5 ms·
There's a big difference. Adaptations are new works based on the original. The original work is still available to enjoy or critique in its original form. Howe
by ldjb 4y ago
There's a big difference. Adaptations are new works based on the original. The original work is still available to enjoy or critique in its original form.
However, these new editions are effectively replacing the old ones. I don't so much mind them rewriting the books so long as the originals continue to be published. However, I don't expect that will be the case. Eventually, anyone going to a bookshop to buy one of Dahl's books will struggle to find the original version. That's a real shame, I think.
- libraryatnight 4y agoYeah to me there's something sinister about the notion there will be a time when someone just assumes that's what Dahl wrote. It's sad. Did anyone even ask for this? I can't imagine there was any backlash to Dahl sufficiently meaningful that it couldn't have dealt with simply by ignoring it.
- mattbee 4y agoYou don't have to imagine, you can read in Dahl's autobiography that's nonsense. Pressure from NAACP jeopardised the production of the 1971 movie Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, which turned into the first plank of his international legacy. Dahl was glad to change the book so the movie would get made.
- libraryatnight 4y agoChanges Dahl was around to agree to rank differently in my mind than posthumous edits. Ethical and artistic questions aside, at a certain point we get to a Ship of Theseus conundrum, which opens all kinds of additional questions.