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Rewriting history? The delicate balance of sensitivity and censorship in books
Sensitivity readers can be a valuable resource for authors navigating complex issues of race, culture and sexuality, but at what cost? Writers appearing at the Hong Kong International Literary Festival explore this question
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In 2023, British children’s publisher Puffin updated the work of author Roald Dahl to exorcise perceptions of bias and prejudice. Their goal was to retrofit the work for new generations of global readers. Out went the casual name calling, fat-shaming, othering and general linguistic cruelty. Witches were no longer “old hags”, but rather, “old crows”. The terrifying Twits were still “beastly”, but no longer deemed “ugly”.
The work of Dahl, long criticised for his antisemitic views, was considered ripe for review. “Of course they’re real people,” he wrote about the Oompa-Loompas, arguably enslaved and trafficked workers who staffed Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, originally conceived as African pygmies. “Imported direct from Loompaland … And oh, what a terrible country it is!”
Textual adjustments were not merely altruistic. With a sale of Dahl’s catalogue to Netflix in 2021 for a reported £500 million (then around US$685 million), preserving the value of the IP portfolio also meant heading off any future possibility of “cancellation” amid the ongoing culture wars.
The backlash that followed changes to Dahl’s work, however, was swift and clear: don’t mess with our stories. For American filmmaker Steven Spielberg, the writer’s original work should be considered “sacrosanct”, and the edits tantamount to “censorship”.
Then-British prime minister Rishi Sunak asserted that literature should be “preserved and not airbrushed”. Even Britain’s Queen Camilla appeared to weigh in, imploring authors to “please remain true to your calling, unimpeded by those who may wish to […] impose limits on your imagination”.
Criticism of the tampering was far from unanimous, however. Writers including Philip Pullman, the prize-winning author of fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials (1995-2000), spoke up in defence of cancellation, asserting on BBC Radio 4 that if Dahl’s writing is indeed offensive, “let him go out of print” and make space for the new generations of writers who are more relevant to today’s readers.
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