What exactly do the books of Agatha Christie, Roald Dahl, and Ian Fleming rework by sensitivity readers?
The works of Agatha Christie, Roald Dahl, and Ian Fleming have recently been updated to appeal to contemporary readers. Sensitive readers made these edits.
Ankush Pandey
In the publishing industry, sensitive readers have become increasingly popular in recent years. It all started with new editions of the works of British author Roald Dahl to remove language that would offend modern readers.
Sensitivity readers created these editions by rewriting or reworking literary works to avoid racial, gender, weight, or mental health-related language.
In Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Augustus Gloop is now referred to as "enormous" rather than "fat" due to a change. In The Twits, the expression "a weird African language" no longer means "weird." The Telegraph reported these modifications in February of this year.
The works of Agatha Christie, Ian Fleming, and Roald Dahl also underwent similar transformations.
Despite the fact that sensitivity readers have gained popularity in the past two years, the average person was not even aware of them until last month.
WHO ARE SENSITIVITY READERS?
Publishers and authors frequently employ sensitive readers on an individual basis. In order to make editorial changes that are thought to be insensitive to readers of today, these freelance editors read the content, typically before it is published.
Regarding race, gender, weight, and mental health, the content's language should not be considered offensive. The sensitive readers then offer suggestions for alterations as feedback to the author or publisher.
They are also referred to as targeted beta readers or beta readers.
Following the Roald Dahl line, this significant advancement in the distributing scene provoked an objection as of late. Several of Agatha Christie's works, particularly the Poirot and Miss Marple series, had offensive racial references removed.
In a similar vein, sexist language was removed from the James Bond novels written by Ian Fleming. 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.
