Agatha Christie Becomes the Latest Literary Titan to Get Sensitivity Edits

The increasing practice of re-editing classic literature to make it more palatable to modern readers has been a contentious situation to put it lightly, with several titans of the printed page having seen their works reappraised with modern day sensibilities in mind. Agatha Christie has become the latest, and it doesn’t take Hercule Poirot to uncover why both sides of the debate feel so strongly about it.

As one of the best-selling authors of all-time that’s estimated to have shipped upwards of two billion copies of her work, going through the entire Christie back catalogue and underscoring every word that could potentially cause offense in 2023 sounds like a task so daunting that it’d take a brave soul to even consider embarking upon such a colossal undertaking.

While that hasn’t happened quite yet, several of the writer’s most iconic tomes have been getting a comb through, with new editions of books penned between 1920 and Christie’s death in 1976 removing “descriptions, insults, or references to ethnicity, particularly for characters Christie’s protagonists encounter outside the UK.”

There was widespread backlash when it was revealed that Roald Dahl was getting an overhaul – so much so that the unedited versions were confirmed to be getting a renewed run of their own in response – while the prospect of Ian Fleming’s James Bond getting the same treatment caused even more pearl-clutching.

R.L. Stine avoid the backlash because he took it upon himself to give Goosebumps the once-over, leaving us very curious to see what the response is to one of the most iconic mystery crafters there’s ever been being placed under the modern-day microscope.

via 20th Century Studios

The increasing practice of re-editing classic literature to make it more palatable to modern readers has been a contentious situation to put it lightly, with several titans of the printed page having seen their works reappraised with modern day sensibilities in mind. Agatha Christie has become the latest, and it doesn’t take Hercule Poirot to uncover why both sides of the debate feel so strongly about it.

As one of the best-selling authors of all-time that’s estimated to have shipped upwards of two billion copies of her work, going through the entire Christie back catalogue and underscoring every word that could potentially cause offense in 2023 sounds like a task so daunting that it’d take a brave soul to even consider embarking upon such a colossal undertaking.

While that hasn’t happened quite yet, several of the writer’s most iconic tomes have been getting a comb through, with new editions of books penned between 1920 and Christie’s death in 1976 removing “descriptions, insults, or references to ethnicity, particularly for characters Christie’s protagonists encounter outside the UK.”

There was widespread backlash when it was revealed that Roald Dahl was getting an overhaul – so much so that the unedited versions were confirmed to be getting a renewed run of their own in response – while the prospect of Ian Fleming’s James Bond getting the same treatment caused even more pearl-clutching.

R.L. Stine avoid the backlash because he took it upon himself to give Goosebumps the once-over, leaving us very curious to see what the response is to one of the most iconic mystery crafters there’s ever been being placed under the modern-day microscope.