Roald Dahl’s publishing house in Spain will be consulted if he changes his work

Alfaguara, the publisher that owns the rights to Roald Dahl in Spanish and publishes his books throughout the Spanish-speaking world, will be consulted if publishers “propose changes” to the author’s work “and what kind of orientation do they propose” after the British imprint that publishes Dahl and the body that manages his legacy rewrote the lyrics to include more inclusive language. So far in Spain, “there have been no changes in the editions”, explain sources from the editorial office, after a huge controversy that arose in the world due to changes in the work of one of the great writers of children’s literature. literature.

The Daily Telegraph has revealed some of the dozens of changes made to the 2022 versions of Dahl’s books, published by Puffin and approved by the writer’s estate, The Roald Dahl Story Company, compared to the 2001 publications. For example, the boy Augustus Gloop, from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, no longer “enormously fat”, but “huge”. Meanwhile, Matilda is now reading Jane Austen, not Rudyard Kipling, and also, in the girl’s books, several references to the word “black” even when describing the color of the giant’s cloak. Cloud people James and the Giant Peach they are no longer men, but a generic “people”; references to “typists” were replaced with “women working as senior scientists” and The Japanese are not much shorter either. but the Norwegians.

Rewriting Dahl’s books created a a global wave of anger. Author Salman Rushdie, persecuted by Iran for his books, who suffered an attack on August 12 that left him blind in one eye, wrote on Twitter that “Roald Dahl was no angel, but this is absurd censorship.” Puffin Books and the administrators of Dahl’s estate should be ashamed,” agrees Rushdie. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also joined the debate and spoke out against the changes. “It is important that works of literature and fiction are preserved, not rewritten,” he said.

Puffin, who preferred to remain silent in this conflict, made countless corrections, trying to avoid words that might hurt certain feelings and removal of alleged gender stereotypes. Yes, The Roald Dahl Story Company, which manages Dahl’s juicy copyrights and trademarks and was acquired by Netflix in 2021 for more than €500 million, ruled. The company told Reuters it is not unusual to revise the language of books when they are reprinted, calling the changes “small and careful.” “Our criteria have always been to retain the plots, characters, irreverence and biting spirit of the original text,” a spokesperson said.

Writer Xesús Fraga, National Storytelling Award 2021 for the work Virtues (and Mysteries) and the translator of Dahl into Spanish and Galician, opposes the changes because he believes that “the writer’s version should prevail”. “Roald Dahl’s books have the great virtue of challenging conventional ideas without making their readers worse people. Correcting his words 50 years after his death, without the opportunity for him to participate in the discussion, is a mistake“, he emphasizes.

“I met a lot of overweight people and I treated them with love and respect, and that was also because the book prepared me for it,” explains Fraga, talking about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which he considers a reference from his childhood. “Books should it reflects life in all its breadth and one should know how to distinguish a work from reality. In Spanish literature, we have Don Quixote, a clear example that confusing life and books does not lead to anything good,” he emphasizes. Dahl’s story translated by Fraga is titled Bookseller, and portrays some “despicable” characters. “But that’s literature It can’t just be about angels and perfect people”, sums up Fraga.

The books of Dahl, who died in 1990, captivate children because of the transgressive portraits he paints of the little ones. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, The Witches, Super Fox, James and the Giant Peach or A great benevolent giant are some of his most famous creations. But in addition to the soul that knew how to connect with a child’s soul, she is also a writer he had a real dark side. After his death, he was accused of being racist, misogynistic and anti-Semitic, which forced his family to apologize in 2020.