UK’s Rishi Sunak slams ‘gobblefunk’ changes to Roald Dahl’s children’s books
- Sunak said it is important that works of literature and works of fiction are ‘preserved and not airbrushed’
- Several passages in Dahl’s internationally popular books including Matilda and The BFG were rewritten to remove references to gender and race
The Daily Telegraph on Friday published an article showing hundreds of changes to some of Dahl’s internationally popular books such as the 1988 story Matilda, The BFG (1982) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964).
Compared to 2001 editions, the newspaper said the 2022 version changed the description of gluttonous boy Augustus Gloop from “enormously fat” to “enormous”, changed the role models of book-loving child prodigy Matilda to include a female author and rewrote several descriptions to remove the word “black” – including when used to describe the colour of a giant’s cloak.
“When it comes to our rich and varied literary heritage, the prime minister agrees with the BFG that you shouldn’t gobblefunk around with words,” said Sunak’s spokesman, aping the word-twisting language used by Dahl’s Big Friendly Giant.
“It’s important that works of literature and works of fiction are preserved and not airbrushed.”
Reuters could not verify all the changes across the two editions.