Like the rest of the sane universe, we couldn’t believe the gall of Puffin U.K. when word came out that the publishing house and the Roald Dahl Story Co., the entity that manages his work, had conspired to make hundreds of changes to the writers’ iconic books.
After sensitivity readers flagged language as objectionable, the Oompa Loompas in Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory aren’t “small men” anymore; they’re now “small people.” The chickens in “Fantastic Mr. Fox” are no longer “stupid.” Augustus Gloop isn’t “fat”; now he’s “enormous” (that’s better?). In “The Twits,” a language referred to as a “weird African language” is now simply an “African language.” In “The BFG,” the description of a character as having “reddish-brown” skin is now gone. In “The Witches,” a sentence is added: “There are plenty of other reasons why women might wear wigs and there is certainly nothing wrong with that.”
Because these novels would still say “By Roald Dahl” on the covers, this is nothing more than putting words in — and taking them out of — a dead man’s mouth.
