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Tall-Display-8219 t1_j93qybp wrote

A private company publishing edited versions of fictional books is not the same as a totalitarian government seeking to alter peoples perception of reality by altering historical documents.

Consider the following: people are not being forced to read the new versions, the old versions are not being banned or outlawed by any government, this is just one publisher, the edits are minor and don't fundamentally change the stories, the books are fictional anyway so never represented the "truth" about anything to begin with.

So no... its not even remotely the same thing.

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account312 t1_j93zvhu wrote

Do you think that systematically editing cultural works doesn't affect people's perception of reality?

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boxer_dogs_dance t1_j93v60s wrote

Is there another publisher with the rights to publish in 2023 or are originalists limited to used book stores?

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Tall-Display-8219 t1_j93w76z wrote

Not entirely sure. A quick Google tells me that Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is published by Scholastic as well. Not done a lot of research into it though so might be wrong on that. I guess you could always look for a publication date before the edits when buying online too

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boxer_dogs_dance t1_j93x4zi wrote

There is a whole other thread on this here on r/books. If the Telegraph is correct that they changed Matilda's favorite authors, that is a bridge too far for me. Bowdlerization is looked down on for good reason. It isn't fair to not disclose to fans who may be buying copies of books they loved as gifts for children and relatives.

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_green_cloak_ OP t1_j93zjgg wrote

Ahhhh, so what I'm irked by is bowdlerisation. Far out, that helps a lot, and might help me discuss this issue more accurately

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Lord0fHats t1_j96dlua wrote

People forget Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None wasn't always called that and went through several title changes well before now. The exact wording of the nursery rhyme has also been rewritten multiple times to go along with the title changes.

Though, if you asked me And Then There Were None is a way more badass title for a book XD

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_green_cloak_ OP t1_j93txs8 wrote

Thanks for your thoughts. I guess I'm trying to think of a literary analogy for this, and I'll accept 1984's Ministry of Truth as being a stretch. But still, like I said in the OP, I can't ignore the principle idea of changing words for reasons other than grammar. It doesn't feel right at all.

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Bridalhat t1_j96o7ma wrote

And maybe books about bad things that aren’t just Orwell. If everything is 1984 then nothing is.

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