Jacqueline Wilson has slammed rewrites of adult English classics into woke friendly terms, saying that she is “very against it”.
Her comments come after classic books by authors such as Roald Dahl and Enid Blyton have recently been altered by their publishers.
They have chosen to remove certain words and phrases which they now deem to be offensive.
Wilson, 77, criticised rewrites of adult classic novels on the show. She cited her favourite book Jane Eyre and its depiction of a mentally ill person, which she believes would never be written today.
She told ITV: “I was just thinking about Jane Eyre the other day. I mean with the mad woman in the attic and the way she’s depicted, you’d never find that sort of treatment of people with serious mental health problems.
“And yet, I would be absolutely at the forefront of people saying: ‘No, leave it alone. It’s my favourite book.’ ”
However, she described herself as a “middle-of-the-road person” when it came to her thoughts on altering children’s texts.
Compared to her much harsher stance on rewriting adult books, the Tracy Beaker writer said that editing children’s novels can sometimes be justified.
“I think it depends how it’s done,” she said. “There are some things I think that would make us a bit worried if we returned to our old children’s favourites and read them with fresh eyes. We might be a little surprised.
“I think with children, they often absorb texts. They still haven’t got the power to sort things out and have a sense of history.”
The Roald Dahl Story Company and Puffin Books recently carried out a review on Dahl’s books and chose to remove a range of content – including references to weight, violence, race, gender and mental health.
They did this by hiring sensitivity readers back in 2020, whose job was to ensure that Dahl’s work could “continue to be enjoyed by all today”.
Some examples of edited words include “old hag” becoming “old crow in The Witches and replacing the word “fat” in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with “enormous”.
Meanwhile Blyton, author of beloved series The Famous Five, The Magic Faraway Tree, and Noddy, has had work revised, after slammed as being racist and xenophobic in her books.
Last year, Wilson wrote The Magic Faraway Tree: A New Adventure, a re-imagining of the Blyton classic, with controversial phrases removed.
Alongside expressing her views on rewrites, the author critiqued cancel culture.
“You don’t have to agree with someone,” she said. “But whether I’d feel that in the midst of a baying crowd or not, I don’t know.
‘Life’s changed so much. And I think it’s good that people can make it clear what they feel, but I do think a little bit of discussion [is necessary]. There’s been a call recently for children to develop their oracy, to become more articulate, to be able to assemble their ideas, and I think that would be a good idea.”
The former Children’s Laurete who has sold more than 40 million books, has said that even some of her works wouldn’t get written in today’s climate.
Love Lessons, published in 2005, features a 14-year-old kissing her art teacher.
“It’s so different now . . . Nowadays, you’d see Prue as a victim even if she had initiated it and the teacher as a paedophile because he responded to her,” she told the Guardian.
https://www.gbnews.com/news/jacqueline-wilson-woke-rewrites-roald-dahl-enid-blyton
