(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Nonfiction Views: This week's notable nonfiction; & Roald Dahl books get 'sanitizing' edits [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-21 Good evening, everyone. Here is this week’s curated list of new nonfiction published this week. The latest book controversy has to do with new editions of some of British author Roald Dahl’s beloved children’s books. It seems that publisher Puffin Books, the children’s book imprint of the British Penguin Books, which itself is now subsumed within the megapublisher Penguin Random House, has edited them to tidy up some language “in an effort to make them less offensive and more inclusive, according to a representative from the author’s estate.” (The link to The New York Times article should be free for everyone to read.) Reports show that there have been hundreds of edits to take away specifics about the appearance, gender or race of many characters. “Changes reported by The Telegraph include characters who are no longer described as “fat” and references to “mothers” and “fathers” that have been updated to “parents” or “family.” “ The article notes that Dahl was overtly anti-Semitic, and that over the decades his books have been criticized as “antisocial, brutish and anti-feminist.” Nevertheless, such books as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, and Matilda remain very popular among children...and filmmakers. Dahl was also well known to battle with his editors, disliking suggested changes and resistant to sanitizing his stories. “I never get any protests from children,” Mr. Dahl once said. “All you get are giggles of mirth and squirms of delight. I know what children like.” I can’t say that I feel I was damaged in my childhood by anything I read. I think we need to trust kids a bit more, as well as respect literature as originally written by the authors. It just gives more ammunition to the right, both as something to jeer at as ‘woke culture,’ and as cover for their own much more dangerous censorship, hollowed-out history teaching and book banning. As the article states: Suzanne Nossel, chief executive of PEN America, an organization that supports freedom of expression, said on Twitter that the organization was “alarmed” by the changes and that selective editing could “represent a dangerous new weapon.” “Those who might cheer specific edits to Dahl’s work should consider how the power to rewrite books might be used in the hands of those who do not share their values and sensibilities,” she said. My Literate Lizard Online Bookstore is now on Spoutible as well, so follow me if you join up (and I am still on Twitter). There was a bit of a book brouhaha over there as well this week, with historical romance writer Courtney Milan (oft mentioned and admired in Reader and Book Lover diaries by our own anotherdemocrat) pointing out in a post that the terms of service were a little vague when it came to prohibiting explicit sexual imagery in Spoutible posts. There were suggestions that romance writers could be kicked off the site by posting book covers that were two suggestive, and the debate soon widened to making Spoutible a safe place for the LGBTQ+ community, as well as sex workers. I read a lot of the back and forth on the issue, and my take was that Milan had a very good point: the terms of service on this issue are poorly spelled out (and Milan, a former Supreme Court Justice clerk, knows her way around these issues). And it was most upsetting how Spoutible founder Chris Bouzy got defensive and issued a flurry of mansplaining responses. On the other hand, the dire predictions about romance novel covers and other issues seem somewhat overblown. I’d like the TOS rewritten, as Milan suggests, and for people to stop being so quick to jump to conclusions. We shall see. THIS WEEK’S NEW HARDCOVERS All book links in this diary are to my online bookstore The Literate Lizard. If you already have a favorite indie bookstore, please keep supporting them. If you’re able to throw a little business my way, that would be appreciated. Use the coupon code DAILYKOS for 15% off your order, in gratitude for your support (an ever-changing smattering of new releases are already discounted 15% each week). We also partner Libro.fm for audiobooks. Libro.fm is similar to Amazon’s Audible, with a la carte audiobooks, or a $14.99 monthly membership which includes the audiobook of your choice and 20% off subsequent purchases during the month. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/21/2153766/-Nonfiction-Views-This-week-s-notable-nonfiction-amp-Roald-Dahl-books-get-sanitizing-edits Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/