A long read

[shewhomust]

It's a while since I've read one of the Guardian's Long Read features; long enough that when I came across this piece about the trope of the disabled villain, I was initially baffled. Was it some sort of paid supplement? But no, it is an interesting and thoughtful essay about a literary cliché which has a long history and is maybe not entirely a thing of the past. From James Bond to JRR Tolkien via Shakespeare, author Jan Grue considers some literary examples, and eventually, of course, he reaches Roald Dahl:

It is no accident that the biggest recent debates over sensitivity reading have been initiated by two companies that strive to maximise the value of the intellectual property of dead authors. Their real sensitivity is to the market...

I might have posted about the row over the new editions of Roald Dahl, and I never got round to it: Grue has not written the post that was taking shape in my hed, but he struck a chord all the same. And the piece as a whole is better than what I would have written, so it's all good.

Comments

[sovay]

From James Bond to JRR Tolkien via Shakespeare, author Jan Grue considers some literary examples, and eventually, of course, he reaches Roald Dahl

Thank you for the link! I hadn't seen this piece. The author's account of playing a disabled villain was really interesting, too.

[shewhomust]

I enjoyed that too - and am very happy to share it!