Gone With the Windwill now come with a trigger warning for those affected by descriptions of 19th century slavery in the Deep South.
The Daily Telegraphin the UK reports that publisher Pan Macmillan has decided readers could find depictions of the era hurtful or indeed harmful,and is adding a warning to new editions of Margaret Mitchells classic novel published in 1936 and brought to the screen in 1939 starring Vivien Leigh and Clarke Gable as southern belle Scarlett OHara and her husband Rhett Butler.
In contract with recent issues ofAgatha Christie works which have been edited to remove content considered objectionable in 2023 Mitchells copy has not been altered, but the warning gives notice of shocking elements and the romanticization of a shocking era in our history.
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It adds: The novel includes the representation of unacceptable practices, racist and stereotypical depictions and troubling themes, characterisation, language and imagery.
The new editions of the novel will also include a foreword by historical fiction writer Philippa Gregory, explaining the white supremacist aspects of the story.
The Telegraphreports the publisher asked Gregory, a white writer, to provide the essay, to avoid inflicting emotional labour on a minority writer.
