“Unauthorized changes to a text reside in the murkier confines of the copyright system, where, at most, moral rights may hold court. Our lexicon captures this mist: Characterize such alterations as ‘expurgation’, ‘distortion’, or ‘red-penciling’, and it may raise eyebrows. But call it ‘editing’, and furrows on one’s brow are less likely. Within this lexicon there is one particularly curious synonym – ‘bowdlerization’ (per the Cambridge Dictionary, ‘to remove words or parts from a book, play, or film that are considered to be unsuitable or offensive’). Whence, and why, this 19th century term? The answer discloses an engaging tale, which still has the power to instruct, where the works of William Shakespeare met pre-Victorian sensibilities of what was suitable, even in non-public spaces …” (more)
[Neil Wilkof, The IPKat, 8 February]
First posted 2022-02-08 17:05:21
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