So-called “sensitivity” readers have rewritten various authors from Agatha Christie, Roald Dahl, Ian Fleming, R.L. Stine, and even myriad fairy tales! Now, they are “modernizing” P.G. Wodehouse’s “Jeeves and Wooster” stories to they don’t offend modern snowflakes.
“Jeeves and Wooster books have been rewritten to remove prose by PG Wodehouse deemed “unacceptable” by publishers, the Telegraph can reveal.
“Original passages in the comic novels have been purged or reworked for new editions issued by Penguin Random House.
“Trigger warnings have also been added to revised editions telling would-be Wodehouse readers that his themes and characters may be ‘outdated’.
“One warning states that the writer’s prose has been altered because it was judged to be ‘unacceptable’ by Penguin, a publishing house which enlists the services of sensitivity readers.
“The disclaimer printed on the opening pages of the 2023 reissue of Thank you, Jeeves states: ‘Please be aware that this book was published in the 1930s and contains language, themes and characterisations which you may find outdated.
“‘In the present edition we have sought to edit, minimally, words that we regard as unacceptable to present-day readers.’”
“Jeeves, what is a ‘cis-het’ and why does that make me an ‘oppressor’.”
Some of the changes include:
“In the 1934 novel Right Ho, Jeeves, newly reissued by Penguin, a racial term used to describe a ‘minstrel of the old school’ has been removed.
“In Thank You, Jeeves, whose plot hinges on the performance of a minstrel troupe, numerous racial terms have been removed or altered, both in dialogue spoken by the characters in the book, and from first-person narration in the voice of Bertie.”
Buy old physical books and treasure them.
