The adventures of Miss Marple or Poirot have not changed, but the language used by the characters of Agatha Christie’s famous novels has changed. They have been redrafted to remove all words that could be considered potentially offensive.
Not just single words
HarperCollins has decided to introduce changes to the new editions of books by one of the most recognizable authors of detective stories. References to gender and ethnicity are considered offensive in modern times, particularly when the novel is set outside the UK. Differences have appeared in expertly prepared digital versions of books in the series about amateur detective Jane Marple, as well as in selected Hercule Poirot novels published up to 2020, the Telegraph reports. Where exactly are the changes visible? In Christie’s works, we no longer read about “blacks”, “Jews” or “Gypsies”, while the word “natives”, sounding strange and wild according to the editors, was replaced with a more neutral – “locals”.
However, not only individual words disappeared – entire phrases and even dialogues were also edited. Racist metaphors, such as “black marble torso” and stereotypical terms, including “Indian personification”. One example cited by The Telegraph is in 1937’s Death on the Nile, where one of the characters, Mrs Allerton, admits she is tormented by children with “gross eyes and noses”. The mention of the heroine’s little sympathy for the youngest was left, but the description of their appearance disappeared.
The controversy surrounding one of the titles is even older
Interestingly, in Christie’s novels, similar changes had already been introduced several decades earlier. “And Then There Were None” from 1939 was originally published under a different title containing a racist term – “Ten Little Niggers”, referring to a children’s rhyme. Years later, some publishing houses protested. From 1964 to 1986 Pocket Books published the book as “Ten Little Indians”, while after 1985 the title was completely rearranged. Some sources also say 1977.
The original cover of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, 1939 https://www.biblio.com/book/ten-little-niggers-agatha-christie/d/1404948159/Fair use, Wikimedia.org
Editors dealing with sensitive content are a relatively new phenomenon in the publishing industry – they have been making changes for about two years, checking old editions, whose sometimes outdated content may need to be changed. This was recently the case with books by Roald Dahl, whose publisher, Puffin, hired a team to rewrite Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Anti-Semitic terms, as well as “fat”, “crazy” and ugly, disappeared, while Oompa Loompas, called “little men” and in the film played by actors with dwarfism, were called “little people”. Puffin maintained that this procedure was needed so that “books can still be enjoyed by everyone today.” Similar changes can also be found in Ian Fleming’s novels.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
