Posted by Dave Thewlis on January 18, 2011 at 17:23:53 user dthewlis.
In Reply to: Re: Speaking as a Bowdleriser (was Re: SA Theatre Production)... posted by andyb on January 18, 2011 at 09:30:37:
Andy, you've identified the "real" difference between bowdlerization and censorship in one sense -- the bowdlerizer is creating a variant version of a work for a specific purpose but has no intent to suppress the original, whereas the censor essentially is trying to enforce his or her version on everyone.
Unfortunately generally the means corrupt the ends regardless of the occasional cry that something "justifies" bad means.
So backing off a bit, I guess I could accept a bowdlerized version of a text with a warning given up front that this was done and why and for what audience, but no claim that this was the "correct" or "right" version and especially that others should be eliminated. Yet I would still be cautious that it was clearly stated that this was a derivative variant.
Oh, and I also think that usually the target audience doesn't appreciate being diminshed. Look what happened when Scholastic insisted on "Sorcerer's Stone", iirc because American children don't know words or aren't familiar with words like "Philosopher". Thank heavens Ransome's works remain as he left them. To this American child unfamiliar words were a challenge and a spur to interest, not an unsurmountable block. Even the "n" word, because it was clearly meant in its context.