Why did “sensitivity readers” revise Roald Dahl’s books?

| The Economist 3/6/23, 9:41 PM

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The Economist explains

Why did “sensitivity

readers” revise Roald
Dahl’s books?
Specialist editors look for terms they think will cause
o!ence

Feb 23rd 2023 Share

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Why did “sensitivity readers” revise Roald Dahl’s books? | The Economist 3/6/23, 9:41 PM

R oald dahl delighted in making readers squirm. His

books for children, most of them written between
1961 and 1990, are mischievous, often with an edge of
cruelty. Yet this month the Daily Telegraph, a British
newspaper, revealed that hundreds of words and phrases
had been altered or removed in the latest British editions
of many of Dahl’s books. In the revised “Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory”, for instance, published by Pu"n, the
gluttonous Augustus Gloop is not “enormously fat” but
merely “enormous”. In “The Witches” a sorceress no
longer hides among humankind posing as “a cashier in a
supermarket or typing letters for a businessman”.
Instead, she is “working as a top scientist or running a
business”. The changes were made on the advice of
“sensitivity readers” hired by Pu"n. Who are they, and
why do publishers employ them?

Publishers hire sensitivity readers to o!er an extra layer

of editorial oversight, usually before a book is published.
Their individual areas of expertise usually match their
own identities or experiences—a given ethnicity,
disability or sexual orientation, say—which, publishers
hope, makes them best quali#ed to spot troublesome
phrasing. This might include clichéd or demeaning
descriptions of groups seen as “marginalised”: mockery
of their speech patterns, for example, or a gratuitous
emphasis on the colour of their skin.

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Sensitivity readers have generally been employed to

check children’s and young-adult #ction. But recent
controversies have prompted their use for adult #ction,

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Why did “sensitivity readers” revise Roald Dahl’s books? | The Economist 3/6/23, 9:41 PM

too. Irvine Welsh, a Scottish writer of gritty novels,

praised a “trans reader” who had helped him re#ne a
transgender character in “The Long Knives”, published
last year. In 2020 “American Dirt”, a much-hyped novel
about a family of migrants by Jeanine Cummins, was
lambasted for its crude depictions of its Mexican
characters. Some critics pointed out that its stereotypes
could have been picked up if the publisher had hired
sensitivity readers with Hispanic heritage. (It still topped
the New York Times’s bestseller list.)
Dahl certainly had prejudices. In 2020 his family
apologised for his anti-Semitism (it is not clear whether
any of the recent changes relate to this). And this is not
the #rst time that Dahl’s books have been updated. In the
#rst edition of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”,
published in 1964, the Oompa Loompas were black
pygmies from the “African jungle”. In response to
criticism, in editions after 1973 Dahl gave them “rosy-
white” skin instead. The new editions remove references
to their skin tone altogether. Pu"n did not publicise its
latest revisions to Dahl’s books. But a note inside the new
editions explains: “This book was written many years
ago, and so we regularly review the language to ensure
that it can continue to be enjoyed by all.” A statement
from the Roald Dahl Story Company, which manages the
rights to the author’s estate, has defended the changes as
“small and carefully considered”.

Many publishers see sensitivity readers as just one group

among an array of specialists employed to protect their
reputations. But that there is a perceived need for them
also re$ects a broader problem in places where
publishing industries lack a diverse sta!. Some critics
distinguish between using sensitivity readers to help
authors develop realistic characters for new novels, and
deploying them to revise classic works. Dahl spent his
career ridiculing priggishness. And, since he died in
1990, he has no opportunity to answer back. 7

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