While browsing through the children’s section at a local bookstore, I came across several of Enid Blyton’s lesser known books including Those Dreadful Children, Hollow Tree House and The Six Bad Boys; books I already owned but which were not as popular as her Famous Five or Noddy series, to name just two.
A closer look at the books in question revealed that they had been recast to form several new ‘series’. For instance, Those Dreadful Children, House at the Corner, The Family at Red Roofs and The Six Bad Boys were now part of the newly established Family Adventure series, while others such as Hollow Tree House and The Adventures of the Strange Ruby had been renamed respectively to The Riddle of Hollow Tree House and The Riddle of the Rajah’s Ruby to form the Riddle series.
The new versions of these books are certainly more attractive than their predecessors in terms of the cover and typography, which caused me to purchase several. But as I reread them in their new incarnations I began to feel that something was amiss. There were small changes here and there, which I reconfirmed by going back to the original versions which I have. For instance Margery’s name was changed to Marian in Those Dreadful Children, and Prudence’s to Penny in The Family at Red Roofs.
The new versions of these books are certainly more attractive than their predecessors in terms of the cover and typography, which caused me to purchase several. But as I reread them in their new incarnations I began to feel that something was amiss.
And then there were other, more subtle changes. For instance, in a scene in The Family at Red Roofs the family in question in the previously published version has lemon squash to celebrate the acquisition of their new home. In the newer version, the adults pop open a bottle of wine, while the youngsters have lemonade. In the same book, the word secretary replaces maid, while in The Six Bad Boys, wireless is replaced by radio, and penny with money.
In certain cases though, the changes are more obvious — and seem rather unnecessary. For example, the names of the protagonists in the Magic Faraway series have been changed — Fanny is now Franny, Jo is Joe, Dick is Rick, and Bess is Beth. The reason, apparently, being that the names were ‘controversial’, given the fact that several of these names now read as double entendres, and are not entirely suitable for children.
An article in the Guardian revealed that several Famous Five novels have been “sensitively and carefully” edited by their publisher, which have resulted in expressions such as “mercy me!” being changed to “oh no!”, “fellow” to “old man” and “it’s all very peculiar” to “it’s all very strange”. The reasoning for this, according to the publishers, is to make them ‘timeless’ for a new generation of readers.
Of course, while one could argue that these changes do perhaps make sense, isn’t it important for these books to be kept in their original form? After all, books, be they fiction or non-fiction, also serve as reflections of their times, the prevalent modes of thought and attitudes of the characters, all of which recreate the past.
Furthermore, where is the line between updating and rewriting? And one wonders why this is restricted, for now, to Blyton’s works? If one were to comb through the works of Mark Twain or L.M. Montgomery, to name just two children’s authors, there would surely be lines that would be considered racist or controversial. Ultimately, I can’t help but agree with the lines of the odious Dolores Umbridge: “progress for progress’s sake must be discouraged.”
The writer is a Dawn staff member.
