Posted by Charles on December 30, 2005 at 12:13:46 from 195.92.40.49 user Charles_Coull.
In Reply to: Re: Bowlderising AR (was Political Correctness was AR v HL) posted by Mike Dennis on December 30, 2005 at 11:08:47:
Which is absolutely fine if you want the books to become inaccessible. AR did not mean to offend had the word been offensive to his audience then he would not have used it. We are looking at the books from a position of knowledge, understanding the background and context and knowing a good deal about the author. A child picking up the books and reading them for the first time does not have that luxury. The word is shocking in the modern context and it does present a barrier.
It is fine to say if you don’t like it read something else but the presence of what is now a racially offensive term in the middle of an otherwise entirely acceptable book does need some explanation. That explanation would take away from the flow of the story so why not just replace it? The only alternative is to accept that these excellent children’s books are only read by adults which I think would be a touch bizarre.