Leftist publishers have recently taken it upon themselves to rewrite the works of Roald Dahl, Ian Fleming, and Agatha Christie to bring them into line with contemporary woke sensibilities. The good news today is that the publishers of Gone With the Wind have not given us a similar bowdlerization of Margaret Mitchell’s much-beloved 1936 novel. You can still get a new copy of the real thing, but its publishers are decidedly nervous about offering it for sale in this enlightened era. They have attached a warning, just in case there is any sentient being in 2023 who doesn’t know what he or she or xe is getting with Gone With the Wind and needs cushioning for the shock of encountering people with thoughts that are decidedly unwoke.
“The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there,” as the old adage goes, and that’s the whole point. Reading a book from another time is like traveling to a strange land without having to suffer some endless flight and end up in a dodgy hotel with mosquito netting around the bed; it introduces you to a place where people don’t think, or speak, or act the same way that we do. For contemporary Leftists, that will never do. Everyone must always behave as if they were twenty-first-century Leftists. Otherwise, you see, people might be “harmed,” which apparently means that they will think unapproved thoughts.
Pan Macmillan, the publishers of Gone With the Wind, have done all they can to forestall that possibility. In their new edition of the epic novel of the Old South, they have included a warning that the novel “includes problematic elements including the romanticisation of a shocking era in our history and the horrors of slavery.” The possibility that some people might want to read the book precisely because it offers a perspective on these matters that differs sharply from our own, so as to compare and contrast, doesn’t enter into the pointy little Leftist heads of Pan Macmillan’s editors, none of whom will ever write anything that even comes close to approaching the drama, majesty, insight or wisdom of Gone With the Wind, which transcend considerations of slavery and race.
That would be impossible, as far as Pan Macmillan is concerned. The warning continues by stating that “the novel includes the representation of unacceptable practices, racist and stereotypical depictions, and troubling themes, characterisation, language, and imagery.” Imagine the dry, desiccated, dreary, doctrinaire world these Leftist editors live in, in which no one dares even to contemplate engaging in “unacceptable practices.” They apparently do not realize that people engaging in “unacceptable practices” is what makes all the great fiction of the world, going back to Penelope’s suitors defying Telemachos not long before Odysseus finally makes it home (read The Odyssey, kids).
The Pan Macmillan editors do deserve thanks and even commendation for one thing: they didn’t attempt a woke cleanup of Margaret Mitchell’s novel. The warning states: “The text of this book remains true to the original in every way and is reflective of the language and period in which it was originally written.” Great.
However: “We want to alert readers that there may be hurtful or indeed harmful phrases and terminology that were prevalent at the time this novel was written and which are true to the context of the historical setting of this novel.” Apparently aware that they were going to get flak for this from Leftist fascists, they explained: “Pan Macmillan believes changing the text to reflect today’s world would undermine the authenticity of the original, so has chosen to leave the text in its entirety.” But please, please, Antifa, don’t hurt us: “This does not, however, constitute an endorsement of the characterisation, content, or language used.” Whew! And here I was thinking that Pan Macmillan endorsed slavery and secession!
Related: And Then There Were None: Woke Censors Come for Mystery Writer Agatha Christie
As if that weren’t enough, Pan Macmillan threw in an essay by author Philippa Gregory, charging that Gone With the Wind “effectively promoted the racist planter view of the history of the South.” Gregory says that the novel “defends racism” and “glamorises and preaches white supremacy.” She claims that it even “tells us, unequivocally, that African people are not of the same species as white people.” Gregory concludes: “This is the lie that spoils the novel.”
Wow. If Pan Macmillan hates Gone With the Wind so much, why bother to put out a new edition at all? And when was the last time that a publisher put out a book while warning you about how bad the book is? Still, if this is how books that don’t reflect today’s groupthink can slip past the censors, then we can live it, for now, until our woke manacles are definitively thrown off. But just in case, start hoarding and hiding older editions of your favorite books. It’s quite clear that you won’t regret having done so.
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