Ray Bradbury and Roald Dahl

David BoazLast week it wasreported that the publishers of Roald Dahl ’s books have been quietly editing to make them presumably more acceptable to modern readers — or at least more acceptable to modern activists.To wit:In “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” for instance, Augustus Gloop is no longer “fat”; he’s “enormous.” And the Oompa Loompas aren’t “small men”; they’re “small people.” While Matilda once went to India with Rudyard Kipling, now she travels to California with John Steinbeck. In “Fantastic Mr. Fox, ” even the chickens’ feelings have been spared; they’re no longer called “stupid.” Children who once read about the wig‐​wearing bald women in “The Witches” are now told, “There are plenty of other reasons why women might wear wigs and there is certainly nothing wrong with that.”The publisher, Puffin Books, a division of the megapublisher Penguin, has announced it will publish the books as Dahl wrote them inThe Roald Dahl Classic Collection, while continuing to publish itsbowdlerized editions. Choice, I suppose.Subsequently, it was reported the Ian Fleming estate has removed many racial and ethnic references from the James Bond novels (which sounds less annoying than forbidding a fictional character to read Rudyard Kipling). In all the articles about the Dahl contretemps, I was surprised that no one mentioned Ray Bradbury. Like most libertarians — which in this case probably includes a ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs