Re-writing the past?
I'm currently reading Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh.
It was published in 1928 and deals with English high society of the time.
It is basically a comic novel - intentionally (I presume) implausible at times. However, I find myself continuing with it.
Part of the story takes place in a private school in Wales. Waugh is quite disparaging of the Welsh, in a stereotypically comedic (though patronising) manner.
However, this is nothing compared to the sequence in which a wealthy female parent (white, upper-class, English) turns up at school sports day with a younger male companion who is black.
The racist observations made by various characters are quite extraordinary - and unprintable here - though I have no doubt they reflect what were considered the norms of the time.
My Penguin copy is not dated. The decimal pricing of £4.99 on the back cover tells me it is post 1970s - so I'd guess late 1980s or after.
I wonder if I bought a more recently published version would the offending section be expunged - or at least edited? (I guess I need to look in a bookshop.)
But this of course begs the question: 'Should the past be recast to comply with today's values and standards?'
Isn't part of reading something like Decline and Fall an exercise in history - an opportunity to discover what were the mores and opinions of that era?
At an extreme, to take a modern scalpel to the Marquis de Sade would entirely undermine his stated intention to shock, and render worthless a piece of literary history (not that I would recommend it).
More prosaically, as fans of Agatha Christie will know, And Then There Were None is not the original title of this work, as published in 1939.
It's a tricky one.
It was published in 1928 and deals with English high society of the time.
It is basically a comic novel - intentionally (I presume) implausible at times. However, I find myself continuing with it.
Part of the story takes place in a private school in Wales. Waugh is quite disparaging of the Welsh, in a stereotypically comedic (though patronising) manner.
However, this is nothing compared to the sequence in which a wealthy female parent (white, upper-class, English) turns up at school sports day with a younger male companion who is black.
The racist observations made by various characters are quite extraordinary - and unprintable here - though I have no doubt they reflect what were considered the norms of the time.
My Penguin copy is not dated. The decimal pricing of £4.99 on the back cover tells me it is post 1970s - so I'd guess late 1980s or after.
I wonder if I bought a more recently published version would the offending section be expunged - or at least edited? (I guess I need to look in a bookshop.)
But this of course begs the question: 'Should the past be recast to comply with today's values and standards?'
Isn't part of reading something like Decline and Fall an exercise in history - an opportunity to discover what were the mores and opinions of that era?
At an extreme, to take a modern scalpel to the Marquis de Sade would entirely undermine his stated intention to shock, and render worthless a piece of literary history (not that I would recommend it).
More prosaically, as fans of Agatha Christie will know, And Then There Were None is not the original title of this work, as published in 1939.
It's a tricky one.
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
[deleted user]
(new)
Jun 13, 2014 02:13PM
I have found the same situation in Faulkner. His references, with the use of the derogatory terminology for what we now call African Americans ( here in USA, but we referred to as black in Canada) is necessary for the plot line and the feelings it invokes may be distasteful for us but that is why he used them. It calls attention to the climate of the time, racist through and through. To read these works devoid of the words that offend wouldn't draw the necessary conclusions for the story or our own, should I say enlightened and proper sensibilities. We may need to be shocked and I think that literary history mirrors our own cultural one.
reply
|
flag
