Racist terms in old books - should they be removed?

[LunaNorth]

I’m a big fan of books from the 1930s and 1940s, but I’m not a fan of being confronted by the n-word, or terms like ‘working like a black’ within an otherwise totally innocuous crime novel, such as the Josephine Tey I’m reading right now.

On the one hand, I fully understand the need to show society as it really was, and not try to whitewash the past. There’s no way I’d suggest removing such language from something like To Kill A Mockingbird, or Of Mice and Men.

But on the other, nobody picks up an old crime novel in the hopes of being educated about race relations in the 1930s, do they? So you end up being yanked out of the narrative and feeling a bit guilty for even reading it in the first place.

I dunno. I’m probably massively wrong, and I’m happy to be told so, but leaving phrases like ‘n*** brown’ in a book, with no disclaimer or warning anywhere, smacks a bit of condoning it. And how the hell do you recommend or lend the book to anyone without looking like a massive racist? ‘Here, read this, it’s a cracking little crime novel, but of the old racist language in it, but don’t let that bother you.’ No, can’t do it.

I picked up the book after hearing a podcast about it, and nothing at all was said about the language. Should it have been?

I’m normally the last person to recommend censorship, but I don’t see the point in letting such language hang about in light fiction books, really. It’s like finding a razor blade in your sandwich.

Or am I completely wrong?

I agree that some offensive words or expressions can easily be substituted.

But, as a pp observed, offence is an ever-changing landscape, particularly at the moment, and some might find attitudes towards size (Billy Bunter) problematic and a host of other matters. Phrases and words we are using freely now may be unacceptable in a few years’ time (or even a few months!) and so it would be a constant exercise in removals.

@Torvean In the books you buy today Darrell doesn't slap Gwendolyn anymore - that's not PC apparently! And they've changed the shillings etc to modern money. Not to mention the name swaps. I really don't know why. It's quite insulting to today's children to treat them as if they couldn't understand that times change.

[quote FurrySlipperBoots]@Torvean In the books you buy today Darrell doesn't slap Gwendolyn anymore - that's not PC apparently! And they've changed the shillings etc to modern money. Not to mention the name swaps. I really don't know why. It's quite insulting to today's children to treat them as if they couldn't understand that times change.[/quote]
They also play netball !

No, they were written in a different time and are a product of their time. Fiction is part of the way through which we view the world. We can't change the past, but we should learn from it and we can't do that if anything not fitting with the standards of today is edited.

with the ever growing list of people who get offended by anything and everything nowadays books and films will be

this is my book, the begining the middle the end three pages long ,

films will be this is the film this is the end of the film and no actors because they might not represent some part of society or might offend some other part of society ,

i feel sorry for todays kids as life is becoming so bland, i read dickens, edgar allen poe, enid blyton, etc at the begining of the 1960s and for that few hours got lost in someone elses world and on to the next book the one before being largely forgotten, and it didnt turn me into a racist, sexist misoginist homophobic person it just meant i lived a lifetime of reading interesting books

I agree that we shouldn’t alter the books at least for adults, but there does need to be a warning on children’s books. As a child, I read The Waterbabies and was winded by the virulence of the anti-Irish racism. Charles Kingsley was a Darwinian, and used the story to teach children about the superiority of the different races, and had lots of allegorical digs at the Irish as liars and stupid and depending on potatoes - dehumanising callousness just a few years after a million had starved to death.

English readers may gloss over this as ‘of its time’ but the prejudice shocked to to my core.

So, disclaimers are needed so children don’t accidentally come across this while looking for a light read, but it is also really useful as adults to know the attitudes the empire was based on.

I was reading a thread on Reddit a while ago (think it was a TV subreddit) and stumbled upon a discussion about Friends and one of the contributors said something along the lines of "it is horribly homophobic and transphobic, but they didn't know better then"

As a teen in the 90s I remember being very aware of all the isms and considering myself very socially aware. I adored Friends. It's only now I watch it back and cringe at the "haha you're so gay" kind of jokes that are so liberally thrown around. I don't remember questioning it at the time.

It was quite a shock to realise that the "they" being discussed in the subreddit was in fact my peers and I.

i feel sorry for todays kids as life is becoming so bland,

Yes, trying to make society less racist is just so bland isn’t it?

Imagine if each generation had altered Shakespeare to fit their sensibilities. I wonder what would be left. Also, has anyone walked around an art gallery and had a good look? The past is the past and we learn from it.
I also would worry about a precedent being set for censorship with the question being who would be making those decisions. There have been recent stirrings against To Kill a Mockingbird ( including on this site). We will lose a lot if we start to go down this road.