fat and ugly

Manipulating the work of an artist who died over 40 years ago. That’s what the British publisher did puffins with some of the most famous books Roald Dahl, one of the most significant writers of children’s literature of the 20th century. Something similar to when Pope Pius IV ordered the cover in 1564! the genitals of the characters that Michelangelo had painted in the Sistine Chapel. The excuse in the 21st century was that the British writer’s stories contained words like “fat” or “ugly” and therefore could offend the sensibilities of today’s children. According to the publishing group, these changes in the texts could still be enjoyed by everyone. Apart from how reactionary and stupid these arguments are and how a more and more puritanical society is being built little by little, I would like to highlight the state of helplessness in which artists remain within societies that respect artistic work less and less. Art critic William Deresiewicz warned about this in his essay death of the artist, in which he showed how the work of writers, painters, filmmakers, illustrators, musicians, etc. is less and less valued. If artists were artisans in the Renaissance, bohemians in the 19th century, and professionals in the 20th century, the panorama that appears before us is full of uncertainty, even uncertainty due to the emergence of artificial intelligence programs that are designed to replace the artist. . As if that wasn’t enough, what happened to Roald Dahl’s books shows us a future where works of art can be manipulated with great ease. Is it not possible to think that after Roald Dahl, other writers will also be revised and “corrected”? Is it legal for the heirs of the rights to a literary work to allow changes to works that are world cultural heritage? The latter is very important, since the cultural heritage that our ancestors left us in the form of books, pictures, films or musical works should be inviolable. It assumes a very important heritage that we must preserve as a configurator of our civilization and our history. When we talk about respecting culture, you have to start from respecting the creators who gave us that cultural heritage that we benefit from. We hope that this serious attack on the literary work of Roald Dahl will be strongly responded to by all cultural and literary factors to prevent infantilized people from laying their fat and ugly hands on our books again.