Publishers rewrite Jeeves and Wooster books to remove ‘unacceptable’ prose by PG Wodehouse with trigger warnings added to revised editions telling readers characters may be ‘outdated’

The light-hearted escapades of Jeeves and Wooster have become the latest victims of the seemingly relentless march of literature’s word police. 

PG Wodehouse’s books on the pair’s aristocratic misadventures have been identified as having what the publishers describe as ‘unacceptable’ prose. 

The comic novels have had passages cut or reworked for new editions by Penguin Random House, as well as trigger warnings added to warn readers of ‘outdated’ themes.

They are latest in a growing series of classic works which have been quietly purged by woke publishers, alongside the books of Roald Dahl and Ian Fleming’s James Bond series.

Edits were also reported to have been made to the 2022 edition of Right Ho, Jeeves, pictured

In the Wodehouse books, one warning said the prose had been changed because it was judged to be ‘unacceptable’ by Penguin, The Sunday Telegraph reported.

The disclaimer printed on the opening pages of the 2023 reissue of Thank you, Jeeves says: ‘Please be aware that this book was published in the 1930s and contains language, themes and characterisations which you may find outdated.

‘In the present edition we have sought to edit, minimally, words that we regard as unacceptable to present-day readers.’

PG Wodehouse’s books on the pair’s aristocratic misadventures have been identified as having what the publishers describe as ‘unacceptable’ prose

The warning adds that the changes ‘do not affect the story’ of the novel, which is the first full-length work to feature Jeeves and Wooster, who were portrayed by Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry in a 1990s ITV adaptation.

Edits were also reported to have been made to the 2022 edition of Right Ho, Jeeves, which carries the same disclaimer warning the reader of outdated content, and stating that changes have been made to Wodehouse’s original text.

In the 1934 book, newly reissued by Penguin, a racial term used to describe a ‘minstrel of the old school’ has been culled.

Similarly, in Thank You, Jeeves, which features the performance of a minstrel troupe, numerous racial terms have been removed or altered, both in dialogue spoken by the characters in the book, and from first-person narration in the voice of Wooster.