British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Salman Rushdie and others join in criticizing changes to Roald Dahl’s books

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak joined criticism of changes made to Roald Dahl’s classic at the weekend. title like James and the Big Peach, The BFG, Mathilde And Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was changed by changing words that are now considered offensive.

Publisher Puffin Books, an imprint of Penguin Books, said changes were made so the stories “can be enjoyed by everyone today.”

Sunak’s official spokesperson told local media: “When it comes to our rich and diverse literary heritage, the Prime Minister agrees with the BFG that we should not mince words. I think it is important that literary and fictional works are preserved and not embellished. We have always defended the right to free speech.”

The writer Salman Rushdie also speaks out against the changes. “Roald Dahl was no angel, but this is absurd censorship,” he wrote on Twitter.

PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel joined the chorus, saying, “We are alarmed by the news of ‘hundreds of changes’ to Roald Dahl’s revered works.”

She continued: “Selective editing to accommodate literary works of particular sensibility can be a dangerous new weapon.”

Is dark material Meanwhile, author Philip Pullman told BBC Radio 4 that Dahl’s books were “fading” and should not be changed. “If Dahl insults us, let him off the hook,” he said. “Read it all [other] great writers writing today who don’t get as much attention because of the sheer commercial seriousness of people like Roald Dahl.

Poet and writer Debjani Chatterjee, on the other hand, told BBC World Service that it was “very good that publishers are judging his work” and that the edits were being made “sensitively”.

Among the changes is the character Augustus Gloop Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is no longer called “fat” but is now referred to as “big”. Miss Trunchbull, the villain Mathildeis called the “most impressive woman” instead of “most impressive woman”. James and the Big Peach also had changes, especially when the centipede sings, “Aunt Sponge was terribly fat / And very limp at that” and “Aunt Spiker was thin as a thread / And dry as a bone, only drier.” The revised versions now read: “Aunt Sponge was a nasty old brute / And deserved to be crushed by the fruit”, and: “Aunt Spiker was about the same / And deserved half the blame.” As society became more aware of mental health, words like “crazy” and “insane” were also redacted.

Dahl, who died in 1990, is one of Britain’s most popular children’s authors. Netflix acquired the rights to his works in 2021 and supported the film version of Mathilde the musical which Sony released theatrically in the UK and grossed over $33 million.