Roald Dahl Children's Books Being Rewritten

[SteveEisenberg]

Withdrawn; the original post here was meant for Politics and Religion

[SteveEisenberg]

Roald Dahl ebooks ‘force censored versions on readers’ despite backlash

Owners of Roald Dahl ebooks are having their libraries automatically updated with the new censored versions containing hundreds of changes to language related to weight, mental health, violence, gender and race.

Readers who bought electronic versions of the writer's books, such as Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, before the controversial updates have discovered their copies have now been changed.

Will they feel a need to back down on this? I guess, but who knows?

P.S. I could not read my full link due to the paywall. Does anyone know what countries this applies to?

[Kindleing]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

P.S. I could not read my full link due to the paywall. Does anyone know what countries this applies to?

I don't know, but automatic Kindle book updates can be turned off. It used to be off by default, but I don't know if that is still true. Some years ago I received an email that a book I purchased had been updated and was given the option of taking the update, since automatic update was disabled.

On the Amazon US site, automatic Kindle book updates can be enabled/disabled through:

Accounts & Lists / Content & Devices / Preferences / Automatic Book Updates / On-Off

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Thanks for that link. I'm guessing the Enormous Crocodile is now roaming Penguin's halls.

Conjures up scary images in the House of Random Penguins, if seals eating penguins are any indication…

[Slipkid]

Looks like Ian Fleming is also getting the treatment now.

[graycyn]

Originally Posted by Slipkid

Looks like Ian Fleming is also getting the treatment now.

Ugh. Well, my set of James Bond 007 ebooks were purchased back in 2012 and long since downloaded, DRM removed, and backed up.

Where the heck does this end? Why can't people just accept that books were written in different time frames, become dated, and need to be read with that in mind?

Mind you, if a change was made to an ebook to improve accessibility, I don't have a real problem with that. Maybe an old book used something like "blood-stream" and if that is modernized to "bloodstream" to improve dictionary lookup, I wouldn't quibble.

Or, if a book had a lot of mixed use of words like "sage brush" and "sagebrush," I might chalk it up to having the print justification done during a non-digital era and would have no qualms if one use was chosen to improve consistency. Because multiple spellings in a single book tend to grate on me.

I could even support an Oxford comma being added as necessary to improve clarity or better TTS phrasing. Or an apostrophe to replace a missing letter. Those kinds of changes feel relatively harmless, and yet can improve the experience for users.

But rewriting the author's words, including possibly removing some, seems SO wrong! I would like to see all publishers, if they opt to do this sort of thing, make it very clear that a book has been altered.

When it happens with well-known authors, it's news, but think of what is probably happening to lesser authors, where it's likely being done without any fanfare?

[graycyn]

Originally Posted by Kindleing

I don't know, but automatic Kindle book updates can be turned off. It used to be off by default, but I don't know if that is still true. Some years ago I received an email that a book I purchased had been updated and was given the option of taking the update, since automatic update was disabled.

On the Amazon US site, automatic Kindle book updates can be enabled/disabled through:

Accounts & Lists / Content & Devices / Preferences / Automatic Book Updates / On-Off

Thanks, I just checked, mine is set to OFF.

[JSWolf]

No Plans for Dahl Text Changes from U.S., European Publishers

Puffin in the UK are the ones doing the damage even though they are also releasing "classic" editions.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I watch old movies. I remember trying to get all bent out of shape because they colorized It's a Wonderful Life. I discovered I liked the colorized version better.

But colorizing a movie is not changing its content.

But colorizing is changing the feel and the look and the artistic integrity. Think of colorizing as publishing books with comic sans.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But colorizing is changing the feel and the look and the artistic integrity.

While one might have to look up the owner’s manual for how to do it, it’s not hard to turn off color on a TV or laptop.

The near-equivalent, for an eBook, would to be giving the reader a preliminary table of contents where you could click into the original or modernized version, your choice (unless locked by a parental control). If a compromise here is needed, that would be a good one.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

While one might have to look up the owner’s manual for how to do it, it’s not hard to turn off color on a TV or laptop.

The near-equivalent, for an eBook, would to be giving the reader a preliminary table of contents where you could click into the original or modernized version, your choice (unless locked by a parental control). If a compromise here is needed, that would be a good one.

But the damage has been done. B&W is an art form. Filters were used to create contrast and light effects that would render the 'feel' best in B&W. Just turning off color, does not put that back.
Ansel Adams was a Maestro of B&W Still photography.

[olderTechnology]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Of course. This Mobileread thread-full of righteous indignation single-handedly saved the classic versions for UK readers everywhere.

Um, you don't read the rest of the Internet?

[ZodWallop]

One nice thing about this story: aside from a few comments dropping the term 'woke' here and there, it wasn't politicized in the usual way. For once, left, right and center seemed to agree that the changes were a bad idea.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by olderTechnology

Um, you don't read the rest of the Internet?

Statistically all of us read so little of the rest of the Internet, that we can all hardly be said to read the rest of the internet. There is a lot of it.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by theducks

But the damage has been done. B&W is an art form. Filters were used to create contrast and light effects that would render the 'feel' best in B&W. Just turning off color, does not put that back.
Ansel Adams was a Maestro of B&W Still photography.

Very well said! I agree 100%.