The Mauling of Dahl

Roald Dahl (+1990) is being mauled, along with Dr. Seuss (+1991), and, as the Cat in the Hat might declare, we should be appalled, galled, palled, if not stonewalled. On the Ginsu chopping block are Agatha Christie (+1976), P.G. Wodehouse (+1975), Ian Fleming (+1964) and any number of deceased authors on the historical horizon.

Any word, term, phrase, epithet, reference that could possibly in any way give offence to anyone – or, at least, anyone in certain groups, exclusive of white, Christian, heteronormative, cisgendered males – is now verboten, either changed irrevocably into something deemed anodyne, if not cast into oblivion.

This has been tried before, albeit in a different context and purpose. Thomas Bowdler (1754 – 1825) expurgated offensive terms from Shakespeare, publishing in 1807 a family edition of the Bard, fit for pious ears. (In his version, Ophelia dies by ‘accidental drowning’, and not by suicide). It never caught on, but Bowlder’s name entered the English lexicon, and not in a felicitous way. One might think that if you want a play where the rejected damsel meets her demise for not wearing a life preserver, then write your own Hamlet.

The sensitivities are now more widespread and diffuse, politically and culturally fraught, if still somewhat predictable. The main category is anything ‘racial’, but also gone are derogatory terms for anyone – be they overweight or unsightly – as well as anything with a hint of colonialism, patriarchy and male superiority at anything, American exceptionalism, Christian ‘triumphalism’, or any hint of judgement at all. Other offending categories will likely be made up as sensitivities – like unpredictable allergies – unfold.

Let’s continue the allergy analogy: Normal life could never be conducted if everything allergenic to anyone were removed (even if we’ve headed some ways in that direction). Existence would be reduced to a bland beige tapioca pudding – but someone’s allergic to tapioca, and beige is likely too Caucasian.

Just so literature, which, to entertain, elevate and educate – to list but a few of its purposes – must give, or be permitted the potential to give, some offense to someone, if not to many.

Freedom of expression is not only a fundamental right, but also a vital and necessary condition of any true art. People are free to read, or not read, what they like, just as applies to food. Avoid what may bring on hives, metaphorical or otherwise. And to Bowdlerize the classics is to mutilate them, their deceased creators no longer able to resist, a subtle form of deceit and obfuscation. For that is not what they wrote, and what they may not write even if they were alive today.

Let Shakespeare be Shakespeare, Dahl, Dahl, and all will be well that ends as they intended.

In the meantime, buy up all the classic paper copies that you can. A well-stocked library is a treasure indeed, and sure to be more so as this progresses, or, more to the point, regresses.

Carney’s Amoral Majority

After five defections – euphemistically described as ‘crossing the floor’ – and three by-elections, Mark Carney and his Liberals how have their coveted majority. One wonders what bowls of pottage were offered in back-room deals. In the archaic monarchical system that is the Dominion of Canada, this majority allows the newly-minted Prime Minister to rule[…]Continue reading→

Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress

This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→

A Tale of Two Benedicts

A grace-filled Holy Week to all our readers! As we await and prepare for the Resurrection about to dawn upon us, we might keep in mind two Benedicts: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, requiescat in pace, elected on this day in 2005; and today’s commemoration of the mystic pilgrim, Benedict Joseph Labre, who died on this[…]Continue reading→

My Name is Bernadette

April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→

Saint Lydwina of Schiedam and Suffering Joyfully

Saint Lydwina of Schiedam (1380 – 1433) was one of the countless and glorious ‘victim souls’ in the history of the Church, those whose lives are filled with suffering, often of an unimaginable intensity, but who suffer joyfully. She was a fifteen-year old Dutch girl, out skating one day, when she fell and broke one[…]Continue reading→

The Glorious Martyrdoms of Martin and Maximus

As we enter into Eastertide, we recall on this 13th of April Pope Saint Martin I (+655), one of the noblest, if most tragic, of the successors of Saint Peter. Born in Umbria, Italy, he was of noble lineage, with great intelligence combined with charity and love of the poor and the Church. While still[…]Continue reading→

Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów

We celebrate Saint Stanislaus today (+ April 11, 1079), in light of this Easter Octave, a bishop and martyr who accepted the episcopacy only at the direct order of Pope Alexander II. He proved a wise and courageous leader of his flock, put to death by his own king, Boleslaus, for rebuking the monarch’s ‘immoral[…]Continue reading→

Saint Gemma Galgani

On this April 11th, in 1903 – the same year that the Italian Guiseppe Sarto was elected Pope later that summer as Pius X – a lovely, young Italian woman died, by the name of Gemma Galgani. She lived a brief life of 24 years, as did a number of other young saints, including Pier[…]Continue reading→

An Ideological and Improper Translation

I noticed something odd with the psalm reading at Mass the other day. Our bishops’ conference here in Canada has decreed that the Mass in English – Novus Ordo – use the ‘NRSV’, the ‘New Revised Standard Version’, an ‘updated’ translation of the original RSV, first published in 1952. This ‘new translation’ has the tendency[…]Continue reading→

Saint Jean-Baptiste de la Salle: A Teacher for Teachers

Jean-Baptiste de la Salle (1651 – 1719), a French nobleman, ordained a priest, founded the first order in the Church’s history entirely without priests, and this came about almost by accident. I say ‘almost’, for, of course, there are no accidents with God. Destined for ordination from an early age, Jean-Baptiste never looked back, even[…]Continue reading→