Woke Publisher Bowdlerizes P.G. Wodehouse. Who's next?

Surgery on literature is 21st century's fig leaf on a statue 



By James Terminiello

A nationally-known publisher has decided to edit certain language in the novels of the late P.G. Wodehouse due to some indelicate words that were deemed "unacceptable" to today's readers. (1) On the surface, this could be considered non-news. Quite the contrary. This is an utter disgrace, a violation of an artists product, and a danger to our culture and history. It is also quite silly.

For those who know nothing of Wodehouse, he was the author of a veritable library of light and fluffy novels, the best featuring two amazing characters: Jeeves, a brilliant, loyal, elegant, and savvy gentleman's gentleman who served Bertie Wooster - a likeable but eminently daft British upper class twit. In sum, Bertie gets in and Jeeves gets him out of trouble in a never-never land version of England of the early 20th century. It is all as light and delectable as a well-crafted and serenely seasoned soufflet.

Wodehouse had a gift for gentle humor and absolute silliness that has yet to equaled. Deceased for nearly 50 years, to this day he has fervid readers around the globe who enjoy being transported to his world of manor homes, domineering aunts, scatter-brained romances, impeccable shirt collars, and bon mots by the dog cart load. No less a figure than Christopher Hitchens hailed Wodehouse as "the gold standard of English wit."

Most important: If you get him, Wodehouse adds a little shine to your day and is utterly and impeccably harmless. 

And yet, his work is now being surgically edited to excise some enthnically-charged language that, from the current publishers' perspective, would lacerate the souls of today's hyper-sensitive readers.

As a Wodehouse character might put it: Oh, pish and tosh! This seems rather a typhoon in a less-than-adequately-lidded teapot.

I say it is just plain wrong. 

The publisher was not content with adding a disclaimer on the order of: This work of fiction contains language that might offend some individuals.   Of course, such a statement in and of itself is laughable as I am confident that readers of the 22rd century will look down upon some of today's lingo, ideas, and "truths".  Actually, I'm dead certain. 

No. Instead the publisher chooses to bowdlerize. This word comes from a crusading physcian who took it upon himself to edit that hack of hacks William Shakespeare and remove any language that might offend. This endeavor was once considered laughable, yet here we are again. 

You may have seen an occasional ancient nude statue with a strategically placed fig leaf covering a vital organ or two.  This was a Victorian attempt to hide parts of the human body that we are all familiar with so as not to offend. Again, laughable by current standards.   

And yet ...

When last I looked, we were ankle deep into the 21st century.  And here we are looking back on days gone by and deciding to "correct" works of fiction. We've reached a point where someone as harmless and graceful as P.G. Wodehouse is soon to devolve into P.G. Wokehouse.  

I'm sure the edits will be trivial and not change the content in any significant way, but that is just the point. Why even do it and where does this end? If they go after the likes of Wodehouse and Twain, what is to stop them from editing history and science if it doesn't jibe with today's thinking? 

Joe Stalin and his boys raped and excised books by the gross ton, actually removed real figures from Russian history, and declared some people to be "politically insane."

We are not there yet, but we are on the slope and looking down. I for one don't like the view.

James Terminiello is the author of the social satire Junkyard. He writes from Mount Laurel.  
 
(1)
https://www.nationalreview.com/news/penguin-removes-unacceptable-words-from-p-g-wodehouse-novels-adds-trigger-warnings-for-outdated-language/

Published in The South Jersey Times on December 31, 2023

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