Roald Dahl stories 'lose their power' without his language, his Dutch publisher has said.
Joris van de Leur, the director of De Fontein, which publishes Dahl’s work in the Netherlands, criticised the decision by Puffin to remove words deemed offensive and rewrite entire passages of the popular children’s books.
The changes, first reported in The Telegraph, include the removal of the word “fat” from every book, with Augustus Gloop in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory now only described as “enormous”.
They were made after “sensitivity readers” were hired to expunge material that could cause offence.
However, Mr Van de Leur said that taking out such exaggerations and stereotypes meant the stories “lose all their power”.
“Exaggerations are a figure of speech with him: if a person is fat, it represents gluttony and excess,” Mr Van de Leur told Trouw newspaper.
“Children understand what such a literary hyperbole is. They really don’t think all fat kids are greedy. Roald Dahl is the reason I came to work at this publishing house. His humour is second to none.”
“Fortunately we have the freedom to see what that means for our translations. We will be careful not to detract from Dahl’s humour,” he added.
Mr Van de Leur said he will demand an explanation for the revisions to the author’s work during talks in Italy in a fortnight.
Puffin has made hundreds of changes to Dahl's books, removing many of the author's colourful descriptions and making his characters less grotesque.
The publishing house said the review of Dahl’s language was undertaken to ensure that the books “can continue to be enjoyed by all today”.
Marc De Bel, a Flemish children’s author, suggested that the revisions were the result of a deal struck between Netflix and the Dahl estate two years ago.
“They’re trying to protect Dahl’s legacy from criticism,” he told De Standaard newspaper. “But they also risk trimming what makes Dahl Dahl.”