As some of Roald Dahl's work gets rewritten, two children's book writers dissect his literature

Nandita da Cunha and her daughter Anaiya, 11, discuss Dahl’s writings at their Bandra home. Pic/Shadab Khan

‘Kids today should not be denied the essence of old school writing'

Nandita da Cunha
Author of children's picture books. Her Miracle on Sunderbaag Street won the Neev Book Award in 2021, in the emerging readers category. Her chapter books for children aged eight and above include Pedru and the Big Boom, My Trip to La La Land, and The Magic of Maya

All of us grew up reading Roald Dahl, Enid Blyton and Rudyard Kipling, and some of their books with images and references are not relevant today, valid or even acceptable. But all these writings are reflective of the times these authors lived in and the bias of the day. Rewriting them is going down a slippery slope. Instead of revising artworks to suit our age, we should teach the kids to appreciate and understand the context in which the words were put to paper.

Nandita da Cunha

My daughters, Anaiya, 11, and Mahika, 9, both enjoy reading the old and original versions of Blyton from my childhood collection. During Anaiya's reading of the Famous Five, when she was around seven, she pointed out the sexism to me. She understood that the boys in the gang, who thought that Georgina shouldn't do everything that they would, was a concept of the past. This was an opportunity for me to discuss with her how far we have come from that era.

Having a discussion opens up their mind. Sanitising a text is not the answer. These revisions will only lead towards a high degree of censorship, and it's likely that tomorrow, our kids may be reading absolutely bland text, for the fear of offending someone. It comes back to the question, where do we draw the line? How much will you rewrite? To what extent?

Blyton's stories were filled with pure imagination. Dahl had the beauty of language and story plots, and kids today should not be denied the essence of old school writing.

As a writer, I shudder at the thought of others taking liberty to change classic texts. Rather than cancelling, we should support children in developing
critical abilities to discuss, debate and understand works across contexts and time periods. And the original manuscript should be left untouched and treated
as sacrosanct.

V/S

‘His writing was dark, spiteful; we should abandon it altogether'

Suranya Aiyar
Author of illustrated children's titles Mama Suranya Books, including the Battle of Northway which is an adventure about kids being taken away from their parents in foreign countries. She also publishes Hindi translations of her stories.

Suranya Aiyar believes Dahl's work should be done away with for its malicious content

As a children's writer, Roald Dahl's stories are extremely disturbing and malicious. They show a perverse imagination which is hostile to all things that make a child's world secure and filled with love. His books always have a message that adults are not just annoying for telling kids what to do, but also evil and not really present for them.

This is not the first time his work is being protested. It occurred at the start of his career too. Only after the 1960s, when it became fashionable to question the
family as an institution and anything disturbing was considered art regardless of its value as art, did Dahl become popular.

British children's author, short-story writer and playwright Roald Dahl in a picture taken in December 1971. Pic/Getty Images

However, I disagree with rewriting his texts. It is what he wrote and it was not appropriate - not because of his political incorrectness but because his writings were dark and spiteful. It was never good writing.

I would rather that we ignore Dahl, abandon him altogether. Sometimes authors of a particular point of view become popular but we should move on from them. In the push towards reading and literacy, we end up giving credibility to authors and writings that oftentimes don't deserve the attention. It is good to be knowledgeable, but there is no reason to accept whole-hog in the form of a book.

It is true that any writer's work or public voice belongs to a certain context, and may seem inappropriate later because we have reached a different understanding of society, but we should remain compassionate, understanding and humane. And kids' books should send out the message of compassion and kindness.

The political correctness movement is damaging children's writings as a whole and the focus has moved away from a good plot, genuine characterisation and a worthwhile story.

You can't always have a rosy picture that leads to a bland sitcom version like Peppa Pig, with no edge or emotion. But I also disagree that we should be introducing adult ideas and concepts to children's writings.

Kids' stories should be about the things kids do and not be driven by a political agenda to brainwash them. Stories used to be magical and fantastical, defying the physics of this world, and that's what they should remain.