The estate of the author does not have legitimate authority to change a dead authors work to increase its commercial appeal. They can legally do so, but I don'

The estate of the author does not have legitimate authority to change a dead authors work to increase its commercial appeal. They can legally do so, but I don't accept the legitimacy of this. The only exception is when it's implicitly or explicitly clear the author would have supported doing this, and even then I wouldn't suggest it but I wouldn't automatically call it illegitimate and would have to consider the context. If I write some great novel and then my asshole grandson decides to stop distributing the original and starts distributing a rewrite he feels will sell more copies I'll haunt his ass. I refused to watch the C.S. Lewis film adaptions because they were against the authors explicit wishes and there's a difference between having the legal right to do something and the moral right to do something. I recall that Roald Dahl LOATHED the changes to his story in the film version of Willa Wonka and refused to sell the rights to the sequel so I wouldn't at all take it for granted that he would have supported such extensive edits. If there's doubt if an author would have supported you editing their book, you should play it safe and not edit a dead authors book! If you must change it - you must continue distributing the original or make the original public domain to retain any SEMBLANCE of legitimacy.