreciate the latter on account of the former, that’s your problem.

It can be more complicated than that (depending on your personal philosophy). Art can be standalone but it can also be tightly interwoven with cultural and political context.

There’s an interesting recent YouTube video from Wisecrack on the topic:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jVts8D1LzF0

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

#190
post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it? I think you have to kind of want it to be gendered.

Screeching is usually associated with high pitched sounds and that is associated with women, to the point men making loud high pitched noises usually gets called "screamed like little girl". I guess babies also count for screeching.

I mostly associate screeching with owls and monkeys, neither of which are coded feminine.

To be clear (and conciliatory): I see how you connect the dots here. I just think you have to have your antennae extended extra high to pick this signal up, high enough that you'll need to be careful walking under overpasses and stuff.

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