Not wishing to pass judgment on the merits or demerits of bowdlerising Roald Dahl’s work (Rishi Sunak joins criticism of changes to Roald Dahl books, 20 February), it is a shame that Puffin didn’t do more to preserve Dahl’s rhythms when tinkering with his verse. The lines from James and the Giant Peach – “Aunt Spik-er was thin as a wire / And dry as a bone, on-ly dri-er” – are pleasing because of that steady rhythm, with two unaccented words between each strong stress.
In its place Puffin offers: “Aunt Spik-er was much of the same / And de-serves half of the blame.” The lack of any gap between “deserves” and “half” means you have to force your own pause there to keep time, and it throws the rhythm out of whack. The result isn’t a high crime, but it isn’t Dahl, either. I will add that you could try to clean up a book like The Twits, but it’s going to remain a horrible and mean-spirited story.
Chris Townsend
Fellow in English literature, Christ’s College, Cambridge University
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