The classic 1939 film Gone with the Wind has become a subject of controversy in recent years. Now it looks like a trigger warning to Margaret Mitchell’s 1936 Gone with the Wind novel proves the iconic book will be facing the same controversy.
As shared via The Daily Telegraph, publisher Pan Macmillan will add a trigger warning to the Gone with the Wind novel for those who may find its material “hurtful or indeed harmful.” The trigger warning will be applied to all of their new editions of the book.
This has become something of a popular practice with many older books being revised and edited to remove such materials. Of course, many readers are disappointed to see that such classic works are being tampered with. So it’s somewhat refreshing to see that Gone with the Wind won’t be edited in any other way. Though Pan Macmillan is confident with their decision to add a trigger warning to the beginning of the book.
Here’s what the publisher specifically had to share:
“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. In addition, historical fiction writer Philippa Gregory was commissioned to write a a new forward in the latest version, laying out the ‘white supremacist’ aspects of the book.”
Gregory’s essay is said to have been added “in order to avoid inflicting emotional labour on a minority writer,” having noted that Gregory is white. Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any additional updates on such issues as we have them.