Posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on December 29, 2005 at 14:06:53 from 213.38.124.194 user ACB.
In Reply to: Re: Bowlderising AR (was Political Correctness was AR v HL) posted by Peter H on December 28, 2005 at 13:28:49:
When I read these books as a boy in the early 1960's I was quite unaware that they were set in the past; only when I saw the date in SD did I think of it at all. For my son, these are set in another age. No lifejackets, no racing dinghies, no television, no mobile phones!
The n-word should go, as should the p-word in Secret Water. When I read the books aloud, I elided both.
"Missee Lee" raises other questions besides gunboats; AR definitely overdid the accent! I could not possibly recommend this book to a Chinese friend although it is not unsympathetic to Chinese culture, by the standards of the day. It would not be such a loss if this book, which most of us find the least satisfactory, were to quietly fade away.