Pan Macmillan, publisher of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind, placed a trigger warning on the “problematic” book.
HBO pulled the movie adaptation of the Civil War movie in 2020 after the death of George Floyd.
The Telegraph published the warning in the book:
“Gone with the Wind is a novel which includes problematic elements including the romanticisation of a shocking era in our history and the horrors of slavery.“The novel includes the representation of unacceptable practices, racist and stereotypical depictions and troubling themes, characterisation, language and imagery.“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.“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.“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.“This does not, however, constitute an endorsement of the characterisation, content or language used.”
It gets better. The Other Boleyn Girl author Philippa Gregory, a historical novelist, wrote an essay for the book. Gregory is white. Pan Macmillan said she wrote the essay since “we believed it was important that no author from a minority background should be asked to undertake the emotional labour of being responsible for educating the majority.”
I cannot believe this:
This essay argues that Mitchell intended her novel to support the romantic Lost Cause view of a Confederacy that was fighting for freedom, and that the work “effectively promoted the racist planter view of the history of the South”.Gregory writes that the problem of the novel is that “it tells us, unequivocally, that African people are not of the same species a white people”, adding “This is the lie that spoils the novel”.She further argues Gone with the Wind “defends racism” and “glamorises and preaches white supremacy”, while also writing that Mitchell herself undermines this aspect of the work.
In the book, Scarlett O’Hara tries to hold onto her family’s property as the North invades the South. Then she enjoys a romance with Captain Rhett Butler.
If anything, the book needs a warning like The Great Gatsby. You’re not going to like the main characters b/c they’re awful people.
At least the publisher isn’t rewriting it? Agatha Christie books received that treatment.
Penguin tried to do that to Roald Dahl’s books. Instead of reversing course, the publisher also published the books in their original form.
Remember all of this when the left and Democrats scream about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis banning books!! We all know he isn’t but the truth never wins.
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