Welcome to Poetry Friday this week hosted by Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe. Thank you, Heidi for hosting.
I’ve been rereading Roald Dahl’s novel, Matilda, today and thinking about how several of his books have apparently been re-written to make the language more polite. I don’t think novels should be rewritten and I’m not the only one. Salmon Rushdie apparently agrees and wrote on twitter, “Roald Dahl is no angel but this is absurd censorship.” We should be able to look back and learn from the classics as a reflection of the time in which they were written. We can learn where we came from, in my opinion.
I LOVE Roald Dahl’s books and I think Matilda is brilliant and one of the funniest books I have ever read.
I can relate to this little girl because I discovered reading through librarians and a school teacher. Parents when I grew up were busy working and hands off in the reading department. They were happy to let teachers teach.
Matilda had worse problems. She had mean parents, but that’s what I love about Dahl, his use of exaggeration is a huge part of his humor. Matilda’s parents were the worst parents imaginable and blind to Matilda’s also exaggerated and brilliant intellectual life.
But Matilda survives her parents idiocy, the TV dinners her mother serves every night after bingo by the television, and her father’s self importance and constant lies. She survives by playing tricks on them, hilarious tricks that her parents never catch on to, like putting hair bleach in her father’s hair dressing and glue in his hat. They deserve every trick!
Matilda, for me, is a celebration of children, teachers and librarians and the magic of school and how it helps young people learn to think for themselves.
So it has discouraged me lately to see the discord and disrespect on TV at school board meetings. Are we simply to assume that all parents know more about education and books than teachers and librarians?
So here’s a limerick for Matilda, who survives her nasty parents and saved, actually adopted, by her teacher:
Matilda Matilda’s mother and dad were selfish, mean and just bad. But Matilda was smart had courage and heart and ended up happy not sad. © Janice Scully
We saw the on-stage version of Matilda recently at a local theater. I admit to being a bit horrified by the teacher during the first half of the play! I did enjoy her transformation. Thanks for sharing your thoughts about the editing/censorship issue. As a parent, I sometimes edited/censored during read-alouds the parts of stories I didn’t think my kids needed to hear/were ready for. xo
I never saw this story as a play or musical, but I think I like these characters better in a book, better to imagine them. I might not find some characters quite as amusing.
I agree with you and Rushdie 110%! And MATILDA is a classic of hyperbole, like most of Dahl’s work, and why kids adore it. Thanks for your limerick!
Oh, I love your limerick, Janice. The idea of this rewrite of Dahl’s work amazes and concerns me. I’m definitely not sure we have become more polite considering the way people are treating each other recently. Good for you for the shout-out!
Janice, sweet little limerick. That is one with perfect rhythm and rhyme, and a great summary of the book that could make someone hopefully read it!
I read Matilda many years ago, when my two were young, and remember them laughing aloud. I cannot imagine the censoring. Of course a parent can decide if it’s not appropriate for their kids… but to rewrite now?! Yikes.
Love your limerick–the cliff notes for the book!
Your limerick is spot on, and a perfect poem form for the rollicking and wonderful story of Matilda!
I agree we ought to keep our hands off ” Matilda,” and Dahl’s many other terrific books, thanks Janice!
Sigh… cannot fathom how we are going to move beyond the blanket censorship happening in what our children may read! So distressing!
Amen! I am a school librarian who is deep into work protecting freedoms of our students to read…so deep that I was late to hearing the news of Roald Dahl’s work. The adults in our world that are scared of all that “we” (the collective we) haven’t done to protect freedoms are striking out at the only things they can control…children’s books. How absurd. How much like the villans in Dahl stories. I wish he was here to write about it.
Matilda’s such a wonderful heroine. We saw a play of it years ago, in addition to the movie many times, and the book once or twice. She’s a winner in every version! Thanks for your limerick!
That’s such a good idea right now, to re-read Dahl. I really dislike the current rise in censorship and book banning.
Mathilda deserves her fun limerick! Thanks for writing it.
Janice, what is happening in this world? Censorship, rewriting a book, and so many other issues are still burning issues. Your limerick is sweet and full of verve. Thanks for sharing this news about Dahl’s Matilda.
Love your limerick, Janice! It’s a great summary of the book in just a few words. What a great writing prompt that would make in a classroom on how to teach summarizing! I agree about the problem with rewriting books. Parents can choose what to share/not share with their children, but censorship in any form denies that right.
Spot on limerick, Janice! 🙂
I’ve read that all of Dahl’s books are inspired by bits of his upbringing. His unique (real) dark humor is what makes his books brilliant and important to readers. IMHO none of it should be changed and sugarcoated. Revisionist history helps no one. Ugh.
Janice, thanks for this post. The question of how we consume art when we know the artist’s beliefs or behavior (or both) were dehumanizing to others — so difficult! And now we have the added layer of books being not only censored, but revised. Your Matilda limerick is wonderful, especially her “courage and heart.”
I agree with you, Janice. Rewriting Roald Dahl is ridiculous and sad. But, aside from that, I’ve been on a Roald Dahl roll lately. Have you read his autobiographies? Boy is the title of one. I love it. I can’t remember the title of the one where he flies during the war, but it was good also. I recommend them. Great limerick! Thanks for sticking up for Roald!