Agreed. If they're up-front instead of vague about whether a particular edition has been changed, I wouldn't mind as much. That aside, the mere concept of bowdlerisation seems like a pertinent issue right now, similar to when the term was first coined.
Thanks for your thoughts. I guess I'm trying to think of a literary analogy for this, and I'll accept 1984's Ministry of Truth as being a stretch. But still, like I said in the OP, I can't ignore the principle idea of changing words for reasons other than grammar. It doesn't feel right at all.
Fair enough, I guess that's why I was posting this as a question. I accept that a publisher changing some select words is not the same as a totalitarian regime, and so not what Orwell may have had in mind, but then that still leaves the question of the long-term implications of publishers changing things to suit the times. Can you think of a better literary analogy for Penguins 'reviews'?
_green_cloak_ OP t1_j943sqg wrote
Reply to comment by boxer_dogs_dance in Are Publishers as bad as Orwell's 'Ministry of truth'? by _green_cloak_
Agreed. If they're up-front instead of vague about whether a particular edition has been changed, I wouldn't mind as much. That aside, the mere concept of bowdlerisation seems like a pertinent issue right now, similar to when the term was first coined.