tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/roald-dahl-11896/articlesRoald Dahl – The Conversation2023-12-06T10:07:37Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2192492023-12-06T10:07:37Z2023-12-06T10:07:37ZWonka: Timothée Chalamet shines in an otherwise pedestrian prequel<p>How do you bring a film from more than half a century ago up to date for a society more tuned into the politics of representation? You won’t find out in Wonka.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.slashfilm.com/1336323/timothee-chalamet-wonka-prequel-canon-with-gene-wilder-film/">new prequel</a> to the classic <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000698/">Gene Wilder</a> film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067992/">Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory</a> (1971) aims to tell the backstory of the magical chocolatier long before he encountered Charlie Bucket. But in setting the dial at 1971, Wonka carries all the problematic cultural trappings of a film made for a different time.</p>
<p>At the start of the new movie, orphaned young Willy Wonka (Timothée Chalamet) disembarks from a ship with 12 sovereigns in his pocket. He soon loses or gives it all away and ends up locked into a contract, working to pay off his debt to a Dickensian hostel owner (Olivia Colman). There he encounters others in the same position, including Noodle (Calah Lane) and Abacus Crunch (Jim Carter).</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The Wonka trailer.</span></figcaption>
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<p>He’s determined to open his own chocolate shop, but is thwarted by a cabal of three chocolatiers who have bribed the local police and clergy. Such a straightforward struggle of good versus evil doesn’t make for much of a story, and the results often seem like a montage of cliches rather than a meaningful addition to the Roald Dahl original.</p>
<h2>Shortsighted choices</h2>
<p>Hugh Grant plays an irascible Oompa Loompa. It’s a characterful performance, but it seemed unnecessary to bring back the idea of the Oompa Loompas, little people who in Dahl’s original 1964 book were black, then white in a new edition in 1973 and orange in the 1971 movie. </p>
<p>Since they were making up the new story from scratch, why bring back a character with <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-pygmies-to-puppets-what-to-do-with-roald-dahls-enslaved-oompa-loompas-in-modern-adaptations-166967#:%7E:text=In%20the%20first%20edition%20of,and%20enslaves%20in%20his%20factory.">such a fraught history</a> at all?</p>
<p>It’s especially odd because the filmmakers do seem keen to comment on serious topics, such as the corruption of the church and police, and the punitive enslavement of debtors. There is acknowledgement of how capitalism makes the system unfair. </p>
<p>But there is seemingly no thought given to why it might be problematic to depict Loompaland as a generic exotic island where Wonka’s cocoa beans grow. It doesn’t grapple at all with the relationship of all of this to enslavement in the history of chocolate production in the real world.</p>
<p>I know that Wonka is family entertainment rather than a history documentary, but the stories and images we grow up with influence our understanding of the world. Wonka does some finger-pointing (a delicious cameo from Rowan Atkinson as a chocoholic cleric) but hasn’t worked through its own complicity in the system.</p>
<p>The film’s saving grace is a charismatic performance from Chalamet in the title role. Still in his twenties, this impressive actor has an old-school lightness that makes his movement elegant and he brings a wistful quality to some of the film’s more poignant moments. <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5012254/">Christopher Gattelli’s</a> lively choreography further makes Chalamet look like a Broadway pro.</p>
<p>The film is also easy on the eye. It’s beautifully designed and the location filming (including famous sights in Oxford) could hardly have set the whole thing up better.</p>
<p>Yet writer-director <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1653753/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1">Paul King</a> of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1109624/">Paddington</a> (2014) fame hasn’t served up the goods this time (the screenplay is co-written by <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1375030/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1">Simon Farnaby</a>). </p>
<p>It’s a little too dark for small children (Wonka being threatened by a corrupt policeman who submerges his head into a fountain was a particularly disturbing image for the very young). And it’s not funny enough. You know you’re in trouble when the most exciting sequence involves a CGI giraffe called Abigail – a clear sign that this was an underwritten screenplay for an excellent cast.</p>
<p>Nor is the score up to scratch. Songwriter <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0973252/">Neil Hannon</a> of <a href="https://thedivinecomedy.com/">The Divine Comedy</a> seems most at home in a terrific 1990s-style pop ballad called A World of Your Own, but it doesn’t have the poignancy of the stunning <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVi3-PrQ0pY">Pure Imagination</a>, which returns from the 1971 Willy Wonka in the underscore of the opening and in full at the close of the film.</p>
<p>Its reuse at key moments, along with the old <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkC8wPSmcPg">Oompa Loompa song</a>, causes not only a stylistic clash with Hannon’s new efforts, but also draws attention to the lack of magic and originality in most of the new songs. There are tired cliches (“cherry trees from Japan”, “a jungle in Mumbai”) and creaky attempts at made-up rhymes (“consonants” matched with “nonsen-ants”).</p>
<p>I imagine Wonka will be a hit over the holiday period, but when the central messaging doesn’t have enough clarity and the fun is in short supply, it’s not clear who this film is for. It’s decent distraction for the kids over the Christmas break – but don’t expect the intergenerational magic of Paddington 2.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dominic Broomfield-McHugh does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s a little too dark for small children and not funny enough.Dominic Broomfield-McHugh, Professor of Musicology, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2170692023-12-01T13:40:04Z2023-12-01T13:40:04Z‘Wonka’ movie holds remnants of novel’s racist past<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562787/original/file-20231130-25-2x451e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C0%2C4343%2C1774&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A storyline in the forthcoming 'Wonka' movie is that the central character can change a dutiful young girl's life.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Warner Bros.</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Several years ago, I made a visit to a local book sale and came across a rare 1964 edition of Roald Dahl’s “<a href="https://search.worldcat.org/title/176964">Charlie and the Chocolate Factory</a>.” Popular in its own right, the novel has also served as the inspiration for a number of movies, including “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067992/">Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory</a>” – the classic 1971 movie starring the late Gene Wilder – <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367594/">a 2005 reboot</a> starring Johnny Depp, and “<a href="https://www.wonkamovie.com/">Wonka</a>,” the 2023 version.</p>
<p>As a child of the 1980s, I had voraciously consumed Dahl’s novels, so I knew the book well. But the illustrations in this particular edition looked unfamiliar.</p>
<p>Once I brought the worn and tattered book home and began to read it aloud to my kids, I realized that some passages looked unfamiliar as well. My voice faltered as the Oompa-Loompas – the pint-sized workers in Wonka’s chocolate factory – appeared and Charlie asked, “Are they really made out of chocolate, Mr. Wonka?”</p>
<p>To which Wonka replied: “Nonsense!”</p>
<p>“They belong to a tribe of tiny miniature pygmies known as Oompa-Loompas,” Wonka explains in this version of the book. “I discovered them myself. I brought them over from Africa myself – the whole tribe of them, three thousand in all. I found them in the very deepest and darkest part of the African jungle where no white man had ever been before.”</p>
<p>The accompanying black-and-white illustration of several dark-skinned Oompa-Loompas left me stunned.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562541/original/file-20231129-19-ndnz6p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562541/original/file-20231129-19-ndnz6p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562541/original/file-20231129-19-ndnz6p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562541/original/file-20231129-19-ndnz6p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562541/original/file-20231129-19-ndnz6p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562541/original/file-20231129-19-ndnz6p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562541/original/file-20231129-19-ndnz6p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">An illustration of dark-skinned Oompa-Loompas from the 1964 version of Roald Dahl’s ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.’</span>
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<span class="caption">An illustration of white Oompa-Loompas from a 2011 edition of Roald Dahl’s ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.’</span>
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<p>Dahl’s book is part of a long history of children’s books that feature racist stereotypes – a list that includes <a href="https://apnews.com/article/dr-seuss-books-racist-images-d8ed18335c03319d72f443594c174513">six Dr. Seuss books that were removed from publication in 2021</a>. Other children’s classics, such as “<a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/racist-history-peter-pan-indian-tribe-180953500/">Peter Pan</a>” and “<a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/246055/pdf">Mary Poppins</a>,” have also been criticized for perpetuating racism.</p>
<p>As an English lecturer who <a href="https://theconversation.com/this-course-examines-the-dark-realities-behind-your-favorite-childrens-stories-210329">specializes in decoding some of the hidden meanings and dark realities in popular children’s stories</a>, I looked deeper into the blatant racism in the 1964 edition of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” comparing it to a more recent copy from 2011. </p>
<p>Notably, the description of the Oompa-Loompa’s skin had been changed from “almost black” to “rosy-white.” And rather than coming from Africa, they came from “Loompaland.” I learned that <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26362342?mag=roald-dahls-anti-black-racism&seq=2">these changes were made by Dahl for the 1974 edition after criticism by the NAACP </a> and others. Dahl’s response was to remove the Black characters altogether.</p>
<p>Yet as philosophy lecturer Ron Novy <a href="https://search.worldcat.org/title/roald-dahl-and-philosophy-a-little-nonsense-now-and-then/oclc/884017017">points out</a>, even the latest editions of the book still perpetuate racist and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=eiCO730AAAAJ&citation_for_view=eiCO730AAAAJ:9yKSN-GCB0IC">imperialist ideologies</a>.</p>
<h2>Parallels with slavery</h2>
<p>When Wonka describes how he “smuggled” the Oompa-Loompas into the country in “large packing cases with holes in them,” the image clearly recalls slave ships navigating the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/articles/the-middle-passage.htm#:%7E:text=The%20Middle%20Passage%20itself%20lasted,15%25%20grew%20sick%20and%20died.">Middle Passage</a>. Wonka’s promise to pay the Oompa-Loompas’ wages in cacao beans, and the admission that no one ever sees them come in or out of the factory, reinforces the Oompa-Loompas’ subjugation to Willy Wonka, who plays the role of their “Great White Father,” as fourth grade reading teacher <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20193551">Katherine Baxter noted in 1974</a>.</p>
<p>Historian Donald Yacovone <a href="https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/roald-dahl-the-caribbean-and-a-warning-from-his-chocolate-factory/">has pointed out</a> that, even in its revised form, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” has long contributed to the perpetuation of white supremacist ideology. Not only do the Oompa-Loompas immediately appear – ready to obey – whenever Wonka clicks his fingers, but Wonka is also repeatedly dismissive of them. He calls them “charming” but tells his visitors not to believe a word the Oompa-Loompas say. “It’s all nonsense, every bit of it!” </p>
<p>Wonka even uses the Oompa-Loompas as experimental subjects. He feeds them gum that turns them into blueberries and fizzy drinks that send one unfortunate man aloft until he “disappeared out of sight” and was never seen again. These experiments seem a grotesque parody of the myriad cases of enslaved and free Black Americans who have been <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/185986/medical-apartheid-by-harriet-a-washington/">subjected to experimental surgeries, treatments and medical neglect</a>. </p>
<p>In both the book’s current version and in the original, he smuggles them into his factory and pays them in cacao beans because they were “practically starving to death” and cacao was “the one food that they longed for more than any other … but they couldn’t get it” on their own. </p>
<p>It’s an absurd assertion that this community of people, originally located in the heart of Africa, cannot access a crop that, while native to the Amazon, <a href="https://search.worldcat.org/title/709715326#goodreads">is primarily grown in West African countries</a>. That they need Wonka to give them access to the resources of their own land is a damaging colonialist fantasy – one which, as Yacovone notes, has historically buoyed, rather than diminished, the popularity of the novel and the 1971 and 2005 films.</p>
<h2>Maintaining the status quo</h2>
<p>Unfortunately, the latest <a href="https://www.wonkamovie.com/">Wonka</a> movie also engages in the type of implicit racism that remains in the revised 1974 version of the novel. The most prominent Black character, a girl named Noodle, played by the talented <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7412362/">Calah Lane</a>, takes a back seat to Wonka in the major events of the film.</p>
<p>The new Wonka almost broke from the tradition of having Wonka played by white men. Early in the new film’s conception, <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/donald-glover-willy-wonka-movie-charlie-chocolate-factory-rumor-960382">Newsweek</a> reported that actor, comedian and musician <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Donald-Glover">Donald Glover</a> was under consideration for the lead role, a choice that could have at least begun to force a rewrite of the original novel’s racist narrative. </p>
<p>Instead, the film casts Noodle in the position of an unfortunate Black girl who can only hope for a ride on Wonka’s velvet coattails. </p>
<p>“I know things haven’t been easy for you,” Wonka says in the movie. “They’re going to get better.”</p>
<p>“You promise?” Noodle replies, hopefully, and he does promise, highlighting his role as her white savior. Another character in voice-over agrees: “You could change her life, Mr. Wonka. Change all their lives.” </p>
<p>I was initially hopeful about the prospect of a movie that moves away from the novel’s racist origins, yet still imparts the power of imagination on a new generation. Unfortunately, moviegoers may find themselves having to hold their breath and make a wish, as Gene Wilder <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVi3-PrQ0pY">stated in a song</a> from the 1971 movie, for a version that holds no remnants of its racist past.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217069/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Meisha Lohmann does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The original storyline for Road Dahl’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” contained some stunning parallels to the trans-Atlantic slave trade.Meisha Lohmann, Lecturer in English Literature, Binghamton University, State University of New YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2148362023-10-15T19:09:31Z2023-10-15T19:09:31ZRoald Dahl was a bigot and beloved children’s author. Wes Anderson shows both sides of this complicated persona<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553148/original/file-20231011-25-ljmz9o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2875%2C2155&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Netflix</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Wes Anderson’s latest work involves four short films based on Roald Dahl stories: The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, The Swan, The Rat Catcher and Poison. </p>
<p>The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is the longest, with a runtime of 39 minutes (from an 82-page story), following the altruistic journey of the eponymous character, played by Benedict Cumberbatch. A wealthy dandy transforms into a benevolent figure, giving away his gambling fortune to children’s hospitals and orphanages. </p>
<p>While the others may seem like lesser works, shorter in length (from shorter stories) and less ambitious in set design and locations, Anderson begins to survey more complicated aspects of Dahl rarely explored in the abundant screen adaptations.</p>
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<h2>A complicated figure</h2>
<p>Netflix acquired the rights to Dahl’s entire catalogue in 2021 for <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-10377105/EDEN-CONFIDENTIAL-Roald-Dahls-family-scores-370m-golden-ticket-Netflix-deal.html">£370 million</a>. The first production was Matthew Marchus’s Matilda the Musical (2022) – more accurately a screen version of Tim Minchin and Dennis Kelly’s award-winning stage musical adaptation.</p>
<p>Several more Netflix productions are slated. The Twits, an animation film written and directed by Phil Johnston, is set for a 2025 release. This will be followed by Taika Waititi writing and directing two live-action features: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and its literary sequel Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.</p>
<p>Dahl remains a difficult figure in history. There is Dahl the beloved author of some of the most influential and popular works ever written for children. Meanwhile, there is the complicated persona who repeatedly made <a href="https://www.thejc.com/news/uk/children-s-favourite-roald-dahl-proudly-antisemitic-1.27658">unwavering racist remarks</a> and further reduced his characters to discriminatory and sexist stereotypes. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553150/original/file-20231011-27-nersi7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man stands on a balcony." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553150/original/file-20231011-27-nersi7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553150/original/file-20231011-27-nersi7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553150/original/file-20231011-27-nersi7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553150/original/file-20231011-27-nersi7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553150/original/file-20231011-27-nersi7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553150/original/file-20231011-27-nersi7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553150/original/file-20231011-27-nersi7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Dahl remains a difficult figure in history.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Netflix</span></span>
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<p>Despite Dahl <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/25/roald-dahl-threatened-publisher-with-enormous-crocodile-if-they-changed-his-words">insisting</a> to his publishers to “not so much as change a single comma in one of my books”, in February this year Puffin Books <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/18/roald-dahl-books-rewritten-to-remove-language-deemed-offensive">announced</a> it would be creatively editing portions of many of his children’s novels to “ensure that it can continue to be enjoyed by all today”. </p>
<p>This included removing or replacing words describing the appearance of characters (“old hags” become “old crows” in The Witches) and adding gender-neutral language (“Cloud-men” have become “Cloud-People” in James and the Giant Peach). Contemporary writers, <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/culture/article/2023/02/20/salman-rushdie-attacks-roald-dahl-rewrites-as-absurd-censorship_6016569_30.html">such as</a> Salman Rushdie, decried such liberties as a form of literary vandalism and blatant censorship. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/roald-dahl-rewrites-rather-than-bowdlerising-books-on-moral-grounds-we-should-help-children-to-navigate-history-200254">Roald Dahl rewrites: rather than bowdlerising books on moral grounds we should help children to navigate history</a>
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<h2>Nastiness, weirdness and racism</h2>
<p>Anderson’s Dahl shorts explore some grittier works from the author’s oeuvre without any creative rewriting. These are some of the most literal and faithful Dahl adaptations ever put on screen.</p>
<p>First and foremost, Dahl (played by Ralph Fiennes) becomes an onscreen character and narrator. The sight of Dahl talking directly to camera in his famous writing chair is somewhat uneasy. Which Dahl will we see? The bigot? Beloved children’s author? </p>
<p>In truth, we see neither in the character – but rather manifestations of both in the films themselves. </p>
<p>Anderson doesn’t suppress aspects of nastiness, weirdness and racism from the adapted stories underlined by darker themes and a darker tone. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553151/original/file-20231011-21-4a40xt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two Indian men." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553151/original/file-20231011-21-4a40xt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553151/original/file-20231011-21-4a40xt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553151/original/file-20231011-21-4a40xt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553151/original/file-20231011-21-4a40xt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553151/original/file-20231011-21-4a40xt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553151/original/file-20231011-21-4a40xt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553151/original/file-20231011-21-4a40xt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Anderson doesn’t suppress aspects of nastiness, weirdness and racism.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Netflix</span></span>
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<p>The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is the most joyous in both style and story, and a natural follow-on from Anderson’s earlier stop-motion Dahl feature adaptation, The Fantastic Mr Fox (2009).</p>
<p>From the altruistic Henry Sugar, things significantly go darker both tonally and thematically. The Swan is about a boy victimised to merciless bullying; The Rat Catcher involves a man (played also by Fiennes) with disgustingly filthy nails resembling claws who kills a rat with his teeth. </p>
<p>These characters are not punished, exposed and exiled. They are revealed for their true selves – as ugly and uncomfortable as that may be to watch. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-man-behind-matilda-what-roald-dahl-was-really-like-62810">The man behind Matilda – what Roald Dahl was really like</a>
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<h2>Dahl and his cultural legacy</h2>
<p>A point of interest is the order these shorts are curated on Netflix. Each was dropped on the platform within a few days of each other, and this order remains when the films are grouped together as the Dahl adaptation package. </p>
<p>The final, and most confronting, of these shorts is Poison. The story is of Englishman Harry Pope (Benedict Cumberbatch) in British-ruled India, who believes he has a poisonous krait snake asleep with him in his bed. When this is proven incorrect, Dr Ganderbai (Ben Kingsley) is subjected to Harry’s racial slurs. </p>
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<p>It is an ugly and unexpected moment that provokes the doctor to leave in stunned silence. </p>
<p>This adaptation has been previously adapted several times on television: in 1958 into an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents; in 1980 it was adapted as the fifth episode of the second series of Tales of the Unexpected.</p>
<p>These TV adaptations turn Harry into an alcoholic whose mind cannot be trusted. Here, Anderson is more faithful to Dahl’s story, presenting Harry as a lucid and ungrateful bigot to the doctor’s attempts to rescue him. </p>
<p>It is with this reprehensible and unapologetic racist attack that Anderson’s shorts conclude. </p>
<p>From the first film, with its vivid colours and altruistic themes, to the bleak finale of Poison, it feels as if Anderson is making a statement about the difficulties in which to regard Dahl and his cultural legacy. </p>
<p>In the process, he has produced some of his most challenging, complex and intriguing films to date. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/wes-anderson-has-an-obsessive-systematic-repetition-of-stylistic-choices-hes-perfect-for-this-tiktok-meme-204803">Wes Anderson has an obsessive, systematic repetition of stylistic choices. He’s perfect for this TikTok meme</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214836/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Gaunson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>These are some of the most literal and faithful Roald Dahl adaptations ever put on screen.Stephen Gaunson, Senior Lecturer, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1986602023-03-21T20:10:20Z2023-03-21T20:10:20ZNetflix’s Matilda shows how children’s gifts can only shine with loving support from adults<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512332/original/file-20230227-1630-egtp39.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C307%2C2020%2C1103&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Every child deserves adults in their lives who model the importance of loving human connection and exploration. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.cinemablend.com/streaming-news/matilda-why-this-netflix-musical-film-is-an-underrated-masterpiece"><em>Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical</em></a> on Netflix reminds us of the importance of love, kindness and respect in education. The film is adapted from <a href="https://mashable.com/article/matilda-the-musical-movie-review">the award-winning dramatic musical</a> inspired by <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/319178/matilda-by-roald-dahl/9780241558300">Roald Dahl’s novel <em>Matilda</em>.</a></p>
<p>The fictional Matilda is <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/10/13/emma-thompson-is-the-horrible-miss-trunchbull-in-new-matilda-trailer/">born into an abusive family</a> whose parents forget to enrol her in school. </p>
<p>All humans need love and care; we are born to and for love. Our <a href="https://www.oecd.org/education/2030/E2030%20Position%20Paper%20(05.04.2018).pdf">education systems must prepare children for a technologically advanced</a> world and precarious future, requiring education to support the development of children’s <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/consulting/articles/future-skills-keeping-the-workforce-human.html">uniquely human skills such as creativity and empathy</a>. </p>
<p>Matilda’s (Alisha Weir) curiosity drove her to learn. She develops a loving connection with the librarian of a mobile library, <a href="https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/who-is-matilda-alisha-weir-cast-guide">Mrs. Phelps (Sindhu Vee)</a>. Through this connection, Matilda is encouraged in her love of reading and learning through inquiry and play. She becomes <a href="https://developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2004/04/Young-Children-Develop-in-an-Environment-of-Relationships.pdf">seen for her uniqueness and supported in her development</a>, a bumpy journey that continues at her new school. </p>
<h2>Learning through curiosity and play</h2>
<p>Children <a href="https://learningthroughplay.com/">learn through play</a>. It allows them to develop holistically, through exploration, discovery, failure, determination and fun. </p>
<p>Matilda enters school with an expectation of curiosity, discovery, intellectual and physical play and fun. But she is met with rules, barriers and rigidity. </p>
<p>Headmistress Trunchbull (Emma Thompson) punishes children for expressing themselves, stating “<a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/stuff-to-watch/300769680/roald-dahls-matilda-the-musical-emma-thompsons-trunchbull-steals-the-show-for-netflix">we are not here to encourage or nurture</a>,” and “<a href="https://www.mtishows.co.uk/script/19047273?width=600&height=400">to teach the child we must first break the child</a>.” Complacency is rewarded through the fear <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye0EYd163vc">of “The Chokey”</a> — a solitary confinement space. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Trailer for Neflix’s ‘Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical.’</span></figcaption>
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<p>In the mobile library with Mrs. Phelps, Matilda is supported to <a href="https://youtu.be/vR2P5vW-nVc">play with ideas and use her imagination</a>. She becomes free and confident to explore, learn and follow her curiosity.</p>
<p>Matilda frequently states “it is not right” when she witnesses <a href="https://playbill.com/article/watch-8-full-musical-numbers-from-netflixs-matilda-the-musical">The Trunchbull’s harshness</a>. She inspires those who have lost their spark to raise up and fight for what is right. </p>
<p>Matilda’s leadership results in a revolution and the dismantling of the school, the elimination of The Trunchbull and inauguration of a new leader, the loving teacher Miss Honey (Lashana Lynch). </p>
<h2>Love in education</h2>
<p>The development of Matilda’s unique gifts occurs when she is seen and loved for her authentic self in school.</p>
<p>These social connections are essential for humans. <a href="https://theconversation.com/infancy-and-early-childhood-matter-so-much-because-of-attachment-117733">The power of love, of being seen, heard and understood has immensely positive effects on children</a>. </p>
<p>Their development of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2013/04/21/brene-brown-how-vulnerability-can-make-our-lives-better/?sh=6b7a459b36c7">trust allows them to risk failure and vulnerability</a>, core components to living a healthy and meaningful life. Early experiences <a href="https://horizons.gc.ca/en/2019/11/14/social-epigenetics-how-your-early-life-environment-gets-under-your-skin/">live under our skin</a> for our whole lives. Loving educational experiences are important for children to grow and develop into loving, caring and kind adults.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/with-larger-classes-teachers-cant-attend-to-childrens-needs-110556">With larger classes, teachers can't attend to children's needs</a>
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<p>Miss Honey is the loving and caring educator who advocates for Matilda. She provides Matilda with the opportunity to be seen for her unique self. </p>
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<img alt="A woman seen in a glamourous dress, laughing." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513819/original/file-20230306-2221-iar949.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513819/original/file-20230306-2221-iar949.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=805&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513819/original/file-20230306-2221-iar949.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=805&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513819/original/file-20230306-2221-iar949.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=805&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513819/original/file-20230306-2221-iar949.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1011&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513819/original/file-20230306-2221-iar949.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1011&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513819/original/file-20230306-2221-iar949.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1011&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Lashana Lynch, seen here at a red carpet event in Cannes, France, in 2022, plays Miss Honey.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)</span></span>
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<p>The figure of Miss Honey demonstrates the extra <a href="https://theconversation.com/4-strategies-to-support-vulnerable-students-when-schools-reopen-after-coronavirus-136201">importance of healthy relationships for children when their homes are not safe</a>. Educators have the opportunity to positively impact children’s lives in many ways. </p>
<p>Love, trust and care was new and unique for Matilda. It felt good and allowed her to confidently develop, to allow her brain to grow. <a href="https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/ed/18/08/what%E2%80%99s-love-got-do-it">Care, compassion, kindness and love are essential and often under-valued components in education</a>. </p>
<h2>A present educator</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.netflix.com/tudum/lashana-lynch-matilda-miss-honey-interview#">Miss Honey developed trust with Matilda</a> by creating a space of belonging and being safe, secure, present, available and interested. Trust is important for children to learn empathy and compassion, to know it is safe to take risks, to try and fail and try again, to <a href="https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/resilience-game">build resilience and</a> perseverance. </p>
<p>Matilda was vulnerable and took the risk of sharing her authentic self with Miss Honey including what she called “fizzing” — her <a href="https://thecinemaholic.com/what-are-matildas-superpowers-telekinesis-explained/">unique gift of telekinesis</a>, the power to move objects with one’s mind.</p>
<p>Matilda trusted this educator, so it was safe to ask for help, and support in understanding herself. </p>
<p>We all need a Miss Honey, someone we know will be there no matter what, and to offer unconditional love to catch and hold us in our development throughout our lives.</p>
<h2>Valuing love and kindness</h2>
<p>Miss Honey states “<a href="https://www.pressreader.com/uk/features/20221125/281659669049438">I just taught them with kindness, patience and respect</a>.” </p>
<p>Valuing love and kindness means we must value the members of our society who lead with their hearts, learn through play and model behaviour through lived experiences. </p>
<p>Miss Honey represents all the loving and caring educators who give of themselves for children to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2019.1574778">learn and grow through their love, compassion, care and empathy</a> — educators who open up the world for children to be, and to express their beautiful sparkle. As the teacher sings: “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eqoyEGx9aI">You were holding my hand … quietly taking a stand…</a>.” </p>
<p>Every child deserves a Miss Honey to experience the importance and power of love and human connection to create a vibrant world of play, exploration, love and kindness. </p>
<p>While the educators modelled in Dahl’s <em>Matilda</em> and developed in the musical are not meant to be <a href="https://www.teachwire.net/news/matildas-miss-honey-teaching-role-model-or-unprofessional-educator">blueprints for contemporary teaching</a>, they suggest the powerful ways educators can have positive effects on children’s lives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198660/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nikki Martyn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>While educators in Netflix’s ‘Matilda the Musical’ aren’t meant to be blueprints for contemporary teaching, they suggest the powerful ways attentive adults can make a difference in children’s lives.Nikki Martyn, Program Head of Early Childhood Studies, University of Guelph-HumberLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2012462023-03-07T14:16:24Z2023-03-07T14:16:24ZFrom Roald Dahl to Goosebumps, revisions to children’s classics are really about copyright – a legal expert explains<p>The backlash to Puffin Books’ decision to update Roald Dahl’s children’s books has been swift and largely derisive. The publisher has been accused of “<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/roald-dahl-censorship-reaction-salman-rushdie-b2285246.html">absurd censorship</a>”, “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/02/without-nastiness-roald-dahl-isnt-roald-dahl/673141/">corporate safetyism</a>” and “<a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-rewriting-of-roald-dahl-is-an-act-of-cultural-vandalism/">cultural vandalism</a>.” </p>
<p>At its core, however, updating Roald Dahl’s children’s books is really about the rights and control copyright grants to authors and copyright holders. Those rights are exercised to <a href="https://theconversation.com/roald-dahl-a-brief-history-of-sensitivity-edits-to-childrens-literature-200500">update children’s books</a> more frequently than many of these critics may realise.</p>
<p>Over the past decades, authors, copyright owners and publishers have edited and updated children’s books. They have removed racial stereotypes, reflected changing gender and cultural norms and in doing so, maintained their books’ relevance and appeal to the modern reader.</p>
<p>Hugh Lofting’s <a href="https://libraries.mit.edu/150books/2011/03/07/1920/">The Story of Doctor Dolittle</a> (1920), Dr. Seuss’s <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/dr-seuss-got-away-anti-asian-racism-long-rcna381">And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street</a> (1937), Helen Bannerman’s <a href="https://rdcu.be/cZeyP">The Story of Little Black Sambo</a> (1899), Mark Twain’s <a href="http://www.newsouthbooks.com/pages/2011/01/04/a-word-about-the-newsouth-edition-of-mark-twains-tom-sawyer-and-huckleberry-finn/">Adventures of Huckleberry Finn</a> (1885) and classic children’s books series such as <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/01/reading-hardy-boys-nostalgia-disappointment-racism/581071/">Hardy Boys</a> and <a href="https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/nancy-drew">Nancy Drew</a> have all changed to keep up with increasing sensitivities to racial, gender and other social stereotypes.</p>
<p>In 1973, <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/roald-dahls-anti-black-racism/">Roald Dahl edited</a> Charlie and the Chocolate Factory himself after the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) criticised the Oompa Loompas, who were originally portrayed as African “pygmies”.</p>
<p>Classic children’s books occupy a special cultural place and evoke sentiments of tradition and nostalgia. They are venerated as works of art, making their preservation feel vital to a shared heritage. </p>
<p>As such, any suggestion of changing them can feel like an attack on culture itself. Of course, whose heritage and whose culture these “classic” books represent is up for debate, especially when original versions included portrayals of certain groups in hurtful or stereotypical ways.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-pygmies-to-puppets-what-to-do-with-roald-dahls-enslaved-oompa-loompas-in-modern-adaptations-166967">From pygmies to puppets: what to do with Roald Dahl's enslaved Oompa-Loompas in modern adaptations?</a>
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<p>Some argue that books for children should be held to a higher standard of sensitivity, given that <a href="https://sophia.stkate.edu/rdyl/vol1/iss2/4/">children learn about their society, identity and group membership from books</a>. Through their books, authors and copyright holders wield the power to shape the attitudes and minds of children, teaching them notions of good, bad, ugly, pretty, who is accepted and who is excluded.</p>
<h2>How copyright law impacted Dahl’s edits</h2>
<p>Copyright law grants its holder the exclusive right to edit a copyrighted children’s book and the right to limit publication of a work. This means that during a book’s copyright term, the copyright holder has the right to make edits that maintain the book’s popularity and commercial viability. </p>
<p>This is true even when an author no longer owns the copyright to their work. In those situations, the copyright holder generally has the right to make edits to the work even without the author’s consent, as Goosebumps author R.L. Stine <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/goosebumps-books-sanitised-without-rl-stines-permission-8qwvf7d5d">recently discovered</a>.</p>
<p>These rights aren’t absolute and – most importantly – aren’t forever. Once the copyright term expires, anyone can reproduce, edit and sell new copies of an original book in any medium or format.</p>
<p>Hugh Lofting’s The Story of Doctor Dolittle (1920), for example, entered the US public domain in the 1990s. Today, both the updated and the original versions (including its racial caricatures and story line about a black prince dreaming of becoming white) are available to purchase.</p>
<p>Dr. Seuss’s first children’s book, And to Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street (1937), will enter the US public domain in 2033. At that time, regardless of Dr. Seuss Enterprises’ efforts <a href="https://www.seussville.com/statement-from-dr-seuss-enterprises/">to retire that book</a>, anyone will be able to reproduce and sell new copies, complete with its original bright yellow faced “<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/dr-seuss-got-away-anti-asian-racism-long-rcna381">Chinaman who eats with sticks</a>”.</p>
<p>Roald Dahl’s original Charlie and The Chocolate Factory will enter the US public domain in 2060. Children will once more have the opportunity to read about the African “pygmies” that Willy Wonka “discovered” and shipped to work in his factory, “fat” children like Augustus Goop and “ugly” girls who chew gum.</p>
<p>In the meantime, copyright holders can update and revitalise their books to broaden their readerships, protect authors’ legacies and maintain the works’ relevance. In exchange, teachers and guardians can access various versions of classic books and decide for themselves which versions their children should read.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201246/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cathay Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Sensitivity edits benefit copyright holders, who wish to keep less tasteful elements of the works they control out of the public eye.Cathay Smith, Professor of Law, University of Montana; Visiting Research Fellow, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2005692023-02-23T14:30:16Z2023-02-23T14:30:16ZI was an adoring Dahl fan as a child but let’s not reissue them for a new generation<p>If children are built, in part, by the books they’re raised on, then I was all Roald Dahl. From my small bedroom in suburban Essex, his stories allowed me to try on new and distinctly more exciting lives for size. </p>
<p>There was James aboard his giant peach, George with his marvellous granny vanquishing medicine and of course, Charlie, who wins a trip to a chocolate factory and a lifetime’s supply of sweets — for the grandchild of a dentist, an impossible dream.</p>
<p>And Dahl was my dream maker, a fairy godfather, a living wizard. So much so that when I, the adoring fan, eventually met him at a Puffin Club convention I was rendered mute under his spell. </p>
<p>His books represented escape from the humdrum of the everyday that I recognised even aged seven. And more than that, they were an education. I learned new words as well as important lessons. Enemies can be bested, no matter how much bigger they are, grown-ups aren’t always right and reading books is, in itself, a kind of magic.</p>
<p>However, looking back through a more forensic lens, there were other, less edifying ideas I picked up as well. </p>
<p>From The Twits, I learned that the “African language” that the Muggle-Wump monkeys spoke was “weird”. From Charlie and the Chocolate Factory I learned that being “enormously fat” was a character flaw, on a par with selfishness. From The Witches, I learned that being bald, as a woman, meant you were probably evil and definitely ugly. Daft, obviously, but still it lingered in my 30s when to my abject horror, I developed alopecia.</p>
<h2>Making amends</h2>
<p>So, I was invested in the argument when, in February 2023, it was revealed that Dahl’s publishers, Puffin, have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/18/roald-dahl-books-rewritten-to-remove-language-deemed-offensive">made some tweaks</a> for the latest print runs. There has been an outcry, with everyone from author <a href="https://twitter.com/SalmanRushdie/status/1627075835525210113?s=20">Salman Rushdie</a> to UK <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-64702224">prime minister Rishi Sunak</a> weighing in to condemn this “censorship”, as if Puffin were burning or banning books. </p>
<p>The fact that this was done in discussion with Dahl’s estate cannot assuage them, nor that these small changes are the kind made every day to books either pre-publication or before a new print run.</p>
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Read more:
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<p>And the changes are small. That language is no longer “weird”, just “African”. Augustus Gloop is no longer “enormously fat”, just “enormous”. Mrs Twit is no longer “beastly and ugly”, just “beastly”. A witch posing as a woman is no longer likely to be a “cashier in a supermarket or typing letters for a businessman” but may be a “top scientist or running a business”.</p>
<p>The stories and Dahl’s voice with his energetic, inventive turns of phrase, remain intact. A win, surely? Or is it? Because, while the language might be superficially “fixed”, the books still contain problematic themes and character traits. </p>
<p>Baldness in women is still linked to badness. Being “enormous” is still a character flaw. And this is before we begin to <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-pygmies-to-puppets-what-to-do-with-roald-dahls-enslaved-oompa-loompas-in-modern-adaptations-166967">unpack the Oompa-Loompas</a>, albeit in their new gender neutral guise.</p>
<p>When we read, we learn what it might be like to be someone other than our self. We find common ground as well as differences. In other words, we learn <a href="https://www.empathylab.uk/plugging-into-books-to-super-charge-our-empathy-muscles">empathy</a>. But through Dahl, the spectrum of those with whom we’re invited to empathise or even to recognise as “like me” is fairly narrow, while too many others are sidelined as bad in their difference, potentially leading readers to reject them off the page as well.</p>
<p>So what is the answer to this and other “difficult” texts? (Dahl, of course, isn’t the only author to have equated ugliness or disability with villainy, nor to display chronic fatphobia.)</p>
<p>As an expert in creative writing, my preference would be to let them quietly fall out of print. No “censorship”, but no reruns either. Don’t give them a brand new foil wrapper that suggests the contents are fresh and 21st century. That implies a currency, a relevance, a truth.</p>
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<img alt="A young asian girl wearing glasses with her hair in pigtails smiles as she reads in a library." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511950/original/file-20230223-22-nxy5ke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511950/original/file-20230223-22-nxy5ke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511950/original/file-20230223-22-nxy5ke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511950/original/file-20230223-22-nxy5ke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511950/original/file-20230223-22-nxy5ke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511950/original/file-20230223-22-nxy5ke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511950/original/file-20230223-22-nxy5ke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Bookshops don’t have enough shelves for the myriad new children’s releases.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/school-education-literacy-concept-asian-girl-358649762">Chinnapong/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Instead let them sit on the shelves of parents and grandparents (who are the real Dahl fans now, children have far wider taste) and be seen, with their cracked covers and dog-eared pages, for what they are – things of the past, to be appreciated as such.</p>
<p>It’s not as if, without Dahl, there will be a void with no funny books, no magic books, no books about giants to fill it. Bookshops don’t have enough shelves for the myriad new releases. The <a href="https://shop.scholastic.co.uk/lollies">Lollies Prize</a> celebrates brilliantly funny new books for children every year. <a href="https://www.empathylab.uk/">Empathy Lab</a> curates an annual collection of around 50 new books that don’t skimp on stakes or adventure or menace, but also work to nurture inclusivity.</p>
<p>I was a child of Dahl and am indebted to him for nurturing my love of words. But I’m glad my own daughter showed scant interest, for there are more stories out there, and better ones, to shape her generation and the next.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200569/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jo Nadin is a member of the Society of Authors (SOA) and the Authors Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS). Her book, No Man's Land, is part of the Empathy Lab collection. Her book, The Worst Class in the World Gets Worse, is shortlisted for the Lollies Prize. </span></em></p>Let Dahl’s books be seen for what they are: things of the past, to be appreciated as such.Joanna Nadin, Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2005002023-02-23T14:29:32Z2023-02-23T14:29:32ZRoald Dahl: A brief history of sensitivity edits to children’s literature<p>Puffin Books have worked with the consultancy <a href="https://www.inclusiveminds.com/">Inclusive Minds</a> (who say they help publishers, authors and illustrators work towards authentic inclusion, accessibility, and diverse representation) to revise some of the language used in Roald Dahl’s books for children, more than 100 years after his birth. </p>
<p>The story has attracted mass attention. <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/roald-dahl-books-sunak-bfg-b2285778.html">UK prime minister Rishi Sunak</a> and author <a href="https://twitter.com/SalmanRushdie/status/1627075835525210113?s=20">Salman Rushdie</a> have both expressed their disagreement with this approach to Dahl’s work. However, it is not unusual for books for children to undergo revisions for new generations. </p>
<p>Physician Thomas Bowdler <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/bowdlers-wanted-clean-shakespeare-not-become-byword-censorship-180963945/">rewrote Shakespeare’s plays for a family audience</a> in the early 1800s, removing content he deemed inappropriate from the Bard’s previously published works. Charles Dickens wrote a furious essay in 1853 called <a href="https://victorianweb.org/authors/dickens/pva/pva239.html">Frauds on the Fairies</a> criticising his former friend and illustrator George Cruikshank’s <a href="https://victorianweb.org/genre/childlit/cruikshank.html">retelling of several fairy tales</a>, which incorporated an anti-alcohol message.</p>
<p>Abridged versions of classic works aimed at children were routinely published in the 20th century, including Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Louisa M. Alcott’s Little Women and books not originally written for children, such as Alexandre Dumas’ The Three Musketeers or Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels.</p>
<h2>Contemporary edits to Roald Dahl</h2>
<p>Roald Dahl agreed in 1973 to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/sep/13/charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory-hero-originally-black-roald-dahl">remove racist language</a> from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, originally published in 1964. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) objected to Dahl’s original portrayal of the Oompa-Loompas as African “pygmies”. </p>
<p>In Dahl’s original story, the Oompa-Loompas were smuggled by Willy Wonka in packing cases with holes in the side for air, which carried echoes of both the Gold Coast slave labour used to produce chocolate in the 19th and early 20th Century and the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26362342?saml_data=eyJzYW1sVG9rZW4iOiJjODc5MmJiNy1mZjBmLTQ0NDUtOTk0Yi1mMWI3ZGY0YTYxMzciLCJpbnN0aXR1dGlvbklkcyI6WyI1OWZlNTJkNS03OGIwLTQxYzktYWI5Zi0wZmFmMTM0YTYxN2IiXX0">transatlantic slave trade</a>. The NAACP further threatened to <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-pygmies-to-puppets-what-to-do-with-roald-dahls-enslaved-oompa-loompas-in-modern-adaptations-166967">boycott the 1971 film</a> before its release over concerns about depictions of the Oompa-Loompas.</p>
<p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120524190732/http:/archive.hbook.com/magazine/letters/oct73.asp">In a letter</a> to The Horn Book, a magazine of children’s literature in 1973, Doris Bass of Dahl’s US publishers Alfred A. Knopf wrote that the changes made did not amount to “censorship”. Bass insisted that:</p>
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<p>To be sensitive and responsive to the changes in consciousness over the past decade isn’t liberal or reactionary (terms which have primarily political connotations) nor is it censorship. It’s just trying to be ‘good people’ as one’s own awareness of other people’s feelings and needs is expanded.</p>
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<p><a href="https://time.com/5937507/roald-dahl-anti-semitism/">Dahl’s antisemitism</a> was widely reported around the time of his death. His editors had entered discussions regarding the misogyny and racism in some of his other books. In some cases he listened and in others, <a href="https://www.walesartsreview.org/grown-ups-dahls-monsters/">he didn’t</a>. Eventually, his US publishers had enough of his truculent behaviour and <a href="https://lithub.com/when-roald-dahls-editor-decided-he-was-too-much-of-a-prick-to-publish/">threatened to stop publishing him.</a></p>
<h2>When children’s books fall out of favour</h2>
<p>Children’s authors can fall out of popularity if they no longer resonate with readers. Anthony Buckeridge’s Jennings series and Richmal Crompton’s Just William were still widely read during my childhood in the 1970s. Nowadays they are more often found in secondhand bookshops than libraries.</p>
<p>Libraries have a finite amount of space and if a book is no longer being borrowed, they will replace it with more a more contemporary text that children will enjoy reading.</p>
<p>Enid Blyton’s books have also been <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7591648.stm">revised and updated</a> for young modern audiences, including renaming some of the characters from the <a href="https://www.enidblyton.net/talk-about-blyton-topic.html?id=819">Faraway Tree series</a>. Like Dahl, Blyton was challenged by her editors and publishers during her career, with her publisher declining to publish one of her books in 1960 <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/enid-blyton-racist-english-heritage-b1867577.html.">because of its xenophobia</a>. </p>
<p>Criticism of Blyton for her classist attitudes, her limited vocabulary and stereotyped characters began <a href="https://booksforkeeps.co.uk/article/the-blyton-phenomenon/">during her lifetime</a>. Like Dahl, she was never universally lauded.</p>
<p>Modernising the language of the Famous Five series did not prove popular, and in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/sep/16/famous-five-go-back-to-original-language-after-update-flops#img-1">2016 publisher Hachette abandoned the revisions</a>. This may eventually be the case with the revisions to Dahl’s work, though in September 2021, it was announced that streaming giant Netflix had bought the Roald Dahl Story Company for a <a href="https://www.thebookseller.com/rights/netflix-buys-roald-dahl-story-company-1281008">reported £500 million</a>. </p>
<p>Netflix is thought to be in production of an animated version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in partnership with actor and director <a href="https://www.tor.com/2020/03/05/taika-waititi-will-turn-charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory-into-two-netflix-series/">Taika Waititi</a> as well as an animated series based on Matilda.</p>
<p>Dahl is still one of the most borrowed authors from British libraries. He was the 6th most borrowed author on the British Library Public Lending Rights children’s list of 2020/2021, alongside contemporary authors of comic children’s fiction such as Francesca Simon, Liz Pichon and Jeff Kinney. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-the-far-from-diverse-publishing-industry-sensitivity-readers-are-vital-199913">In the far from diverse publishing industry, sensitivity readers are vital</a>
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<p>It is in Netflix and Puffin’s interest to maintain Dahl’s popularity and preserve the books for future readers. Contemporary children’s author, Philip Pullman, suggests that instead of editing them, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/roald-dahl-philip-pullman-edits-b2285643.html">Dahl should be allowed to go out of print</a>, as children’s books, including prizewinning works, so often do.</p>
<p>Joan Aiken’s wonderful Mortimer and Arabel books and Norman Hunter’s Professor Branestawn series have spent time out of print, although both have been revived by contemporary dramatisations. Perhaps Netflix’s adaptations will do the same for Dahl, preserving the essence of his popularity, while removing the dehumanising language that many adults and children find objectionable.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200500/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alison Baker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Abridged family versions of classic works aimed at children were published throughout the 20th century.Alison Baker, Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Studies, University of East LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2002542023-02-20T23:37:12Z2023-02-20T23:37:12ZRoald Dahl rewrites: rather than bowdlerising books on moral grounds we should help children to navigate history<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511061/original/file-20230220-25-tzoxle.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=640%2C0%2C3287%2C1808&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Roald Dahl in 1954.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Carl Van Vechten/Wikimedia Commons.</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Although several of his best-known children’s books were first published in the 1960s, Roald Dahl is among the most popular authors for young people today. The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/18/roald-dahl-books-rewritten-to-remove-language-deemed-offensive">recent decision</a> by publisher Puffin, in conjunction with The Roald Dahl Story Company, to make several hundred revisions to new editions of his novels has been described as censorship by <a href="https://twitter.com/SalmanRushdie/status/1627075835525210113?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1627075835525210113%7Ctwgr%5E8d06cef5296fd1a7eaec37f32baa536178ff5510%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fbooks%2F2023%2Ffeb%2F20%2Froald-dahl-books-rewrites-criticism-language-altered">Salman Rushdie</a> and attracted widespread criticism.</p>
<p>The changes, recommended by sensitivity readers, include removing or replacing words describing the appearance of characters, and adding gender-neutral language in places. For instance, Augustus Gloop in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is no longer “fat” but “enormous”. Mrs Twit, from The Twits, has become “beastly” rather than “ugly and beastly”. In Matilda, the protagonist no longer reads the works of Rudyard Kipling but Jane Austen. </p>
<p>While the term “<a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/roald-dahl-childrens-books-rewritten-to-delete-offensive-fat-ugly-character-references/L53YBV5A2JCPLABB7UI5BVEGL4/">cancel culture</a>” has also been used to describe these editorial changes, there is actually a long history of altering books to meet contemporary expectations of what young people should read. </p>
<p>Should we consider children’s literature on a par with adult literature, where altering the author’s original words is roundly condemned? Or do we accept that children’s fiction should be treated differently because it has a role in inducting them into the contemporary world?</p>
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<h2>Bowdlerising literature</h2>
<p>Thomas Bowdler’s <a href="https://archive.org/details/familyshakespear00shakuoft">The Family Shakespeare</a> was published in 1807 and contained 20 of the author’s plays. It removed “words and expressions … which cannot with propriety be read aloud in a family”, specifically in front of women and children. </p>
<p>“Bowdlerising” has since come to refer to the process of altering literary works on moral grounds, and bowdlerised editions of Shakespeare continued to be used in schools throughout the 20th century. </p>
<p>While Shakespeare’s works were not intended specifically for children, the fiction of Enid Blyton is a more recent example of bowdlerisation of works regarded as classics of children’s literature. There have been <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-392400/Row-faster-George-The-PC-meddlers-chasing-us.html">several waves of changes</a> made to her books in the past four decades, including to The Faraway Tree and The Famous Five series.</p>
<p>While Blyton’s fiction is often regarded as formulaic and devoid of literary value, attempts to modernise names and remove references to corporal punishment, for example, nevertheless upset adults who were nostalgic for the books and wished to share them with children and grandchildren.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/abused-neglected-abandoned-did-roald-dahl-hate-children-as-much-as-the-witches-did-152813">Abused, neglected, abandoned — did Roald Dahl hate children as much as the witches did?</a>
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<h2>How is children’s literature different?</h2>
<p>Children’s literature implicitly shapes the minds of child readers by presenting particular social and cultural values as normal and natural. The term we use for this process within the study of children’s literature is “socialisation”. </p>
<p>People do not view literature for adults as directly forming how they think in this way, even if certain books might be seen as obscene or morally repugnant. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511084/original/file-20230220-22-3vmk6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511084/original/file-20230220-22-3vmk6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511084/original/file-20230220-22-3vmk6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511084/original/file-20230220-22-3vmk6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511084/original/file-20230220-22-3vmk6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511084/original/file-20230220-22-3vmk6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1013&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511084/original/file-20230220-22-3vmk6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1013&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511084/original/file-20230220-22-3vmk6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1013&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>While many people are outraged at the overt censorship of Dahl’s novels, there are several layers of covert censorship that impact on the production of all children’s books. </p>
<p>Children’s authors know that certain content and language will prevent their book from being published. Publishers are aware that controversial topics, such as sex and gender identity, may see books excluded from libraries and school curriculums, or targeted for protest. Librarians and teachers may select, or refuse to select, books because of the potential for complaint, or because of their own political beliefs.</p>
<p>Several of Dahl’s books have previously been the subject of adult attempts to rewrite or <a href="https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/decade1999">ban them</a>. Most notably, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964) was partially rewritten by Dahl in 1973 after <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/roald-dahls-anti-black-racism/">pressure from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People</a> and children’s literature professionals.</p>
<p>Dahl’s original Oompa Loompas were “a tribe of tiny miniature pygmies” whom Willy Wonka “discovered” and “brought over from Africa” to work in his factory for no payment other than cacao beans. </p>
<p>While Dahl vehemently denied that the novel depicted Black people negatively, he revised the book. The Oompa Loompas then became residents of “Loompaland” with “golden-brown hair” and “rosy-white skin”.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-pygmies-to-puppets-what-to-do-with-roald-dahls-enslaved-oompa-loompas-in-modern-adaptations-166967">From pygmies to puppets: what to do with Roald Dahl's enslaved Oompa-Loompas in modern adaptations?</a>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511248/original/file-20230220-24-2b9goz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511248/original/file-20230220-24-2b9goz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511248/original/file-20230220-24-2b9goz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=313&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511248/original/file-20230220-24-2b9goz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=313&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511248/original/file-20230220-24-2b9goz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=313&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511248/original/file-20230220-24-2b9goz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511248/original/file-20230220-24-2b9goz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511248/original/file-20230220-24-2b9goz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Oompa-Loompas as African Pygmies, as depicted by Joseph Schindelman in the original version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Historical children’s books today</h2>
<p>Children’s literature scholar Phil Nel suggests in <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Was_the_Cat_in_the_Hat_Black/WDoqDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=was+the+cat+in+the+hat+black&printsec=frontcover">Was the Cat in the Hat Black? The Hidden Racism of Children’s Literature and the Need for Diverse Books</a> that we have three options when deciding how to treat books containing language and ideas that would not appear in titles published today. </p>
<p>First, we can consider these books as “cultural artefacts” with historical significance, but which we discourage children from reading. This option works as a covert form of censorship, given the power adults hold over what books children can access. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511249/original/file-20230220-14-tai927.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511249/original/file-20230220-14-tai927.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511249/original/file-20230220-14-tai927.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511249/original/file-20230220-14-tai927.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511249/original/file-20230220-14-tai927.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511249/original/file-20230220-14-tai927.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511249/original/file-20230220-14-tai927.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511249/original/file-20230220-14-tai927.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>Second, we can permit children only to read bowdlerised versions of these books, like those recently issued by Dahl’s publisher. This undermines the principle that literary works are valuable cultural objects, which must remain unchanged. In addition, revising occasional words will usually not shift the values now regarded as outdated in the text, only make it harder to identify and question them. </p>
<p>Third, we can allow children to read any version of a book, original or bowdlerised. This option allows for the possibility of child readers who might resist the book’s intended meaning.</p>
<p>It also enables discussion of topics such as racism and sexism with parents and educators, more easily achieved if the original language remains intact. While Nel favours this approach, he also acknowledges that refusing to alter texts may still be troubling for segments of the readership (for example, Black children reading editions of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn in which the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2011/jan/05/censoring-mark-twain-n-word-unacceptable">N-word has not been removed</a>).</p>
<p>Dahl’s novel Matilda emphasises the power of books to enrich and transform the lives of children, while also acknowledging their intelligence as readers.</p>
<p>Although many aspects of the fictional past do not accord with the ideal version of the world we might wish to present to children, as adults we can help them to navigate that history, rather than hoping we can rewrite it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200254/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Children’s books implicitly shape the minds of young readers - and are covertly censored in many ways. But revising occasional words will usually not shift the values regarded as outdated in the text.Michelle Smith, Senior Lecturer in Literary Studies, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1963762022-12-15T14:21:23Z2022-12-15T14:21:23ZQuentin Blake at 90: celebrating the joy and magic of the illustrator of Matilda, The BFG and beyond<p>The expression “national treasure” could have been invented for <a href="https://www.quentinblake.com/meet-qb/biography">Sir Quentin Blake</a> who celebrates his 90th birthday on December 16 – and we might also celebrate his considerable impact on the status and understanding of the art of illustration.</p>
<p>This is not just based on his prolific creative output, spanning a staggering eight decades (so far), but also through his tireless work in promoting and preserving our rich graphic arts heritage in the UK. </p>
<p>This heritage has not always been as fully recognised within the UK as it might have been. One of Blake’s heroes, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jan/03/ronald-searle">Ronald Searle</a> (creator of the <a href="http://www.ju90.co.uk/ron.htm">St Trinian’s cartoons</a>), moved to France in the 1960s, at the height of his fame. Although this was primarily due to personal circumstances, he had also become increasingly weary of the British tendency to box visual artists as either “commercial” or “fine”.</p>
<p>Happily, in the last 20 years here in the UK we have at last begun to see a breaking down of these barriers and prejudices in our cultural institutions with more exhibits showcasing illustration. The Dulwich Picture Gallery in London staged a major exhibition of <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/welcome-escape/">Sir Quentin’s work</a> in 2004, having previously featured <a href="https://www.illustrationhistory.org/artists/ernest-howard-shepard">the drawings of EH Shepard</a>, the man who brought to life AA Milne’s funny little bear, Winnie the Pooh.</p>
<p>A new museum in his name opened in 2016 in Pinner, celebrating the whimsical illustrations of the artist <a href="https://www.heathrobinsonmuseum.org/william-heath-robinson/">Heath Robinson</a>. And in 2017 the V&A museum staged the hugely popular exhibition, <a href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/winnie-the-pooh-exploring-a-classic">Winnie the Pooh: Exploring a Classic</a>. Currently nearing the end of its run (closing in January 2023), <a href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/beatrix-potter-drawn-to-nature">Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature</a> is the latest V&A blockbuster to respond to growing public interest in the work of our illustrators and their methods and processes. </p>
<h2>Not a typical start</h2>
<p>Blake’s particular route into illustration was not a typical one. At Sidcup Grammar School in the late 1940s, he developed a keen interest in drawing. But his love of literature won through and rather than heading for art school, he took a place at Downing College, Cambridge, where he read English from 1953 to 1956.</p>
<p>He had been submitting cartoons to magazines such as Punch since his mid-teens and before the end of the 1940s had begun to have drawings published regularly. At Cambridge, he inevitably became involved with the student magazine, Granta, both as regular contributor of cartoons and drawings, and as occasional art editor.</p>
<p>A briefly held post at the French Lycée in London convinced him of the dangers of becoming trapped in teaching and he decided to set about making a go of it as an illustrator. Conscious of having had no formal training, Blake enrolled for life drawing classes at Chelsea School of Art with painter and illustrator <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/brian-robb-1853">Brian Robb</a>, whose work he admired and with whom he would later work at the Royal College of Art.</p>
<p>Commissions for Punch continued to roll in and when the magazine decided in the late 1950s to discard its iconic 1849 Richard Doyle engraving in favour of a freshly commissioned full-colour cover each week, Blake became a regular cover artist, alongside many of his graphic heroes, including Searle and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/apr/21/guardianobituaries.france">André François</a>. </p>
<p>The commissions enabled him to experiment with more painterly approaches, while still incorporating his increasingly characteristic line, which was also making regular appearances in the Spectator magazine. It was not until 1960 that Blake made his first foray into book illustration.</p>
<h2>Anarchy and chaos</h2>
<p>Finding one-off drawings increasingly unfulfilling but having no idea how to enter the world of sequential book illustration, he asked his friend John Yeoman to write a book for him. The resulting <a href="https://www.quentinblake.com/books/a-drink-of-water">A Drink of Water</a> was published by Faber that year, the first of many collaborations between the two and the first of somewhere in the region of 500 books illustrated – and often written – by Blake.</p>
<p>Of his many creative partnerships, perhaps that with <a href="https://www.roalddahl.com/about/">Roald Dahl</a> is the most celebrated, beginning with <a href="https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-enormous-crocodile/roald-dahl/quentin-blake/9780141365510">The Enormous Crocodile</a> in 1978 and flourishing throughout the 1980s. The hugely successful <a href="https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-bfg-colour-edition/roald-dahl/quentin-blake/9780141371146">BFG</a> and <a href="https://www.waterstones.com/book/matilda/roald-dahl/quentin-blake/9780141365466">Matilda</a> are enduring examples of writer and artist in perfect harmony.</p>
<p>His distinctive visual vocabulary, while playful and animated, is somehow able to apply itself equally successfully to the lyrical and the tragic, as evidenced in books such as his own <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780099253327">The Green Ship</a> and <a href="https://www.themarginalian.org/2015/08/25/michael-rosens-sad-book-quentin-blake/">The Sad Book</a> with Michael Rosen. </p>
<p>When asked how he achieves so much movement in his characters, Blake has revealed that he often finds himself physically acting out their contortions and gestures as he draws them in the privacy of his studio. His childlike joy in the anarchy and chaos that so often emerges on the pages of his books continues to speak to and delight generations of children.</p>
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<p>From his studio overlooking a Kensington square, he continues to draw obsessively, daily. In recent years, and especially during the pandemic, he has taken time to make purely speculative, expressive work.</p>
<p>Birds and fish feature strongly, along with monumental, often dark, human heads. Sometimes all three merge into one. Many of these were shown in a joint exhibition with lifelong friend Linda Kitson in November this year, and have been published in <a href="https://www.quentinblake.com/books/a-year-of-drawings-2">Quentin Blake: A Year of Drawings</a>.</p>
<p>Somehow, alongside all this productivity, Sir Quentin has found time and energy to oversee the evolution of <a href="https://www.qbcentre.org.uk/">The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration</a> at its historic New River Head site in Clerkenwell, London. When it opens fully in 2024, we will at last have a national public museum and gallery devoted to the art of illustration. Or as the gallery puts it, “the art that we experience in our everyday lives”.</p>
<p>So happy birthday Sir Quentin Blake – and thank you.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196376/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martin Salisbury does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With his delightful drawings for children’s books, the British illustrator has helped to promote and preserve a rich graphic arts heritage in the UK.Martin Salisbury, Professor of Children's Book Illustration, Anglia Ruskin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1669672021-09-15T20:05:20Z2021-09-15T20:05:20ZFrom pygmies to puppets: what to do with Roald Dahl’s enslaved Oompa-Loompas in modern adaptations?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421035/original/file-20210914-17-7knafx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> </figcaption></figure><p>The stage adaptation of <a href="https://www.qpac.com.au/event/charlie_chocolate_factory_21/">Charlie and the Chocolate Factory</a> has opened in Brisbane. Charlie, like all of Roald Dahl’s novels for children, celebrates courage, resilience and the creative power of childhood. </p>
<p>Charlie Bucket is literally starving to death by the time he arrives at Willy Wonka’s factory. Yet his steely determination to find the last golden ticket, combined with his strong moral compass, sees him emerge as Wonka’s heir, his family’s hero, and the architect of his fate.</p>
<p>But there is a troubling aspect to this story. In the first edition of Charlie (1964), the Oompa-Loompas are black pygmies who Wonka imports from “the deepest and darkest part of the African jungle” and enslaves in his factory. </p>
<p>In this latest stage production, the Oompa-Loompas are transformed into “<a href="https://broadwaydirect.com/oompa-loompa/">humanettes</a>” (living dolls that are part human, part puppet). Their recent manifestation raises a number of questions. What do the Oompa-Loompas represent? And how should they be portrayed in modern-day adaptations?</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/abused-neglected-abandoned-did-roald-dahl-hate-children-as-much-as-the-witches-did-152813">Abused, neglected, abandoned — did Roald Dahl hate children as much as the witches did?</a>
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<h2>Servitude</h2>
<p>In the original novel, the Oompa-Loompas work (in lieu of money) in exchange for cocoa beans, the only currency they understand. Wonka explains,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You only had to mention the word ‘cacao’ to an Oompa-Loompa and they would start dribbling at the mouth.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As a messianic figure, Wonka believes he has “rescued” the Oompa-Loompas from certain death. Saving his tiny “helpers” from near starvation, he offers them shelter from their predators, the Snozzwangers and Whangdoodles. </p>
<p>Their servitude, Wonka insists, is a special privilege, a pro-slavery sentiment that echoes the “positive good” defence of the Atlantic Slave Trade.</p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Oompa-Loompas as African Pygmies, as depicted by Joseph Schindelman in the original version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP</span></span>
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<p>The novel reflects cultural anxieties that emerged in the United Kingdom in the 1960s when the labour market opened to New Commonwealth citizens from India and the Caribbean. Grandpa Joe, a former Wonka employee who is laid off, represents the concerns of white British workers who saw immigrants as rivals for what they believed were rightfully white British jobs.</p>
<p>When Wonka’s factory re-opens with a secret workforce, Charlie says to Grandpa Joe, “But there <em>must</em> be people working there”, and Grandpa Joe responds, “Not <em>people</em>, Charlie. Not <em>ordinary</em> people, anyway”. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/gobsmacked-by-aldis-revolting-rhymes-ban-try-this-instead-31052">Gobsmacked by Aldi's Revolting Rhymes ban? Try this instead</a>
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<hr>
<h2>Whitewashing</h2>
<p>In the late 1960s, under mounting pressure to rewrite the Oompa-Loompas, Dahl agreed, in his words, to “<a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Storyteller/fit6PwGWugEC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=storyteller+sturrock&printsec=frontcover">de-Negro</a>” his characters.</p>
<p>Mel Stuart’s 1971 film adaptation, released in the immediate aftermath of the civil rights movement, recast the Oompa-Loompas as little people with green hair and orange skin. Their homeland is now Loompaland rather than Africa, and they are “transported” to Wonka’s factory rather than “imported”. </p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Oompa-Loompas with Grandpa Joe in Mel Stuart’s 1971 film.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wolper Pictures</span></span>
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<p>This transformation is a textual whitewashing that obscures the power dynamic between Wonka as factory owner and the Oompa-Loompas as his exploited workforce.</p>
<p>Before the film’s release, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in the US threatened to boycott cinemas, while the producers worried if they represented black characters in a derogatory way, they would lose revenue.</p>
<p>Dahl eventually buckled to public criticism. In a revised 1973 edition of the book, he reimagined the Oompa-Loompas as “<a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Roald_Dahl_and_Philosophy/sa0JBAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Roald+Dahl+oompa+loompas+hippies&pg=PA139&printsec=frontcover">little fantasy creatures</a>”.</p>
<p>In this new edition, the Oompa-Loompas are hippies. Their skin is rosy white; their unkempt hair is golden brown; they frolick in the factory gardens, picking wildflowers, playing hand drums, and chasing butterflies. They symbolise 1970s counterculture and its rejection of materialism, conservative values, and social and political conflict.</p>
<h2>Digital clones</h2>
<p>In 2005, Tim Burton produced the second cinematic adaptation of Charlie. In Burton’s revision, the Oompa-Loompas are played by a single actor (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Roy">Gurdeep Roy</a>) who is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADPOn4dRmes">digitally cloned </a> to create the illusion of a sizeable workforce.</p>
<p>For the first time, the Oompa-Loompas use information technology to communicate wirelessly, enlisting supercomputers to improve their productivity and profits. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://ew.com/article/2005/07/01/sole-oompa-loompa/">2005 interview</a>, Roy recalled Burton’s confirmation that “the Oompas were strictly programmed like robots — all they do is work, work, work.”</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">“Back off you little freaks!” Mike Teavee derides the Oompa-Loompas as they chastise Augustus Gloop in Tim Burton’s 2005 adaptation.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Burton’s adaptation, a commentary on exploited labour in the digital age, shares several thematic concerns with the musical version.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cat-in-a-spat-scrapping-dr-seuss-books-is-not-cancel-culture-156378">Cat in a spat: scrapping Dr Seuss books is not cancel culture</a>
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<hr>
<h2>Pulling strings</h2>
<p>In the Brisbane season, the Oompa-Loompas form a chorus line of hybrid creatures in red curled wigs and identical suits branded with the “W” of Wonka, a stamp marking them as property rather than people.</p>
<p>Each Oompa-Loompa is part human (head and hands) and part puppet (body and legs). The puppeteer manipulates the body and legs to bring the puppet to life.</p>
<p>The result is a bizarre distortion of proportions, in which the Oompa-Loompas burst onto the stage in choreographed song and dance. The theatrical effect is of a stunted character, suspended in space, able to perform gravity-defying dance moves and circus-like tricks.</p>
<p>While the inventive blend of performers and puppets is clever, the puppetry reinstates the power imbalance: Oompa-Loompas are material objects controlled by others.</p>
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</figure>
<p>In attempting to conceal their exploitation, the show’s producers only draw attention to the controversy they are trying to avoid. The fact Wonka’s privilege is never questioned is evidenced by the fact he always remains the same: white, wealthy, and in control. </p>
<p>Using puppets as a way to obfuscate conversation around race has a problematic history in Western theatre. Some theatre-makers insist puppets are essentially “<a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/making-faces-making-race-the-problem-of-representing-race-in-american-puppetry/oclc/190865442">raceless</a>”, but this claim can erase the subject’s potential humanity. An audience isn’t excepted to see puppets as anything other than figures of entertainment. </p>
<p>The fraught history of the Oompa-Loompas captures the irresolvable tension at the heart of children’s literature and theatre: it is impossible to separate children’s stories from the ideological fabric of our world, the power structures that privilege adults, and the particular historical moment in which stories are produced. </p>
<p>Any re-imagining of this classic tale will always be placed in a precarious position.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166967/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The fraught history of the Oompa-Loompas captures the irresolvable tension at the heart of children’s literature and theatre: it is impossible to separate these stories from the ideological fabric of our world.Kate Cantrell, Lecturer in Writing, Editing, and Publishing, University of Southern QueenslandDavid Burton, Lecturer, Theatre, University of Southern QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1563782021-03-04T01:57:44Z2021-03-04T01:57:44ZCat in a spat: scrapping Dr Seuss books is not cancel culture<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387623/original/file-20210304-20-13iz99x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C25%2C2382%2C1570&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://photos-cdn.aap.com.au/Image/20210303001524522146?path=/aap_dev10/device/imagearc/2021/03-03/ef/ad/05/aapimage-7eqt69neyzq8lbqgfjl_layout.jpg">Christopher Dolan/The Times-Tribune via AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Let’s start by putting aside the bugbear that it is even possible to “cancel” children’s author <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/61105.Dr_Seuss?from_search=true&from_srp=true">Dr Seuss</a>. </p>
<p>As Philip Bump wrote yesterday in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/03/02/if-curtailing-racist-imagery-dr-seuss-is-cancel-culture-what-exactly-is-your-culture/">The Washington Post</a>, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>No one is ‘cancelling’ Dr Seuss. The author, himself, is dead for one thing, which is about as cancelled as a person can get.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Laying aside a multimillion-dollar publishing business, tattered copies of Dr Seuss books clutter children’s bedrooms around the globe. Parents still grapple nightly with the tongue-twisters of <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/105551.Fox_in_Socks?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=heTuR1TrNO&rank=10">Fox in Socks</a>, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7779.Horton_Hears_a_Who_?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=heTuR1TrNO&rank=9">Horton Hears a Who!</a> or <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/206962.Hop_On_Pop?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=heTuR1TrNO&rank=12">Hop on Pop</a>, and try their best to keep their eyes open through a 20th reading of <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23772.Green_Eggs_and_Ham?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=heTuR1TrNO&rank=2">Green Eggs and Ham</a>. </p>
<p>However, on Tuesday (what would have been Dr Seuss’s 117th birthday), the company that protects the late author’s legacy <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/dr-seuss-books-banned-for-racist-stereotypes-qdt55xnjl">announced its plan to halt publishing and licensing</a> six (out of more than 60) Dr Seuss books. </p>
<p>Few would know some of the discontinued titles, like <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7777.McElligot_s_Pool?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=9U9Tp5Gie5&rank=1">McElligot’s Pool</a> and <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/316575.The_Cat_s_Quizzer?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=e0GHLdRGS8&rank=1">The Cat’s Quizzer</a>. However, many will recognise <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/147029.If_I_Ran_the_Zoo">If I Ran the Zoo</a> and <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28351.And_to_Think_That_I_Saw_It_on_Mulberry_Street">And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street</a>, which have been <a href="https://sophia.stkate.edu/rdyl/vol1/iss2/4/">criticised</a> for racist caricatures and themes of cultural dominance and dehumanisation.</p>
<p>In If I Ran the Zoo, young Gerald McGrew builds a “Bad-Animal Catching Machine” to capture a turbaned Arab for his exhibit of “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8OsP-iDDF4">unusual beasts</a>”. </p>
<p>“People will stare,” Gerald marvels, “And they’ll say, ‘What a sight!’”. Chinese “helpers” with “eyes at a slant” hunt exotic creatures in the mountains of Zomba-ma-Tant. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8OsP-iDDF4">reading</a> recorded for Dr Seuss Day in 2019, removes the racist taunt. Instead of helpers who “wear their eyes at a slant”, the helpers “all wear such very cool pants”. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, pervasive racial imagery and subservient typecasting remain. That doesn’t mean Dr Seuss books should — or can — be scrapped altogether. Instead, these books present an opportunity to build awareness and teach young readers about history and context.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387619/original/file-20210303-13-9r8ayy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Portrait of man on colourful wall" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387619/original/file-20210303-13-9r8ayy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387619/original/file-20210303-13-9r8ayy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387619/original/file-20210303-13-9r8ayy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387619/original/file-20210303-13-9r8ayy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387619/original/file-20210303-13-9r8ayy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387619/original/file-20210303-13-9r8ayy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387619/original/file-20210303-13-9r8ayy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The visage of Theodor Seuss Geisel, known as Dr Seuss, at the Massachusetts museum that honours his legacy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://photos-cdn.aap.com.au/Image/20210302001524379892?path=/aap_dev10/device/imagearc/2021/03-02/b1/fe/23/aapimage-7eqkmpzo51u187d5pfjl_layout.jpg">AP Photo/Steven Senne, File</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-dr-seuss-childrens-books-a-commitment-to-social-justice-that-remains-relevant-today-45206">In Dr Seuss' children's books, a commitment to social justice that remains relevant today</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Censorship in children’s titles</h2>
<p>Children’s books are among those most often <a href="http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/banned-books-qa">banned or censored</a>. In this case, removing the Dr Seuss titles recognises that he was writing in a time and place when racial stereotyping was commonplace and frequently the focus of humour. </p>
<p>Elsewhere, controversy over golliwogs as racist caricatures was confrontingly played out in <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/10657.Enid_Blyton?from_search=true&from_srp=true">Enid Blyton</a>’s Noddy stories. In her original telling of <a href="https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/book-details.php?id=334">In the Dark, Dark Wood</a>, Noddy is carjacked by three golliwogs who trap him, strip him naked, and leave him crying. “You bad, wicked golliwogs!” Noddy says. “How dare you steal my things!”</p>
<p>Similarly, in the first edition of <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4273.Roald_Dahl?from_search=true&from_srp=true">Roald Dahl</a>’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12818090-charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory">Charlie and the Chocolate Factory</a>, the Oompa-Loompas are African pygmies who have been “rescued” by Willy Wonka and enslaved in his factory. When Charlie says, “But there must be people working there,” Grandpa Joe responds, “Not people, Charlie. Not ordinary people, anyway.” </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/abused-neglected-abandoned-did-roald-dahl-hate-children-as-much-as-the-witches-did-152813">Abused, neglected, abandoned — did Roald Dahl hate children as much as the witches did?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In his <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/01/dr-seuss-protest-icon/515031/">political cartoons</a>, which appeared in a New York newspaper in the early 1940s, Dr Seuss ran the gamut of racist depictions, from African-American people as monkeys to Japanese characters with yellow faces and “rice paddy” hats.</p>
<p>In the now-suspended The Cat’s Quizzer, there is “a Japanese” depicted in conical hat and stereotypical dress. On Mulberry Street, a Chinese man with bright yellow skin wears geta shoes and carries a bowl of rice. </p>
<p>In early editions, the caption underneath reads “A Chinaman who eats with sticks”. In 1978, over 40 years after the book was first published, the character’s skin tone and braid were changed. The caption was changed from “Chinaman” to “Chinese man”. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387608/original/file-20210303-15-q5twut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Pages from a children's book" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387608/original/file-20210303-15-q5twut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387608/original/file-20210303-15-q5twut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387608/original/file-20210303-15-q5twut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387608/original/file-20210303-15-q5twut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387608/original/file-20210303-15-q5twut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387608/original/file-20210303-15-q5twut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387608/original/file-20210303-15-q5twut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An earlier 1964 edition of And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street features a character described as ‘a Chinese boy’ with yellow skin and a long ponytail, while a 1984 edition changes the character to ‘a Chinese man’ and alters his appearance.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://photos-cdn.aap.com.au/Image/20210303001524522164?path=/aap_dev10/device/imagearc/2021/03-03/8a/e2/6a/aapimage-7eqt6b5mqsy12v4ukfjl_layout.jpg">Christopher Dolan/The Times-Tribune via AP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>If I ran the library … by today’s standards</h2>
<p>Dr Seuss’s work contains racism and xenophobia, but should we judge him by today’s standards? </p>
<p>Children’s literature has always been subject to socio-historical shifts. It is a product of its time and the context in which it is created. Viewed through the changing lens of history, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.2304/gsch.2011.1.1.4">childhood itself is an unstable concept</a>. </p>
<p>In other words, it is impossible to separate children’s literature from the ideological structure of our world, and from the particular historical moment in which it is produced.</p>
<p>While Dr Seuss’s best-loved characters — the Cat in the Hat, Horton the elephant, the Grinch — have earned their place in the canon, what we should be concerned about is the question of diversity in children’s literature. </p>
<p>We know from numerous <a href="https://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/literature-resources/ccbc-diversity-statistics/">studies</a> that white children dominate children’s books, with talking animals and trains outnumbering the representations of First Nations, Asian, African and other minority groups. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/empathy-starts-early-5-australian-picture-books-that-celebrate-diversity-153629">Empathy starts early: 5 Australian picture books that celebrate diversity</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>No quick fixes</h2>
<p>Although never perfect, other beloved children’s literature series have sought solutions to similar dilemmas. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/sep/16/famous-five-go-back-to-original-language-after-update-flops">Enid Blyton’s stories</a> have been continuously revised since the 1990s. Noddy is now carjacked by goblins, and, in the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20433500-the-magic-faraway-tree-collection?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=3jC6upmETT&rank=1">Faraway Tree series</a>, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/rewrites-a-blight-on-blytons-legacy--by-golly-20120630-219f0.html#ixzz1zbtJ6yLN">Dame Snap replaces Dame Slap</a>, with Fanny and Dick getting a makeover as Frannie and Rick. </p>
<p>More recently, <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/topics/voices/family/article/2016/06/27/iconic-richard-scarry-books-now-reflect-contemporary-social-values">Richard Scarry’s books were updated</a> to depict Daddies cooking and Mummies going to work, while the latest film adaptation of The Witches cast actor of colour <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm9736665/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t2">Jahzir Bruno</a> as the boy protagonist. </p>
<p>Not surprisingly, queer representation in young adult fiction is <a href="https://www.aate.org.au/products/special-editions-of-english-in-australia/english-in-australia-love-in-english">still problematic</a>, with most queer stories <a href="http://archermagazine.com.au/2017/02/4087/">authored by writers who do not identify as queer</a>. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1366783931278786561"}"></div></p>
<p>On one level, the decision to discontinue half a dozen Dr Seuss books because “<a href="https://www.seussville.com/statement-from-dr-seuss-enterprises/">they are hurtful and wrong</a>” seems a simple gesture (and one with relatively small financial impact). Racism permeates the Dr Seuss catalogue, including The Cat in the Hat’s <a href="https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=cat-hat-racist-read-across-america-shifts-away-dr-seuss-toward-diverse-books">origins in blackface minstrel performances</a>. Like Dr Seuss’s Yertle, it’s <a href="https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Turtles_all_the_way_down">turtles all the way down</a>. </p>
<p>Instead, finding meaningful ways to contextualise these historical aspects for young readers today might be a better focus, rather than withholding a few and letting more prominent titles slide by. </p>
<p>Kids and teens, like adults, need to see themselves in the books they read, and young white readers need to see other cultural groups as something more than illegal, or violent, or criminal. </p>
<p>As chidren’s literature expert Perry Nodelman notes: “Stories structure us as beings in the world”. In the same week a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-03/chinese-australians-physically-tension-pandemic-lowy-report/13207464">Lowy study</a> found one in five Chinese Australians have been threatened or attacked, it could not be more important to invest in an inclusive future for our kids.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">‘I literally know The Cat in the Hat by heart without the book,’ said Donald Trump Jr.
Stephen Colbert’s segment finishes with suggested books by authors of colour.</span></figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156378/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Anguished cries of ‘cancel culture’ rang out with news that six Dr Seuss books would be shelved. But canceling Dr Seuss is not possible, nor is it the best way to build diversity and understanding.Kate Cantrell, Lecturer in Writing, Editing, and Publishing, University of Southern QueenslandSharon Bickle, Lecturer in English Literature, QLD rep for Australian Women's and Gender Studies Association, University of Southern QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1557252021-02-23T10:15:00Z2021-02-23T10:15:00ZHow Roald Dahl became a passionate vaccine advocate<p><a href="https://www.sky.com/watch/to-olivia">To Olivia</a>, a new film on Sky Cinema, captures the year (1962) that author Roald Dahl’s daughter died of measles encephalitis. The death of seven-year-old Olivia nearly tore the family apart. This terrible story will be new to many people, but it’s not new to me. I first heard it 30 years ago from Dahl himself. </p>
<p>I was a junior doctor in Oxford and 74-year-old Dahl was my patient. He was hospitalised with a rare form of leukaemia, and every third night when I was on call, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/sep/12/roald-dahl-medical-pioneer-stroke-hydrocephalus-measles-vaccination">we would talk</a> late into the night. As the weeks went on and it became clear he was not going to recover, he became more thoughtful about his own life.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/books/id/40651/">He told me</a> about Olivia one evening as I sat by his bed. She caught measles during an outbreak at her school. Initially, it was just a mild illness.</p>
<p>“We thought she was over the worst of it,” Dahl explained. “One saw, you know, the usual sort of thing, the fever, the tiredness, the spots. We even teased her for her polka dots.” </p>
<p>The next day she deteriorated.</p>
<p>Dahl had a wan smile and his eyes began to well up. </p>
<p>“I was sitting on her bed showing her how to fashion little animals out of coloured pipe cleaners,” Dahl later wrote, “and when it came to her turn to make one herself, I noticed that her fingers and her mind were not working together and she couldn’t do anything.”</p>
<p>Dahl asked Olivia if she was feeling all right.</p>
<p>“I feel all sleepy,” she said.</p>
<p>An hour later, she was unconscious. Twelve hours later, she was dead.</p>
<p>The doctors confirmed that the measles virus had entered Olivia’s brain to cause <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/encephalitis/">encephalitis</a> (inflammation). Dahl was distraught and spent years trying to understand how it had happened. Of all those who had measles, why had she suffered such a terrible outcome?</p>
<p>“I wanted to study it, to set up a careful investigation,” he told me. “I was prepared to get in touch with every parent of every child in this country who had had severe complications from measles.”</p>
<h2>Fanciful stories?</h2>
<p>At the time, I thought this sounded rather fanciful. He was, after all, a storyteller. And in our late-night chats he would often tell me barely believable tales, especially about medicine. He mentioned a neurosurgical device he had invented and his role in founding the Stroke Association. At times I wondered whether he was pulling my leg, or perhaps had become muddled with some of the drugs he was on. Years later, in researching my book <a href="https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/books/id/40651/">Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Medicine</a>, I discovered it was all true, and more.</p>
<p>After Olivia’s death, Dahl had indeed contacted scientists in Britain and the US to discuss measles and its complications. He corresponded with them for years, sharing his theories, while they shared their data. He even started planning a national study, but once measles vaccines became available, he figured the problem would largely be erased.</p>
<p>And he was right; cases of measles decreased dramatically. But Dahl was horrified to learn that some parents chose not to vaccinate their children. He campaigned on the issue, contacting ministers and health officials in the 1980s. He wrote a letter, which was widely distributed, telling the story of Olivia and imploring parents to vaccinate their children. It is <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/read-roald-dahls-heartbreaking-letter-anti-vaxxers-after-his-daughter-died-1311258">still used today</a> when there are measles outbreaks. </p>
<p>Dahl understood parents’ concerns about very rare serious side-effects of the vaccine, but he explained that the chances of this were about a million to one. “The probability of a child choking to death on a chocolate bar is probably greater,” he said.</p>
<p>Measles vaccine uptake increased for decades but was set back in the 1990s by the publication in The Lancet of a <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/342/bmj.c7452">fraudulent research paper</a> by Andrew Wakefield. This was jumped on by anti-vaxxers, who are passionately against immunisations, whatever the science says.</p>
<h2>Obvious benefits</h2>
<p>Were Dahl still alive today, he would have been fascinated by the rapid medical developments during the coronavirus pandemic, especially <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-are-covid-19-vaccines-made-an-expert-explains-155430">the vaccines</a>. I suspect he would also be encouraged by their uptake. </p>
<p>Despite the understandable hesitancy of some over the new vaccines, and the malignant attempts of the anti-vaxxers, the vast majority of people are getting the vaccine <a href="https://ig.ft.com/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker/?areas=gbr&areas=isr&areas=usa&areas=eue&cumulative=1&populationAdjusted=1">as soon as they can</a>. Unlike measles, where most people now rarely see a case, with COVID-19 the risks are up close and personal, and for most people, the benefits of vaccination are immediately obvious.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155725/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Solomon receives funding from the UK MRC and NIHR, and is President of the Encephalitis Society. He tweets @RunningMadProf.</span></em></p>Roald Dahl’s daughter Olivia died of measles aged seven.Tom Solomon, Director of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Protection Research Unit in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections, and Professor of Neurology, University of Liverpool, University of LiverpoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1528132021-01-21T01:57:58Z2021-01-21T01:57:58ZAbused, neglected, abandoned — did Roald Dahl hate children as much as the witches did?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379853/original/file-20210121-21-11jbgm3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C25%2C1902%2C1023&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Witches (1990)</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100944/mediaviewer/rm1111398145/">IMDB</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Described as “<a href="https://www.writerswrite.co.za/roald-dahl-tops-the-list-of-the-50-greatest-storytellers-of-all-time/">the world’s greatest storyteller</a>”, Roald Dahl is frequently ranked as the best children’s author of all time by teachers, authors and librarians. </p>
<p>However, the new film adaptation of Dahl’s controversial book, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6327.The_Witches">The Witches</a>, warrants a fresh look at a recurrent contrast in Dahl’s work: child protection and care on one hand and a preoccupation with child-hatred, including child neglect and abuse, abandonment, and torture on the other. </p>
<p>Dahl himself once admitted <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/storyteller-the-life-of-roald-dahl-donald-sturrock/book/9780007254774.html">he simultaneously admired and envied children</a>. While his stories spotlight children’s vulnerability to trauma, his child protagonists show how childhood can be an isolating but ultimately triumphant experience. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-man-behind-matilda-what-roald-dahl-was-really-like-62810">The man behind Matilda – what Roald Dahl was really like</a>
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<h2>Anti-child or child-centred?</h2>
<p>While Dahl’s fans champion his “<a href="https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/born-more-than-100-years-ago-roald-dahls-influence-has-never-been-greater/news-story/dad959661d72dfc0b26054e5bb7e615c">child-centredness</a>” — arguing that anarchy and vulgarity are central to childhood — Dahl’s critics have ventured to suggest his work contains <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5055082-criticism-theory-children-s-literature">anti-child messages.</a></p>
<p>In Dahl’s fiction, children are often described unfavourably: they are “stinkers”, “disgusting little blisters”, “vipers”, “imps”, “spoiled brats”, “greedy little thieves”, “greedy brutes”, “robber-bandits”, “ignorant little twits”, “nauseating little warts”, “witless weeds”, and “moth-eaten maggots”. </p>
<p>With the exception of <a href="https://www.roalddahl.com/roald-dahl/characters/children/bruce-bogtrotter">Bruce Bogtrotter</a>, “bad” children are usually unpleasant gluttons who are punished for being spoiled or overweight. Augustus Gloop is ostracised because of his size. After he tumbles into Willy Wonka’s chocolate river and is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EF1zYFHbus">sucked up the glass pipe</a>, he’s physically transformed. “He used to be fat,” Grandpa Joe marvels. “Now he’s as thin as straw!”</p>
<p>From Miss Trunchbull to the Twits, Aunts Spiker and Sponge, and even Willy Wonka, many of Dahl’s adult characters are merciless figures who enjoy inflicting physical and emotional pain on children.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6310.Charlie_and_the_Chocolate_Factory">Charlie and the Chocolate Factory</a>, Wonka not only orchestrates the various “accidents” that occur at the factory, but he stands by indifferently as each child suffers.</p>
<p>In Wonka’s determination to make the “rotten ones” pay for their moral failings, he not only humiliates the children (and their parents), but permanently marks the “bad” children through physical disfigurement. When gum-chewing champion Violet Beauregarde turns purple, Wonka is indifferent. “Ah well,” he says. “There’s nothing we can do about that”.</p>
<h2>Red-hot sizzling hatred</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6327.The_Witches">The Witches</a> is centred around the theme of child-hatred. </p>
<p>“Real witches,” we are told, “hate children with a red-hot sizzling hatred that is more sizzling and red-hot than any hatred you could possibly imagine”. At their hands (or claws), young children are not only mutilated but exterminated.</p>
<p>Indeed, the ultimate goal of The Grand High Witch is filicide: she plans to rid the world of children — “disgusting little carbuncles” — by tricking them into eating chocolate laced with her malevolent Formula 86: Delayed Action Mouse-Maker.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9nlhmJF5FNI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">“Witches! They’re real. And they hate children!” The trailer for Warner Brothers’ new adaptation of the children’s classic.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In The Witches, as in many of Dahl’s fictions for children (he also wrote <a href="http://www.amreading.com/2016/08/21/7-obscene-stories-that-will-change-how-you-see-roald-dahl/">adult erotica</a>), authoritarian figures are revealed as bigoted and hypocritical, or violent and sadistic. Primary caregivers are neglectful or absent. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379200/original/file-20210118-17-142iu2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379200/original/file-20210118-17-142iu2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379200/original/file-20210118-17-142iu2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=916&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379200/original/file-20210118-17-142iu2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=916&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379200/original/file-20210118-17-142iu2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=916&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379200/original/file-20210118-17-142iu2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379200/original/file-20210118-17-142iu2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379200/original/file-20210118-17-142iu2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4273.Roald_Dahl">Goodreads</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>So the real threats to the child protagonists of The Witches, Matilda and James and The Giant Peach are not monsters under the bed, but adults whose hatred of children is disguised behind a mask of benevolence. </p>
<p>In The Witches, the young narrator initially finds comfort in the fact he has encountered such “splendid ladies” and “wonderfully kind people”, but soon the facade crumbles. </p>
<p>“Down with children!” he overhears the witches chant. “Do them in! Boil their bones and fry their skin! Bish them, sqvish them, bash them, mash them!”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-bfg-reminds-us-that-wordplay-is-part-of-learning-and-mastering-language-62788">The BFG reminds us that wordplay is part of learning and mastering language</a>
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<h2>Necessary evil</h2>
<p>Although the violence present in Dahl’s work can be easily perceived as morbid, antagonism towards children is a necessary part of Dahl’s project. </p>
<p>The initial disempowerment of the child lays the groundwork for the “underdog” narrative. It allows downtrodden children to emerge victorious by outwitting their tormentors through their resourcefulness and a little magic.</p>
<p>Initially, violence is used to reinforce the initial “victimhood” of the child, then it is repurposed in the latter stages of each tale to punish and overcome the perpetrator of the mistreatment. </p>
<p>James’s wicked aunts get their comeuppance when they’re squashed by the giant peach. In <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1fZg0hhBX8">The BFG</a>, kidnapped orphan Sophie emerges as the unlikely hero, saving herself and exerting a positive influence on her captor.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/29LDBdpNMRc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">In Taika Waititi’s reading of James and the Giant Peach, the spinster aunts are played by the Hemsworth brothers.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Dahl’s fiction is perhaps considered dangerous for a different reason: it takes children seriously.</p>
<p>The author dispenses humour alongside his descriptions of violence to create a less threatening atmosphere for young readers. Children revel in the confronting depictions even while being shocked or repulsed. Dahl — perhaps drawing on <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/07/11/the-candy-man">childhood trauma of his own</a> — creates a cathartic outlet for children to release tension through laughter, especially at situations that may tap into the reader’s experiences of helplessness. </p>
<p>Such fiction provides children a means of empowerment. Seeing themselves reflected in literature can be an important part of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275953249_Child_Life_Specialists_Use_of_Bibliotherapy_With_Grieving_Children_How_Books_Can_be_Used_to_Aid_Emotional_Expression_Meaning_Making_and_Healing">a child’s processing of adversity</a>.</p>
<p>Dahl’s work raises important questions about the safety of children, encouraging them to find their power in the most disempowering situations.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152813/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>He called them ‘stinkers’ and ‘nauseating little warts’, but author Roald Dahl’s characterisation of children as vulnerable is necessary for them to ultimately triumph.Kate Cantrell, Lecturer, Creative Writing & English Literature, University of Southern QueenslandIndia Bryce, Senior Lecturer — Human Development, Wellbeing, and CounsellingJessica Gildersleeve, Associate Professor of English Literature, University of Southern QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/978012018-06-15T10:19:10Z2018-06-15T10:19:10ZEight bedtime stories to read to children of all ages<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222355/original/file-20180608-191962-100u50z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/mother-child-daughter-reading-book-bed-1096585436?src=N1tyb8YrtW_kIelx7Exweg-1-82">Evgeny Atamanenko/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Speaking at the 2018 Hay Festival, His Dark Materials author Philip Pullman said: “To share a bedtime story is one of the greatest experiences of childhood and parenthood.” This couldn’t be more true. Besides helping sleepyheads absorb language through the familiar voices that nurture them, understand the complexities of their world, and the reasons behind their feelings, bedtime stories show how childhood can be the greatest adventure of all. </p>
<h2>1. Toddle Waddle by Julia Donaldson</h2>
<p><em><a href="https://www.booktrust.org.uk/book/t/toddle-waddle/">Age range</a>: two to five years</em></p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223336/original/file-20180615-85825-1gn7ycz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223336/original/file-20180615-85825-1gn7ycz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223336/original/file-20180615-85825-1gn7ycz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223336/original/file-20180615-85825-1gn7ycz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223336/original/file-20180615-85825-1gn7ycz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223336/original/file-20180615-85825-1gn7ycz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223336/original/file-20180615-85825-1gn7ycz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Toddle Waddle, by Julia Donaldson.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Macmillan Children's Books</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even the youngest child can engage with sound, colour and fun, and this book (illustrated by Nick Sharratt) is filled with bright joy and wonderful onomatopoeia. From the sound of flip-flops to the excitement of slurping a drink at the beach and the music made by different instruments, the sounds, then words, are a wonderful introduction to the intricacies of language.</p>
<h2>2. Mr Men & Little Miss books by Roger Hargreaves</h2>
<p><em>Age range: three years+</em></p>
<p>Hargreaves’ colourful 2D characters behaving to type are a wonderful way to identify with basic emotions by interpreting colour as a feeling. As journalist and author Lucy Mangan puts it in her memoir Bookworm: “Of course uppitiness is purple. Of course happiness is yellow.” These are no fuss, easy to follow collectables – and bitesize too, so you can gobble through second helpings before turning out the light. </p>
<h2>3. The Lorax by Dr Seuss</h2>
<p><em><a href="https://www.booktrust.org.uk/book/h/horton-hears-a-who/">Age range</a>: three to eight years</em></p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223337/original/file-20180615-85834-xdayw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223337/original/file-20180615-85834-xdayw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223337/original/file-20180615-85834-xdayw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223337/original/file-20180615-85834-xdayw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223337/original/file-20180615-85834-xdayw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1044&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223337/original/file-20180615-85834-xdayw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1044&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223337/original/file-20180615-85834-xdayw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1044&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Lorax, by Dr Seuss.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">HarperCollins</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>No child should grow up without The Lorax. They’ll never be the same when they’ve learned about the Swannee-swans, Humming fish, and Bar-ba-loots bears, their Truffula trees being cut by the mysterious and scruple-free Once-ler. While the environmental message of the book is even more urgent now than it was when The Lorax was first published in 1971, the story is just as entrancing, instructive – without preaching – and, above all, as hopeful as ever. A wonderful wise Lorax speaks for the trees, and for all the world’s children, who want to keep the future green.</p>
<h2>4. My Big Shouting Day, by Rebecca Patterson</h2>
<p><em><a href="https://www.booktrust.org.uk/book/m/my-big-shouting-day/">Age range</a>: two to eight years</em></p>
<p>A funny picture book for younger readers that will resonate with many parents for its keen perspective on patience. It positively encourages under-fours to shout along with grumpy Bella who gets up on the wrong side of the bed. It shows the child that it’s ok to feel angry – heck, they’ll be a teenager soon enough – but it also gives them permission to express it, and reminds them that tomorrow is always a new day. </p>
<h2>5. The Moomin books by Tove Jansson</h2>
<p><em><a href="https://www.booktrust.org.uk/authors/j/jansson-tove/">Age range</a>: three to eight years</em></p>
<p>The Moomins’ home, Moominvalley, is a place of wonder and fun, populated by fairy-like, round creatures that resemble hippopotamuses, but enjoy human hobbies such as writing memoirs (Moomin papa), making jam (Moomin mama), and playing make-believe (Moomintroll and Snork Maiden). Their adventurous side comes out at all opportunities, stirred by friends Little My and Snufkin, or by mysterious intruders. </p>
<p>First published between 1945 and 1970, in recent years the stories have been tailored for both younger (soft and flap books) and older children (hardback storybooks). The Moomin books tell dream-like stories while tackling questions about love, friendships, encounters with strangers, and so on. An all-round winner.</p>
<h2>6. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223338/original/file-20180615-85863-1abtp0b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223338/original/file-20180615-85863-1abtp0b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=874&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223338/original/file-20180615-85863-1abtp0b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=874&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223338/original/file-20180615-85863-1abtp0b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=874&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223338/original/file-20180615-85863-1abtp0b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1098&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223338/original/file-20180615-85863-1abtp0b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1098&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223338/original/file-20180615-85863-1abtp0b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1098&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Alice, by John Tenniel.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alice_par_John_Tenniel_30.png">Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em><a href="https://www.booktrust.org.uk/book/a/alices-adventures-in-wonderland2/">Age range</a>: four to 11 years</em></p>
<p>The first true book written <em>for</em> children <em>about</em> children never fails to bewitch and baffle. Young Alice-like readers can explore the topsy-turvey Wonderland, while the grown-ups reading to them will appreciate the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/weekinreview/07ryan.html">metaphorical Mad Hatter</a> and role of the white rabbit as leader in the adventure in a way they wouldn’t have been able to as a child. Carroll’s book is a celebration of a child’s wonder and curiosity, and fears of growing bigger too. It invites you to talk dreams and nightmares, to accept the weird and extraordinary and, best of all, to conjure up your own adventure down the rabbit hole. It’s a rite of passage, ideal for sharing. </p>
<h2>7. Norse Myths: Tales of Odin, Thor and Loki, retold by Kevin Crossley-Holland</h2>
<p><em><a href="https://www.booktrust.org.uk/book/n/norse-myths-tales-of-odin-thor-and-loki/">Age range</a>: five to 12 years</em></p>
<p>In a world where comic book superheroes and heroines reign supreme, these legends can entrance a young mind forever. This selection of Norse myths brings all the gritty dark stuff about trickster Loki together with tales of hammer-wielding Thor, and the machinations of Asgardean king Odin and goddess of love, battle and death, Freyja. It tickles the imagination of the young and challenges the parent too. Fabulous illustrations by Jeffrey Alan Love accompany Crossley-Holland’s delightful retelling, bringing these ancient stories to life in a way that no other anthology has.</p>
<h2>8. Charlie and The Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl</h2>
<p><em><a href="https://www.booktrust.org.uk/book/c/charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory/">Age range</a>: eight to 12 years</em></p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223339/original/file-20180615-85819-4xace3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223339/original/file-20180615-85819-4xace3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223339/original/file-20180615-85819-4xace3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223339/original/file-20180615-85819-4xace3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223339/original/file-20180615-85819-4xace3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1157&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223339/original/file-20180615-85819-4xace3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1157&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223339/original/file-20180615-85819-4xace3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1157&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Penguin Random House</span></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>This chocolate wonderland is the perfect read-aloud book, thanks to Dahl’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-bfg-reminds-us-that-wordplay-is-part-of-learning-and-mastering-language-62788">masterful use of the English language</a>. Amid all the magic and invention is a wagging finger providing moral lessons on the perils of being greedy, or a brat or overly competitive – and that goes for the adult reader too. Thank goodness then for Willy Wonka, the man who really never grew up, and his band of oompa-loompahs who punish the bad, reward the good, then provide reason for it all through song.</p>
<p>In truth, there is no right book to share – there are plenty of them available these days – nor should there be any chronological order to how and what we read. These are just some suggestions on ways to make bedtime a little more magical. But never underestimate how marvellous it can be to reread a childhood favourite to the little one you’re now tucking in to bed. It could inspire a passion for reading and spark an interest that lasts a lifetime. </p>
<p><em>The age ranges used in this article are mostly based on interest and reading level ratings from <a href="https://www.booktrust.org.uk/">Book Trust</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97801/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nothing to disclose.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa Blower does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>These books will kickstart a lifelong love of reading, and build a bedtime bond between parent and child.Raluca Radulescu, Professor of Medieval Literature and English Literature, Bangor UniversityLisa Blower, Lecturer in Creative Writing, Bangor UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/635692016-09-13T10:31:12Z2016-09-13T10:31:12ZRoald Dahl’s wonderful Wales: how growing up Welsh moulded the Anglo-Norwegian writer<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137558/original/image-20160913-19222-11ymxdu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Wales and Welsh culture captivated the already curious soul of Roald Dahl.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roald.jpg">Hardwick4/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It was Welsh coal that brought Roald Dahl into the world, 100 years ago on September 13 1916. That is, it was Cardiff – at the time the greatest coal port in the world – that tempted his father Harald to <a href="https://soundcloud.com/penguin-audio/boy-by-roald-dahl-read-by-dan">move from Paris in the 1890s</a> to set up a shipbroking firm to service the world’s merchant fleets.</p>
<p>No one could claim that the young Dahl – who had a privileged, bilingual Anglo-Norwegian upbringing in <a href="http://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/welsh-homes/roald-dahls-beautiful-cardiff-home-11481495">positively palatial premises in Cardiff’s well-to-do suburbs</a> – had hawser grease and coal dust in his veins. The closest he got was playing as a child on the floor of his father’s offices down the docks. But he is inescapably the product of the south Wales industrial boom. This fact, and his <a href="http://www.roalddahl.com/blog/2015/february/roald-dahls-welsh-connections">early experiences in and around Cardiff</a>, and in exile from it, were processed by Dahl the writer in complex ways. </p>
<p>Wales is rarely present in Dahl’s work for children and adults in explicitly summoned forms, though he did put on record how important the land was to him. Rather, Wales and aspects of Welshness are summoned indirectly in allegorical shades, echoes, embedded quotations, uncanny parallels and spectral absences, all of which are explored in a new book, <a href="http://www.uwp.co.uk/editions/9781783169405">Roald Dahl: Wales of the Unexpected</a>. Though there are pitfalls to reading Dahl’s work through the lens of Wales, the paradoxes and tensions of his Anglo-Welsh sensibility are present throughout his fiction. </p>
<h2>Dahl’s perspective</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137550/original/image-20160913-19232-j8gudf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137550/original/image-20160913-19232-j8gudf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137550/original/image-20160913-19232-j8gudf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137550/original/image-20160913-19232-j8gudf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137550/original/image-20160913-19232-j8gudf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137550/original/image-20160913-19232-j8gudf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137550/original/image-20160913-19232-j8gudf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The infamous site of Roald Dahls’ great mouse plot, in Llandaff, south Wales, as told in his autobiographical book, Boy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Roald_dahl_mrs_pratchetts_sweetshop_llandaff.jpg">Jvhertum/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>His education, class, Norwegian heritage and upbringing in anglicised Llandaff largely insulated the young Dahl from the Welsh language, and even from the native Cardiff accent, for the nine years in which he was resident in Wales. And yet he must have attuned himself to the frequencies of Welsh speech and to the distinctive shapes of Welsh culture. Indeed, these elements of diversity, and this perception of difference, would later condition his writing and social stance.</p>
<p>Dahl’s restless imagination sought always to relativise and triangulate any single cultural location and identity. Dahl became an English countryman, regarded by the sniffy London literary set – whom he despised, but whose recognition he characteristically craved – as something of a “rural maverick”, working in a <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/8760700/Roald-Dahls-presence-can-be-felt-in-his-writing-hut.html">small hut in the Chiltern Hills of Buckinghamshire</a>. We can also speak meaningfully of Dahl as an American author: America kick-started his career, and his fiction for both children and adults betrays a bracingly unstable amalgam of Anglo-American tones and references. What, then, of Dahl as an Anglo-Welsh author? The category is a broad church.</p>
<p>After the untimely death of his first wife, Harald Dahl married a fellow Norwegian, Sofie Magdalene, and the family moved to the imposing pile of <a href="http://www.discovermagazinecardiff.co.uk/eventsroald-dahl/">Tŷ Mynydd (Mountain House), Radyr</a>, at the centre of an extensive farm estate. Dahl would seek to recapture the idyllic existence there among the fields – servants somewhere in the background – throughout his life. It is a Welsh pastoral scene that underwrites the English landscapes of the books produced in the rural enclave of Great Missenden. The opening of James and the Giant Peach, for example, is emphatically the exiled Dahl’s cross-border view back to his parent’s house – as much Tŷ Mynydd as Gypsy House. </p>
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<p>And yet, for Dahl, Wales was also deathly: a place not only of longing and delight, but also of <a href="http://nymag.com/arts/books/features/67962/index1.html">loss, violence and the dark</a>. Dahl told in Boy of orientating himself, by means of the Bristol Channel, to his Welsh home while at school in Weston-super-Mare. This childhood longing is later haunted by the perspective of Dahl the killer, the trained fighter-pilot. His boyish desire for home replaced by a colder personality, deployed into foreign lands, trained to battle. </p>
<p>This is also a choice example of the ways in which reading his works for children in relation to his adult fiction – in this case, his tales of flying for the RAF in the early collection, Over to You (1946) – reveal the imaginative traffic between Dahlian worlds of innocence and encounters, and apparently incongruous categories of experience. It is a signature Dahl move. </p>
<h2>The riddle of Roald</h2>
<p>Homing back to Wales was always a paradoxical affair for Dahl, freighted with history and his own private pain. As Dahl revealed in an autobiographical piece published towards the end of his life, the Dahls’ gardener at <a href="http://ilovecf.com/the-roald-dahl-trail/">Cumberland Lodge, Llandaff</a> – a man he called <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3559378/Roald-Dahl-young-tales-of-the-unexpected.html">Joss Spivvis</a> – used to regale him with an account of his first descent, at a tender age, down the shaft of a Rhondda mine in the pit cage. Fascinatingly, the description Dahl gives to Spivvis at this point maps uncannily onto the description of the descent of Willy Wonka’s great glass elevator in Charlie and The Chocolate Factory.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137552/original/image-20160913-19237-aznupl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137552/original/image-20160913-19237-aznupl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=810&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137552/original/image-20160913-19237-aznupl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=810&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137552/original/image-20160913-19237-aznupl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=810&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137552/original/image-20160913-19237-aznupl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1018&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137552/original/image-20160913-19237-aznupl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1018&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137552/original/image-20160913-19237-aznupl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1018&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Roald Dahl’s life of literary works contained the echoes of a Welsh upbringing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roald_Dahl.jpg">US Library of Congress/Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So at the heart of Dahl’s most famous fable is the terror of the Welsh industrial experience. What is at work here: a tired writer’s unavoidable recycling of material or an act of euphemism, as the proletarian experience is transformed into bourgeois fantasy? Or rather – whether consciously or otherwise – a mark of belonging, an inscription of Welsh knowledge, of a Welsh individual’s personal testimony, a protest against all capitalist regimes? </p>
<p>Charlie and the Chocolate Factory can be read, with a salutary measure of Dahlian layered irony, as a Welsh industrial novel. Further, The BFG can be seen as the narrative of an outsider: one who inhabits margins and shadows, moving to the centre of cultural power and value. The book also documents <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-bfg-reminds-us-that-wordplay-is-part-of-learning-and-mastering-language-62788">a linguistic trajectory</a>, from the “terrible wigglish” the BFG used to speak (a hybrid, creatively yoking language) to “proper” cadences and to feted authorship. Glimpsed here is Dahl’s troubled reflection on his own move away from Wales, from perceived margins to English centres of culture, to which he never quite got access.</p>
<p>Wales does not solve the riddle of Dahl. But admitting Dahl’s Anglo-Welsh experience into our analysis and enjoyment of his work adds to our understanding of this master of conflicted, paradoxical worlds.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63569/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Damian Walford Davies does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An idyllic childhood in Wales inspired one of the world’s most treasured children’s writers in unexpected ways.Damian Walford Davies, Professor of English Literature, Cardiff UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/628102016-09-12T11:08:57Z2016-09-12T11:08:57ZThe man behind Matilda – what Roald Dahl was really like<p>It is <a href="http://www.roalddahl.com/roalddahl100">100 years</a> since the birth of Roald Dahl – considered by many to be the world’s number one storyteller. His books have received enthusiastic responses from millions of children all around the world. And his tales of the unexpected continue to have a magical pull on readers’ imaginations with the BFG, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory all loved by children old and young. </p>
<p>Earlier this year, a new film version of the BFG directed by Steven Spielberg was released to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/14/the-bfg-review-mark-rylance-steven-spieberg-roald-dahl">rave reviews</a> – giving another generation the chance to fall in love with the author for the first time – and existing fans the opportunity to fall in love all over again.</p>
<p>And yet, despite the global appreciation of Dahl as a children’s author, Dahl himself is not quite as straightforward as readers of his books might like to think. For some he was a war hero, a philanthropist and a profoundly altruistic man. For others he was a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14880441">bully</a>, a misogynist, and even an <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/was-beloved-childrens-author-roald-dahl-a-raging-bigot/">anti-Semite</a>. His life story as well as his writings evoke compliments, controversy, and contradictory responses from both critics and readers. </p>
<h2>Tales of childhood</h2>
<p>In his book <a href="http://www.roalddahl.com/roald-dahl/stories/1980s/boy-tales-of-childhood">Boy</a>, which covers the tales of his childhood, Dahl declares his strong intention to rid his autobiographical narrative of all “boring” descriptions while redecorating it with more exciting and dramatic episodes. </p>
<p>When explaining this, the experienced and ageing Dahl <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2016/27/roald-dahl-boy">wrote</a>: “An autobiography is a book a person writes about his own life and it is usually full of all sorts of boring details. This is not an autobiography.”</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135203/original/image-20160823-30222-3pau1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135203/original/image-20160823-30222-3pau1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135203/original/image-20160823-30222-3pau1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135203/original/image-20160823-30222-3pau1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135203/original/image-20160823-30222-3pau1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135203/original/image-20160823-30222-3pau1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135203/original/image-20160823-30222-3pau1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dahl attended Repton School in Derbyshire from 1929 to 1934.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14033694">By JThomas, CC BY-SA 2.0,</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Both Boy and his other autobiographical type book <a href="http://www.roalddahl.com/roald-dahl/stories/1980s/going-solo">Going Solo</a> became two of his most successful self-publicising projects, which recorded his own fascinating childhood memories and action packed wartime experiences. </p>
<p>The stories of his warm family, his rustic summer holidays in Norway, and his chocolate testing, reveal how happy a child Dahl was – though he grew up without a father, who died when he was only four. </p>
<h2>Dark chapter</h2>
<p>But from <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/09/movies/09neal.html?_r=0">Patricia Neal</a>, the American actress who was married to Dahl for 30 years, quite a different picture of the man is portrayed. In her autobiography <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/As-I-Am-Patricia-Neal/dp/1451626002">As I Am</a>, written four years after her divorce from Dahl in 1987, she exposed her true feelings towards her ex-husband. </p>
<p>She describes her admiration for Dahl’s determined nature, and his resourceful intellect, but it is clear <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1301717/Roald-Dahl-broke-Patricia-Neals-heart.html">through her writing</a> that she thought Dahl was a truly rude, arrogant, and disloyal husband who regularly belittled her during their marriage. This sentiment seemed to be shared by her family, and she describes how her “mother thought he was the rudest thing alive”.</p>
<p>Dahl’s controlling and self-contained nature is reconfirmed by his second daughter, Tessa Dahl – mother of model Sophie Dahl – in her debut novel, <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Working-Love-Tessa-Dahl/dp/0440205654">Working for Love</a>, which was released in 1989. Tessa’s “semi-autobiographical” book describes her childhood bitterness after all the family tragedies and her desperate longing for love. In a <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2186961/Tessa-Dahl-Roald-Dahls-daughter-life-father-best-selling-childrens-author.html">2012 interview</a> she declared that “daddy gave joy to millions of children. But I was dying inside” – accusing him of selfishness and egocentric behaviour. </p>
<p>Dahl is also labelled as a boaster, a liar, and a bully, by the British literary historian and biographer <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/sep/09/roalddahl.fiction">Jeremy Treglown</a>, who wrote an unauthorised account of Dahl’s life with support from his first wife Patricia Neal in 1994. </p>
<p>Treglown rummaged in Dahl’s personal life and revealed several shocking details including his <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1301083/British-spy-Roald-Dahl-slept-countless-women-working-America.html">extensive sexual affairs</a> with many women while working as a spy in the US, and his <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6ohMDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT12&lpg=PT12&dq=Many+people+loved+him+and+had+reason+to+be+grateful+to+him;+many+%E2%80%93-+some+of+them+the+same+people+--+frankly+detested+him&source=bl&ots=OpUzL6O5pS&sig=nzR2_FMKdcHogccGATBfBz0Nb-A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjhwOedi6POAhVGWRoKHepZDpQQ6AEIHjAA#v=onepage&q=tax&f=false">fraudulent company</a> set up to avoid paying tax. He also reaffirmed Dahl’s negative personality quirks such as his grumpiness and quick temper, his egotism, and his disloyalty. </p>
<p>However, Treglown also provided a clear, factual account of Dahl’s heroic side – praising him for his sheer determination and desire for knowledge. Treglown <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6ohMDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT12&lpg=PT12&dq=Many+people+loved+him+and+had+reason+to+be+grateful+to+him;+many+%E2%80%93-+some+of+them+the+same+people+--+frankly+detested+him&source=bl&ots=OpUzL6O5pS&sig=nzR2_FMKdcHogccGATBfBz0Nb-A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjhwOedi6POAhVGWRoKHepZDpQQ6AEIHjAA#v=onepage&q=Many%20people%20loved%20him%20and%20had%20reason%20to%20be%20grateful%20to%20him%3B%20many%20%E2%80%93-%20some%20of%20them%20the%20same%20people%20--%20frankly%20detested%20him&f=false">noted</a>: “Many people loved him and had reason to be grateful to him; many – some of them the same people – frankly detested him.”</p>
<p>Dahl’s heroic side was also reconstructed 16 years later by biographer <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/sep/11/life-roald-dahl-donald-sturrock">Donald Sturrock</a>, whose insightful and detailed <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/sep/11/life-roald-dahl-donald-sturrock">biography</a> expounds more vivid images of Dahl. </p>
<p>While <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6ohMDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT12&lpg=PT12&dq=Many+people+loved+him+and+had+reason+to+be+grateful+to+him;+many+%E2%80%93-+some+of+them+the+same+people+--+frankly+detested+him&source=bl&ots=OpUzL6O5pS&sig=nzR2_FMKdcHogccGATBfBz0Nb-A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjhwOedi6POAhVGWRoKHepZDpQQ6AEIHjAA#v=onepage&q=Many%20people%20loved%20him%20and%20had%20reason%20to%20be%20grateful%20to%20him%3B%20many%20%E2%80%93-%20some%20of%20them%20the%20same%20people%20--%20frankly%20detested%20him&f=false">Treglown broke the story</a> that Dahl’s celebrated autobiography Boy was filled with inaccuracies and misrepresentations, Sturrock viewed the work as compelling and amazing – praising Dahl’s dreams of glory, his victory over his adversaries, and his fantasies about being a great hero and an inventor.</p>
<h2>Fantastic Mr Dahl?</h2>
<p>Despite his death in 1990 Dahl’s own life story continues to play out through his fiction. In many of his stories the reader experiences Dahl’s metamorphosis into his own characters – with similarities seen between Dahl and several of his heroic creations in his children’s books. </p>
<p>He can be compared with the Fantastic Mr Fox – resilient, resourceful and never defeated, and his personality is also similar to one of his most famous characters, Willy Wonka – exhibiting “garrulous, exotic, rambunctious” traits – while a vulnerable and hidden part of him remains a big bad child.</p>
<p>But despite Dahl’s fascination for all things wicked, and his penchant for horrible characters, he truly believed that goodness would prevail in the end. And even though some of his antics in his own life may have been questionable, in the world of his stories, he could always make sure that happened.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62810/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pojana Maneeyingsakul receives funding from Royal Thai Government. </span></em></p>A war hero and a philanthropist, or a bully and a misogynist – there are many versions of the enigmatic author.Pojana Maneeyingsakul, PhD candidate in English, University of HullLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/627882016-07-22T08:16:04Z2016-07-22T08:16:04ZThe BFG reminds us that wordplay is part of learning and mastering language<p>Now that Roald Dahl’s 1982 novel The BFG has finally been transformed into a big screen feature film courtesy of Disney and director Steven Spielberg, one aspect of the book that has delighted children and adults alike will be made more obvious: the Big Friendly Giant’s tendency to <em>gobblefunk</em>, the BFG’s own term for the malapropisms, spoonerisms and nonsense words that litter his speech. </p>
<p>But while the BFG’s words are judged errors by the <em>human beans</em> that he meets, Dahl shows how his confusion is often due to the ambiguity of a language where one word may have multiple meanings, or different words the same pronunciation. As the BFG offers in his defence: “I cannot be right all the time. Quite often I is left instead of right.” </p>
<p>The BFG’s <em>gobblefunking</em> belongs to a tradition of language play and nonsense writing best known from the works of Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll. Lear’s poetry, limericks and prose writing bubble over with nonsense words: perhaps best-known is the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-1356,00.html"><em>runcible spoon</em></a> with which the Owl and the Pussycat dined on their mince and slices of quince. </p>
<p>Carroll’s books, poems, diaries, and letters to children are littered with enigmas, charades, acrostics, palindromes, conundrums, cyphers and riddles, testifying to his love of word play. His coining of nonsense words is densest in the poem, <a href="http://www.jabberwocky.com/carroll/jabber/jabberwocky.html">Jabberwocky</a>, encountered by Alice when she passes through the looking-glass. </p>
<blockquote>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131221/original/image-20160720-31146-1g70clr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131221/original/image-20160720-31146-1g70clr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131221/original/image-20160720-31146-1g70clr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131221/original/image-20160720-31146-1g70clr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131221/original/image-20160720-31146-1g70clr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131221/original/image-20160720-31146-1g70clr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131221/original/image-20160720-31146-1g70clr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Beware the Jabberwock!</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jabberwocky.jpg">John Tenniel</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<blockquote>
<p>’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves</p>
<p>Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:</p>
<p>All mimsy were the borogoves,</p>
<p>And the mome raths outgrabe.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!</p>
<p>The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!</p>
<p>Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun</p>
<p>The frumious Bandersnatch!”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Some of the strangest of these are decrypted for Alice by Humpty Dumpty, although his explanations – <em>brillig</em> means four o'clock in the afternoon when you begin broiling things for dinner – are not always convincing.</p>
<p>Readers of The BFG must fall back on their own ingenuity to explain his neologisms, many of which draw upon genuine techniques of word formation, which offer real insights into how words are formed and their meanings decoded. The BFG’s language includes words coined for their sounds, drawing upon both <a href="http://examples.yourdictionary.com/5-examples-of-onomatopoeia.html">onomatopoeia</a> – where the word imitates the sound it describes – and <a href="http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/phonaesthesia">phonaesthesia</a> – where clusters of sounds become associated with specific meanings.</p>
<p>Phonaesthemes in English include <em>sl-</em>: slug, slurry, slimy, all of which carry a sense of greasiness and unpleasantness. To these the BFG adds <em>slopgroggled</em>, to describe a sticky situation. Words like <em>ucky-mucky</em> and <em>thingalingaling</em> play on the reduplication of vowel sounds, while others tap into the connotations of certain syllables. Although we may never have encountered words like, for example, <em>grobswitchy</em>, <em>rotsome</em>, <em>bogrotting</em>, <em>muckfrumping</em> and <em>grizzling</em>, we can be sure that they signal something unpleasant. In contrast, we are sure to enjoy anything that can be described as <em>phizz-whizzing</em>, <em>squiffling</em> or <em>wondercrump</em>. Other words, like <em>whoopsey-splunkers</em>, <em>fizzwiggler</em> and <em>fluckgungled</em> play on the way children enjoy rolling unusual and amusing sounds around their mouths.</p>
<p>Other words the BFG coins are from errors. For example, in spoonerisms <em>snapperwhipper</em>, <em>dory-hunky</em> and <em>catasterous disastrophe</em>, the initial syllables have been swapped. Others, like <em>biffsquiggled</em>, are compounds of genuine English words that can be understood by analysing the component parts. Other words still are formed by blending two standard English words, such as “delicious” and “scrumptious” to form <em>delumptious</em>. One example, the BFG’s <em>scrumdiddlyumptious</em>, is a word that, despite its unwieldy length, has passed into general usage.</p>
<h2>Play leads to mastery</h2>
<p>These processes of associating sounds and senses, and disassembling and recombining word elements to recover their meanings, are valuable ways of promoting a child’s understanding of word structure – what linguists call morphology. Studies of <a href="http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=240">child psychology and education</a> have shown the importance of play in putting a child’s developing linguistic skills into practice. Children have a natural propensity to play with language from an early age, as seen in the nonsense rhymes that accompany playground games, an enjoyment of riddles, puns, knock-knock jokes and so on.</p>
<p>Despite the prophecies of doom about the impact that the abbreviations, clippings, initialisms and emoticons used in “txt spk” and electronic messaging will have on child literacy, <a href="https://curve.coventry.ac.uk/open/file/059ffa92-dcbc-ef21-7ea5-9f8416463238/1/woodeffect1.pdf">research has shown the opposite effect</a>. Playing with language is an important means of developing metalinguistic awareness – an understanding of not just how to use language, but of how it works. It offers a chance to step back and consider a language’s structure and properties. As the linguist David Crystal puts it: “Language play actually helps you learn your language.” </p>
<p>Recent controversies about the emphasis of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/may/03/morgan-sats-test-children-primary-school-pupils">teaching of English grammar, spelling and punctuation and the associated tests</a> suggest that we’re in danger of losing sight of the pleasure in learning about language in primary classrooms. We need to rediscover <em>the joy of gobblefunking</em>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62788/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Horobin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From Jabberwocky to the BFG’s gobblefunking, playing with words is the first step to mastering them – not something to be ironed out of teaching.Simon Horobin, Professor of English Language and Literature, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/357742015-01-02T16:30:51Z2015-01-02T16:30:51ZEsio Trot is one of the best screen adaptations of Dahl I’ve seen<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67921/original/image-20141222-31573-9aq8i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Dahl for Christmas.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Endor Productions/Nick Briggs</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Roald Dahl hated adaptations of his work, and often I agree with him. The original books have such a place in so many people’s hearts and open up the imagination so much that once on screen they can feel a bit faded. But the BBC’s feature-length adaptation of Esio Trot is another story. This slightly less well known book has been beautifully treated.</p>
<p>It would be hard, almost impossible, to harbour a grudge against this particular fairytale retelling, with a star cast including Judi Dench, Dustin Hoffman and James Corden. Esio Trot offers an indulgent retreat into a simpler world of a shy old man (Mr Hoppy) falling in love with the eccentric, fun-loving widow (Mrs Silver) who lives in the apartment downstairs. And it’s perfect for Christmas – Mrs Silver herself puts her Christmas tree up on the first of August every year.</p>
<p>I don’t approve of this adaptation because it’s true to the book, as you might assume. It actually takes quite a lot of liberties with the original text. James Corden’s narrator, for a start, is an inspired addition to the tale. His fast-paced storytelling takes place on his journey through London on the school run, as we just catch the bus, walk through the park, hop into a taxi, rush into the school playground, collect his little girl Roberta, and arrive home. This creates a distinct contrast between the urban rat race and the slowly blossoming love story, ideal for a sleepy New Year’s Day.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67929/original/image-20141222-31570-1792vwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67929/original/image-20141222-31570-1792vwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67929/original/image-20141222-31570-1792vwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67929/original/image-20141222-31570-1792vwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67929/original/image-20141222-31570-1792vwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67929/original/image-20141222-31570-1792vwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67929/original/image-20141222-31570-1792vwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Corden’s narrator is an inspired addition.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Endor Productions/Nick Briggs</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The modern world is incorporated in several clever and subtle ways as we warm to Mr Hoppy. His Facebook status is “not in Facebook”. The story is also skilfully punctuated with the addition of a lift. It is in the lift where Mrs Silver and Mr Hoppy have their first encounter, where Mr Hoppy first falls in love, where the seasons move from spring through to winter and we see Mrs Silver pictured in an array of outfits from bunny ears to dresses for the dance marathon. </p>
<p>So what else is different to the book? The film begins by telling us that this is a “story full of passion and surprises, as indeed is our Mr Hoppy”. Mr Hoppy is “ours”, and as such, the viewers are instantly on side, in a way that isn’t so immediate in the original text. Looking back at my own edited collection of essays on Roald Dahl’s children’s literature, my notes on Esio Trot read, in a perhaps uninspired way, “marriage by deception”. </p>
<p>This may make me sound pretty down in the dumps, but in the original text this is essentially true. Mrs Silver is becoming increasingly anxious that Alfie, her much-loved tortoise, hasn’t grown, and this gives Mr Hoppy the perfect opportunity to execute an elaborate, fantastically bizarre plan of the type we often see in Dahl’s fiction – think of James’s peach escaping through being lifted out of the ocean by the seagulls. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67928/original/image-20141222-31563-a9j79j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67928/original/image-20141222-31563-a9j79j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67928/original/image-20141222-31563-a9j79j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67928/original/image-20141222-31563-a9j79j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67928/original/image-20141222-31563-a9j79j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67928/original/image-20141222-31563-a9j79j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67928/original/image-20141222-31563-a9j79j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Esio Trot, Esio Trot, teg reggib reggib!</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Endor Productions/Nick Briggs</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Mr Hoppy fills his own apartment with tortoises of the same colour but slightly larger sizes than Alfie, persuades Mrs Silver to chant a rhyme to make the tortoise grow – “Esio Trot” – and then when she is out he swaps Mrs Silver’s small tortoise for a slightly larger one using a large claw on a rod that he has engineered especially for the task. In the book, Mrs Silver is so enchanted by the change in Alfie that when Mr Hoppy asks her to marry him, she instantly accepts. Mr Hoppy returns the tortoises to the pet shops, with the original Alfie being bought by a little girl called Roberta (here’s the link to the narrator’s daughter in the adaptation) and they live happily ever after without Mrs Silver being any the wiser as to Mr Hoppy’s deception. </p>
<p>From the text, alone, as my notes indicate, I was clearly left with a bittersweet impression. But in the adaptation, there is something of a love triangle to unravel, with the addition of the unwelcome Mr Pringle who also tries to win Mrs Silver’s affections. Dramatic tension, of the Sunday evening viewing style, is created as Mr Hoppy attempts to cook for Mrs Silver and Mr Pringle while concealing all the tortoises in the kitchen. Mrs Silver is also made aware of the trick after Mr Pringle spoils it all for Mr Hoppy. So yes, the subversiveness of the original is painted over, but it does make for the perfect festive viewing.</p>
<p>The dialogue and exchange between Hoffman and Dench is as magical as Mr Hoppy’s beautiful botanic balcony. Corden’s narration is a tonic to all of us watching out for the metatextual as he walks through picture frames and is interrupted by his daughter while telling the story. Beautifully shot, creatively and cleverly retold this tale is not to be dismissed as “only” children’s. It is universal, comedic and a delight to all. </p>
<p>Would Dahl have approved? I’m not sure. But regardless, if this kind of material welcomes in and sets the bar for the New Year, then 2015 is set to be truly fantastic.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35774/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ann Alston does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Roald Dahl hated adaptations of his work, and often I agree with him. The original books have such a place in so many people’s hearts and open up the imagination so much that once on screen they can feel…Ann Alston, Senior Lecturer in English, University of the West of EnglandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/310522014-08-29T06:05:35Z2014-08-29T06:05:35ZGobsmacked by Aldi’s Revolting Rhymes ban? Try this instead<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/57725/original/wd48yfr6-1409290342.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Let your local book folks know you have their back.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/litwales_llencymru/8632103834/in/photolist-e9MMJs-dWkaQK-5VeLBf-ctHNh1-ctHPi9-ctHLwY-ctHQcq-ctHMh1-ctHKMA-6T5EPT-5bKe3J-5bEWS6-5bEWmR-5bKdim-5bKdsU-5bKda5-5bKd27-5bKdRs-5VeLzE-5VeM3A-5VeLYw-5VeLKf-5VaoRa-6MF491">Literature Wales</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The discount supermarket chain Aldi has come under fire in recent days for removing Roald Dahl’s <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6328.Revolting_Rhymes">Revolting Rhymes</a> (1982) from its shelves following a complaint from a customer on its Facebook page. The <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/28/aldi-takes-roald-dahls-revolting-rhymes-off-shelves-over-the-word-slut">complaint</a> focused on Dahl’s use of the word “slut” in his parodic revision of the fairy tale Cinderella. </p>
<p>A predictable series of responses rapidly emerged on social media and the mainstream press, pitting would-be <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/books/roald-dahls-revolting-rhymes-pulled-from-aldi-shelves-over-use-of-word-slut-20140828-109p0o.html">“wowsers”</a> against those arguing that the dictionary definition of “slut” (traditionally, a woman with low standards of cleanliness) is not offensive. Dahl’s decades of popularity with young readers has probably added weight to the defence of Revolting Rhymes.</p>
<p>All of this commentary serves to highlight the importance of free access to books and ideas. But to suggest that this issue is limited to one supermarket chain removing one book is simply ludicrous. </p>
<p>Given Aldi in particular is known for its practice of quickly turned-over stock “<a href="https://www.aldi.com.au/en/about-aldi/customer-information/faqs/store-information/">intended to be on sale for one week in a bid to keep our range fresh and interesting</a>”, it seems likely questions raised about access to children’s literature will be equally quickly forgotten in favour of next week’s special. </p>
<p>Some people may be taking comfort from the fact Aldi is far from the only, or even perhaps the most likely, source for a copy of Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes or any other children’s book. </p>
<p>A quick trip to one’s local public or school library is likely to offer this and any number of engaging books for young people. </p>
<p>To be clear here: knee-jerk censorship of this kind is wrong.</p>
<p>In Australia, the peak professional body for librarians and information professionals is the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), which <a href="http://www.alia.org.au/about-alia/policies-standards-and-guidelines/alia-core-values-statement">asserts as a core value</a> the “free flow of information and ideas through open access to recorded knowledge, information, and creative works”. </p>
<p>ALIA is thus aligned with community expectations for libraries in democratic societies. Not least is that affirmed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, <a href="http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/people_culture.html">which reassures us</a> that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Within the framework of Australia’s laws, all Australians have the right to express their culture and beliefs and to participate freely in Australia’s national life. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>It must be noted that both ALIA and DFAT are trading in ideals rather than legally-guaranteed rights here.</p>
<p>But Australians have no legally-enshrined rights to freedom of ideas or of speech equivalent to those of, for example, citizens of the United States. And in turn, there is no Australian equivalent of the American Library Association’s “Office for Intellectual Freedom” (OIF). </p>
<p>The OIF’s <a href="http://www.ala.org/offices/oif">central purpose</a> is:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>to educate librarians and the general public about the nature and importance of intellectual freedom in libraries. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The OIF is also a clearing-house for librarians to report book challenges or book bannings, and to get advocacy support. It is thanks to the OIF and those who support it that <a href="http://www.oif.ala.org/oif/?p=4947">we know</a> Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants was the most frequently challenged book of 2013 in the US. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/57727/original/p3ctcnyc-1409291752.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/57727/original/p3ctcnyc-1409291752.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/57727/original/p3ctcnyc-1409291752.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/57727/original/p3ctcnyc-1409291752.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/57727/original/p3ctcnyc-1409291752.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/57727/original/p3ctcnyc-1409291752.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/57727/original/p3ctcnyc-1409291752.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/57727/original/p3ctcnyc-1409291752.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">sharyn morrow</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Australia the challenging or banning of books for young people is made visible mainly through popular media, word-of-mouth or via individual experience. Just as the defence of any given book in any given library is subject to the whims of a particular library or institution rather than being guaranteed by law, the public visibility of challenges or defences is subjective rather than guaranteed. </p>
<p>For anyone truly committed to the values of freedom of information, of ideas, and of books as essential vessels for information and ideas, it is heartbreaking that Australia has no equivalent to the OIF, and that Australian librarians may be (or feel) isolated when facing a book challenge or a banning.</p>
<p>If you found the news of Aldi’s removal of Revolting Rhymes from its shelves in any way disturbing, by all means vote with your dollar and shop elsewhere; post a complaint on Aldi’s Facebook page; or, write a letter to Aldi’s management. </p>
<p>But if you are going to do that, may I humbly suggest you also – or instead – write a letter or post a social-media message to your local library, or school, or bookseller. </p>
<p>Don’t wait for a local challenge to freedom of ideas or of books: let your local book folks know you have their back, that you support them in their efforts to make ALIA’s core value of “free flow of information and ideas through open access to recorded knowledge, information, and creative works” a reality in our libraries and our communities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/31052/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erica Hateley receives funding from the Australian Research Council and teaches in a degree program at QUT (the Master of Education in Teacher-Librarianship) which is accredited by ALIA.</span></em></p>The discount supermarket chain Aldi has come under fire in recent days for removing Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes (1982) from its shelves following a complaint from a customer on its Facebook page. The…Erica Hateley, Lecturer in Children's and Adolescent Literature, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/303712014-08-13T20:23:55Z2014-08-13T20:23:55ZWe shouldn’t judge Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by its cover<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56333/original/wj57b92d-1407891903.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Penguin has touched a nerve by issuing a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory cover with no chocolate.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP /NEWZULU/SEE LI</span></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56328/original/223v6zgz-1407889377.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56328/original/223v6zgz-1407889377.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56328/original/223v6zgz-1407889377.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56328/original/223v6zgz-1407889377.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56328/original/223v6zgz-1407889377.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56328/original/223v6zgz-1407889377.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1157&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56328/original/223v6zgz-1407889377.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1157&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56328/original/223v6zgz-1407889377.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1157&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The 50th-anniversary edition cover.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Penguin</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Last week, Penguin released a 50th-anniversary edition of Roald Dahl’s classic novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – to an astonishingly negative reception. Die-hard Dahl fans on Twitter were scathing. They accused the cover of <a href="https://twitter.com/StephenMangan/status/497075492521246720/photo/1">irrelevance</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/Joannechocolat/statuses/497341343619100672">inappropriately sexualisation</a>. Author Patrick Ness described the cover as a publishing mistake <a href="https://twitter.com/Patrick_Ness/statuses/497445301410877440">as bad</a> as The Hitler Diaries. </p>
<p>The cover, which Penguin released <a href="https://www.facebook.com/penguinbooks/photos/a.138490935370.225909.13655260370/10154417763020371/?type=1">via Facebook</a>, features a young wide-eyed girl dressed in pink.</p>
<p>On it went. The Guardian named the cover <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/aug/07/five-worst-book-covers-ever">one of the worst book covers ever</a>. Publishing website <a href="http://www.thebookseller.com/news/penguin-defends-new-charlie-cover.html">The Bookseller</a> reported independent booksellers as saying that the cover was “so postmodern it’s not even relevant to the story” and “totally inappropriate”. They questioned Penguin’s decision to issue separate editions for children and adults.</p>
<h2>Judging books by their covers</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56329/original/92bhxc6z-1407889579.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56329/original/92bhxc6z-1407889579.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56329/original/92bhxc6z-1407889579.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=945&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56329/original/92bhxc6z-1407889579.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=945&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56329/original/92bhxc6z-1407889579.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=945&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56329/original/92bhxc6z-1407889579.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1187&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56329/original/92bhxc6z-1407889579.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1187&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56329/original/92bhxc6z-1407889579.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1187&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Bell Jar.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Faber and Faber</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This negative reaction to a book cover is not without precedent: in 2012 Faber drew flak for <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/feb/01/the-bell-jar-new-cover-derided">reissuing</a> Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar with a “chick-lit” cover depicting a woman fixing her make-up. </p>
<p>Plath’s readers took issue with what they saw as the trivialisation of a novel about a woman’s descent into mental illness. By contrast, the backlash against the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory cover seems to stem from the notion of imposing adult themes on what is considered to be a children’s classic.</p>
<p>The cover plays an enormous part in shaping our initial perceptions of a novel. </p>
<p>American author Maureen Johnson provided a fascinating <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/07/coverflip-maureen-johnson_n_3231935.html">example</a> of this when she challenged her Twitter followers to “coverflip” notable books by changing their covers so as to target either male or female readers. </p>
<p>Publishers target readers of different ages as a matter of course, as the different <a href="http://www.hypable.com/2013/06/27/harry-potter-uk-adult-edition-new-covers-2013/">adult</a> and <a href="http://booksend.wordpress.com/2011/07/11/harry-potter-cover-design/">children’s</a> editions of the Harry Potter series demonstrate. </p>
<p>Authors too value their covers: when his manuscript for The Great Gatsby was delayed, F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote to his editor requesting that <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/when-f-scott-fitzgerald-judged-gatsby-by-its-cover-61925763/?no-ist">a particular cover</a> be reserved for him, saying: “I’ve written it into the book.”</p>
<h2>How do you cover a Modern Classic?</h2>
<p>Penguin has touched a nerve by issuing a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory cover that has nothing to do with chocolate. One of the few favourable <a href="http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2014/august/charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory-cover-modern-classic">reviews</a> of the cover suggests what is actually significant is Penguin’s decision to include Dahl’s book in its line of Modern Classics. Penguin itself stated: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>This design is in recognition of the book’s extraordinary cultural impact and is one of the few children’s books to be featured in the Penguin Modern Classics list.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Compared to the simple orange fill of the regular Penguin Classics, the Modern Classics range regularly uses photography as the medium of choice for covers. Often this is a fairly stark departure from the illustrated original, such as the photograph of two socialites gracing the Modern Classics version of The Great Gatsby, reflecting perhaps on how the novel has come to epitomise the Jazz Age. Jack Kerouac’s On the Road received a nod to its autobiographical roots with a cover photo of Kerouac and his friend Neal Cassady, the inspirations for the characters Sal and Dean.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56330/original/gzxpkz6t-1407889846.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56330/original/gzxpkz6t-1407889846.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56330/original/gzxpkz6t-1407889846.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56330/original/gzxpkz6t-1407889846.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56330/original/gzxpkz6t-1407889846.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56330/original/gzxpkz6t-1407889846.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56330/original/gzxpkz6t-1407889846.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56330/original/gzxpkz6t-1407889846.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">On the Road.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Penguin</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Charlie and the Chocolate Factory cover also features a photograph that departs from the aesthetic that governed the book’s original cover – when it was released as a children’s book. Although Penguin has claimed that the girl on the cover is not intended to represent the spoilt child Veruca Salt, there is a notable resemblance in her attire to that worn by Veruca in <a href="http://www.roalddahl.com/home?url=/roald-dahl/characters/children/">Quentin Blake’s illustrations</a> for the novel. </p>
<p>But where Blake’s design is caricatured, the Penguin cover is confronting in its realism. It was taken at a fashion shoot, and evokes parallels with the modern-day spectacle of children whose stage parents push them into the limelight.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56331/original/zw2dj58b-1407890492.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56331/original/zw2dj58b-1407890492.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56331/original/zw2dj58b-1407890492.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56331/original/zw2dj58b-1407890492.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56331/original/zw2dj58b-1407890492.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56331/original/zw2dj58b-1407890492.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56331/original/zw2dj58b-1407890492.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56331/original/zw2dj58b-1407890492.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Veruca Salt.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.roalddahl.com/home?url=/roald-dahl/characters/children/">Quentin Blake/Roald Dahl</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Books for children and for adults</h2>
<p>Penguin obviously believes the book has merit for adults; critics of the cover argue it is fundamentally a book for children. Curiously, an unauthorised biography of Dahl by <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books?id=020FAAAACAAJ&dq=jeremy+treglown&hl=en&sa=X&ei=E7XqU8OZMZHq8AWX44CQDg&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAQ">Jeremy Treglown</a> suggests that Dahl’s editor initially balked at the novel because the fate of the other children was too adult in nature.</p>
<p>This issue has dominated the existing academic commentary on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which tends to ask whether or not the book is appropriate for modern sensibilities and curriculums. <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF01139908?LI=true">Jonathon Culley (Children’s Literature in Education, Vol. 22 No. 1 March 1991:pp59-73)</a> examines the concerns that Dahl’s work is too violent, sexist and even racist (consider Wonka’s slurs about his highly racialised workforce) for modern children. </p>
<p>Penguin’s cover was definitely provocative – but if it gets a generation of adults to re-read the book it will be an effective one. Leafing through it again, I found many interesting themes: the ghettoisation of Charlie’s family, Wonka’s harsh response to industrial espionage, and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrapasso">contrapasso</a> in the children’s fates. </p>
<p>Dahl seemingly anticipates molecular gastronomy and 3D printing – and perhaps the fate of Mike Teavee is more significant in light of reality television. Even as an adult, the irreverent humour, Dahl’s clever rhyming couplets and Blake’s illustrations are still captivating to me.</p>
<p>Ultimately, I think, readers should be talking about the book, not its cover.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/30371/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Bartlett does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Last week, Penguin released a 50th-anniversary edition of Roald Dahl’s classic novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – to an astonishingly negative reception. Die-hard Dahl fans on Twitter were scathing…Michael Bartlett, PhD Candidate in English, ANU, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.