A
Canadian publisher has taken away Santa's pipe
— and thus the smoke curling around his head
— in a new version of an old favorite.
Twas the Night Before Christmas, illustrated by Elena Almazova and Vitaly Shvarov, was published in September and has already caused quite a ruckus.
"The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath."
While some complain that taking out a line that Clement Moore wrote a hundred years ago is censorship, the author wanted to help Santa kick his smoking habit.
"I'm not telling people not to read books, and anyone is free to go out
and buy one of the many other editions of this book. But smoking is
going to kill one billion people in this century, and that needs to be
discussed."
On the other hand, the publisher easily found this in
a child's email letter to Santa:
"I also want my Mom and Step Dad to stop smoking. Pretty Please."
What do you think?
Read the article (or any of the many others online
— just google "Santa smoking" to find them), and let's talk about this change in a classic book. Is it censorship, or is it a good idea?
5 comments:
Is it censorship for a classic book to be changed? This time it's about Santa's pipe smoking in Clement Moore's well-known poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" (better known as "Twas the Night Before Christmas"). The cover of this edition has these words: "Edited by Santa Claus for the benefit of children of the 21st century." And Santa no longer smokes. There was a big row over making changes to Huck Finn's world (leaving out the "N" word), so what do you think about changes to this children's classic?
Someone (I read several articles) pointed out the fur on Santa's clothing and candles on the Christmas tree inside. Should these also be eliminated? How far is too far?
Yes, it is censorship and yes, it is a good thing to take Santa's pipe away. I am just getting to the point where I can't judge things like this anymore.
I am not sure that Santa's pipe smoking influences that many little ones to smoke, but even one is too many to be lost to cancer, isn't it? Maybe if we read the unabridged version, we will have the opportunity to teach them NOT to smoke by discussing the dangers.
Censoring Santa just never occurred to me before.
However, a 'classic' needs to remain as it was written, and fur and candles and use of the N word in Huck Finn, is just going too far, I think.
You have expressed my feelings exactly. Taking out everything we disagree with today violates the integrity of the original — and we also lose a chance to discuss things like smoking that cause problems.
I wonder if part of the problem isn't that Santa is presented as alive and well today. I worked for a boss whose parents did not let her "believe in Santa," and she was the most unimaginative person I've ever known. I don't know for a fact that one thing led to the other, but I do believe children need opportunities to imagine different worlds and different situations.
Little Black Sambo, now Santa Clause? Political correctness! The world is full of crazies in my opinion. Having just come from the gallery show I should probably wait til tomorrow to comment -- BUT I think people are going too far. Some people are ridiculous!! My opinion, or course!!
It is censorship by definition. I am so weary of these self-appointed PC police and am happy to say the original story will remain on my bookshelf. Once a classic is revised, it is no longer a classic, but merely a shadow remnant of its former attribute, and in this case, charm.
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