After Ian Fleming and Roald Dahl, Agatha Christie revised her works to remove offensive language.
"Sensitivity readers" have modified Agatha Christie's works in a number of ways to make them relevant to today's readers.
Ankush Pandey
Offensive references to ethnicity have been removed from several works by Agatha Christie, including her well-known mystery series Poirot and Miss Marple.
According to the Telegraph, some passages from the author's works published between 1920 and 1976 have been altered or removed for the new HarperCollins editions.
The digital versions of the new editions of the entire Miss Marple series and some Poirot novels already show the changes made by "sensitivity readers."
Some passages, particularly those involving characters the protagonists meet outside of the UK, have been stripped of language and descriptions that modern audiences find offensive.
One edited version of the 1937 novel Death on the Nile is one of the examples shown in the Telegraph. "They come back and stare, and stare, and their eyes are simply disgusting, and so are their noses, and I don’t believe I really like children," the character of Mrs. Allerton says of the children who are obstructing her.
In the new version, this sentence was stripped down to: " They return and continue to stare. Also, I don't completely accept that I truly like kids."
The 1964 Miss Marple novel A Caribbean Mystery underwent yet another revision. "such lovely white teeth" have been removed from the detective's observation of a hotel worker smiling at her.
Agatha Christie's works are being updated after sensitivity readers removed offensive references to gender and race from books by other mid-century authors Roald Dahl and Ian Fleming to keep them relevant to modern readers.
Puffin, the publisher of Roald Dahl's books, hired sensitive readers to rewrite significant portions of the author's works. Antisemitic references and many offensive words like "fat" and "ugly" were removed.
In a similar vein, changes were made to Casino Royale, the first book by Ian Fleming, to get rid of racist language.
The following disclaimer will accompany the reprint of the author's entire thriller collection: This book was written at a time when people used terms and attitudes that would be offensive to modern readers.
Additionally, sexist language has been removed from a James Bond novel.
WHO ARE SENSITIVITY READERS?
In the publishing industry, sensitivity readers are a relatively new phenomenon that has gained worldwide recognition in the past two years.
In an effort to increase diversity in the publishing industry, sensitive readers can be hired by publishers on a case-by-case basis to read a book before it is published and make editorial suggestions regarding content that may be deemed offensive, inaccurate, or stereotypical.
