The original has not been altered in the new edition, but the warning states “shocking elements” and “romanticized a shocking period in our history”.
The publishers of “Gone with the Wind,” the 1936 Pulitzer Prize-winning classic novel by American author Margaret Mitchell, will modify the final edition of the novel to include a warning letter in the introduction branding it “harmful” and “racist.”
London-based publisher Pan Macmillan decided that a cautionary note should be added to Margaret Mitchell’s detailed description of slavery in America during the American Civil War.
First published in 1936, the book is a love story set during the American Civil War, when the slave-owning South fought the abolitionists of Abraham Lincoln in the North. The novel was also adapted for the big screen in 1939, starring Vivien Leigh and Clarke Gable as the southern beauty Scarlett O’Hara and her husband, Rhett Butler.
The warning claims that the epic 1936 Civil War drama contains “shocking elements” from its time, The Telegraph reported.
The warning text in the introduction to the book is as follows:
“The novel contains representation of unacceptable practices, racist and stereotypical depictions and disturbing themes, characterization, language and imagery. The text of this book is faithful in every way and reflects the language and period in which it was originally written. We want to warn that there may be hurtful or genuinely harmful phrases and terminology that is appropriate to the context of this novel’s historical setting. Pan Macmillan believes that changing the text to reflect today’s world would undermine the authenticity of the original and therefore chose to leave the text as a whole. does not imply endorsement of the language.
The edition also includes an article by author Philippa Gregory, who argues that Mitchell’s book “effectively supports the racist view of Southern history.”
The changes will likely come as a surprise to many fans of the film adaptation and the work.
