Roal Dahl, between the fascination for rebellion and the million-dollar business

For being so small, Veruca has very clear ideas.

What she wants, directly, she takes it.

And that they have warned her not to interrupt the work of the squirrels.

She wants one of hers as a pet, and she goes for it.

She ends up, however, being thrown by the little animals into a garbage hole.

She doesn't fare any better than Mike, another character from

addicted to television, he ends up locked in one of those screens that she loves so much.

in

, a girl is thrown into the air by her teacher and another is said to be drinking bleach because her grandmother has gone looking for gin.

All this, and more, happens in books that are usually recommended from the age of nine.

Perhaps more than one family will panic.

Although thousands of young people feel, instead, ecstasy: this is precisely one of the reasons why Roald Dahl's novels have sold more than 300 million copies in 63 languages.

More information

The "rewriting" of Roald Dahl's texts sparks global outrage and suspicions about its legality

"Best-selling British author of macabre stories for children," wrote

in the author's obituary, who died in 1990 at the age of 74.

"He is one of the most popular, but also most controversial writers of the 20th and 21st centuries," adds Lourdes Lorenzo, director of the Department of Translation and Linguistics at the University of Vigo and who wrote her thesis on Dahl's translations. .

Because few storytellers have been able to connect so much with his very young readers and offer them such free, hooligan and rebellious stories.

He himself used to refer to his “conspiracy with children against adults”.

But, in addition to pranks, some of these elders detect excesses and insults: the author has been accused of racism, machismo or anti-Semitism.

So much so that his publisher, Puffin, in agreement with the Roald Dahl Story Company, the company that manages his legacy, made word and phrase changes in the latest edition of at least 10 of his 19 children's works, to make them more inclusive and appropriate to these children. times, as the newspaper

Agustus, another hopeful to take over the chocolate factory, has gone from "enormously fat" to "enormous";

The protagonist of

is no longer "ugly";

the men of the clouds (Cloud-Men) in

now they are people (Cloud-People).

And a long list of etcetera, with the collaboration of Inclusive Minds, an organization that champions diversity and accessibility in children's literature, promoting respect for feminism, mental health, minorities or physical appearance.

That is, for all sensibilities.

Like a Dahl story, however, the imposed change sparked an insurrection.

From readers, writers like Salman Rushdie and even a spokesman for the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, amid cries of censorship, political correctness and even legal doubts, about the right to touch the work of a deceased author.

And more so since a video reappeared where, in a conversation 40 years ago with the artist Francis Bacon, Dahl stated, according to

: "I have warned my editors that if they change even a single comma

, they will never see plus another word from me.

[…] When I am gone, if it happens, […] I will send the huge crocodile [one of his characters] to gobble them up ”.

Roald Dahl, on March 25, 1961 in New York.

CBS Photo Archive (Getty Images)

Who knows if the alligator visited the publishing house.

version and the original will be published

.

But while the tinkering battle seems to be settled, many questions remain.

What will happen, for example, to that “unique universe encompassing animated and live-action film and television, publishing, games, immersive experiences, live theater, consumer products and much more” that Netflix announced as its main plan when it acquired —it is said that for more than 500 million euros— in 2021 the Roald Dahl Story Company and, with it, the domain over works and worlds of the author.

Because, no matter how much we talk about literature and childhood, money is also —or above all— at stake.

And Netflix will want to allay fears that Dahl will go out of style after such an investment.

In order not to get wet while the latest controversy raged, yes, the audiovisual giant has hidden behind the fact that everything was agreed upon before its acquisition.

Although, read now, the statement that the company issued along with the purchase is surprising.

Or cynical, depending on how you look at it: "These stories and their messages about the power and possibilities of young people have never been more needed."

But, in addition, the debate on Dahl has infected all the masterpieces for children that today's prism makes problematic.

How do you approach classics with controversial elements?

Is there a respectful way to modernize them?

And, actually, is it necessary?

"The general feeling in the field of children's literature is that this type of practice should not be carried out," replies Élvira Cámara, a Translation professor at the University of Granada and a researcher in the sector.

And both she and other sources emphasize the importance of contextualizing, trusting children, avoiding overprotecting them and focusing more on the work of intermediaries between childhood and books, taking the opportunity to encourage discussions or classes on human history and its evolution.

Precisely all of this will be discussed in a couple of meetings at the Bologna Children's and Youth Book Fair, which celebrates its 60th edition as of this Monday as the most relevant event in the sector in Europe.

And although the director of the event, Elena Pasoli, shares her majority vision, she says that she has heard nuances that lead her to define the "subtle and complex" theme.

She reveals that there were even those who rejected the invitation for the talks because it was such a thorny issue.

In fact, in the calls made for this report, there were those who declined to make statements for the same reason.

Roald Dahl books in a New York bookstore on November 21, 2011. Andrew Burton (AP)

“Many times in the past I joked that nobody would publish Dahl nowadays.

I think he's so fascinating too because he's a bit of a bad guy,” adds Pasoli.

“He once described himself as 'inventive, unconventional' and 'somewhat of a jokey villain of sorts,'” shares Matthew Dennison, author of

, an unauthorized biography of Dahl.

Here, at least, there seems to be unanimity.

No one doubts the excellent literary quality of his children's books.

Nor of its transgression, which everyone points out as a fundamental pillar of success, along with humor and the triumph of protagonists who are a priori weak or who suffer harassment and discrimination.

"The characters in apparent difficulty find their way, in a super ingenious way, and become the captains of their own ship," reflects Arianna Squilloni, editor of the children's label A Buen Paso.

“I suspect that an author whose sales exceed 300 million copies would argue that his work is obviously inclusive,” Dennison says.

And Lourdes Lorenzo orders other attractive clues from Dahl, which come back in various conversations: “Stereotyped and not very exemplary adults, often grotesque, who trample on the rights of children and their innocence;

a magical element that feeds the imagination;

independent and brave children who are daring enough to rebel;

amazing and disturbing endings;

versified and irreverent songs, novel expressions and insults”.

Not for nothing the author always made it clear that he was only concerned with the reaction of small readers, not their families or teachers.

In fact, he came to describe adults as "enemies" of childhood.

“I am a mother and at one time I had my doubts about whether to let my children read, for example,

.

These books attract precisely for that very reason that they can raise blisters for the older ones.

But there is nothing better or healthier for a family and for a society than having reading children”, adds Elvira Cámara, who has researched the translation of Dahl's works.

And, in this regard, she points out: “In a first approach to several of them, it becomes clear that the versions that exist in Spanish suffer from censorship practices.

Either because they have been carried out through self-censorship by the translator himself, or because the publisher has intervened”.

Although Alfaguara, which publishes Dahl in Spanish, was one of the first labels to clarify these days that it would not introduce the British publisher's tweaks and would keep the versions already in circulation.

Scene from the musical 'Matilda' in Madrid.

Javier Naval

The author himself actually made

modifications to his works, as confirmed by Dennison.

Famous is the case of the Oompa Loompas, the tribe of little helpers of the owner of the chocolate factory, Willy Wonka, who were born as enslaved African pygmies and changed their skin color and origin by Dahl's decision.

The biographer adds that the writer poured all his enthusiasm into creative work, but also his efforts, to the point of ending up more and more exhausted: “He worked very hard on his fiction.

None of the effects or impacts of his writing happened by chance.

He was undoubtedly arrogant about his talent, and resented the idea that anyone could improve his work, although it is true that his editors did contribute to doing so on more than one occasion.

And that he himself recognized that he had launched into writing on the advice of others.

Born in 1916 to Norwegian parents who had emigrated to Britain, Dahl is believed to have based many despicable adults in his books on the punishments of the rigid upbringing he received at school desks.

Although, before encountering literature, his life path faced even tougher obstacles: an aviator in World War II, he crashed in the Libyan desert in 1947, in a miraculously non-fatal accident.

Since then, a piece of the femur that the surgery removed has occupied his desk, like a paperweight.

A few years earlier, in 1943, he had finished his first YA novel,

or

followed .

Although the triumph of those books overshadowed what Dahl narrated for adults.

Or his script for the James Bond saga film

.

In the meantime, the author married actress Patricia Neal (Oscar for Best Leading Actress in 1964 for

) and had four children, for whom he began to write the stories that would later be adored by the entire planet. .

Although one, Olivia, died at just three years old.

Neal faced a series of brain hemorrhages during those years from which he slowly recovered, according to

, thanks to Dahl's help.

Even so, a recent article in the conservative magazine

began this way: “Roald Dah was, in many ways, a horrible man.

Narcissist, bully, liar, anti-Semite, tax evader, disloyal husband, and—if his daughter is to be believed—a cruel and irresponsible father.”

To which his biographer counters: “His son once defined him as 'a hornet's nest.'

No doubt he was a difficult, demanding, often selfish man.

But he is also a source of fun, warmth and immense generosity.

His belief that children's lives would be improved by reading was evangelical, as was his desire to make them lifelong readers.

He would say: 'Sooner or later, you will all suffer from some kind of loneliness or illness and the comfort you will take from books will be enormous'.

Dennison does accept that some of Dahl's statements suggest anti-Semitism.

After all, the heirs themselves publicly apologized for it years later.

But the biographer maintains that he has not "detected racism, misogyny or anti-Semitism in his children's fiction."

As another sample, the defenders of him contribute Dahl's initial intention that Charlie, the protagonist who finally obtains the chocolate factory, was black.

Among so many doubts, the editor Arianna Squilloni adds another one: “In the now retouched version of

it is said that a supernatural woman can work as a scientist.

The original spoke of a supermarket cashier.

But what is wrong with this second profession?

That is, by eliminating sexist biases, a class bias can be added.

And so.

The debate is likely to continue.

Squilloni's father, in any case, has not cared.

Apparently, he has read

"with 75 years and it has left him crazy."

Here is the latest rebellion.

It turns out that the conspiracy of Dahl and the children against the adults is capable of adding even the most unexpected ally: one of them.

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