Trigger warning added to Nancy Mitford novel for ‘depictions of prejudices’

The 2021 adaptation of Mitford’s novel co-stars Emily Beecham as the narrator, Fanny Logan, and Lily James as her cousin and the main character, Linda Radlett - Robert Viglasky
The 2021 adaptation of Mitford’s novel co-stars Emily Beecham as the narrator, Fanny Logan, and Lily James as her cousin and the main character, Linda Radlett - Robert Viglasky

Publishers of Nancy Mitford’s novel, The Pursuit of Love, have added a warning in the new edition, which mocks British prejudice against “bloody foreigners”.

The 1945 book by the eldest Mitford sister was recently reissued by Penguin with a cautionary note in the opening pages.

The warning tells would-be readers that Mitford’s book contains “prejudices that were commonplace in British society” when it was written 80 years ago, denouncing them as “wrong then” and “wrong today”.

The Pursuit of Love’s Uncle Matthew character – played by Dominic West in a recent BBC adaptation – is a comically xenophobic country squire, whose outbursts target Germans, Italians, Spaniards, the French and “bloody foreigners” in general.

The warning in the new edition states: “In this book there are some expressions and depictions of prejudices that were commonplace in British society at the time it was written.

“These prejudices were wrong then and are wrong today.”

The note adds that publishers do not want to rewrite history, stating: “We are printing the novel as it was originally published, because to make changes would be the same as pretending these prejudices never existed.”

Nancy Mitford’s novel became a bestseller on its release in 1945, leading to two follow-up works - ullstein bild Dtl
Nancy Mitford’s novel became a bestseller on its release in 1945, leading to two follow-up works - ullstein bild Dtl

Penguin’s addition of a cautionary note is the latest such intervention by a publishing house since The Telegraph revealed that racial terms were edited out of works by PG Wodehouse.

A warning was printed in his comic novels over fears they contained “outdated” social attitudes.

Publishers have not specified which prejudices in Mitford’s work have caused concern, but The Pursuit of Love’s prejudicial language comes almost entirely from the character of Uncle Matthew, also known as Lord Alconleigh.

A veteran of the Great War, who proudly dispatched Germans with an entrenching tool and hunts his children across the Oxfordshire countryside with his hounds, Uncle Matthew is portrayed as a comically brutish and xenophobic country gentleman.

He lashes out in anti-German harangues against the “Hun” throughout the story, insisting he would never allow them into his house, and voices a milder dislike of the “Frogs”.

Uncle Matthew also insists he would neither host Spaniards at his country pile, Alconleigh, nor welcome Italians, towards whom he does not have any “human feelings”.

He hopes his family would fight to the death should any “bloody foreigners” come to England, and while ranking various European nationalities higher than others, he concludes that all “foreigners are fiends”. 
He also shows a dislike of educated women.

The slurs used by Uncle Matthew to describe various nationalities have not been edited out by Penguin for the latest edition, issued in 2021, and other ethnic terms in the text have been retained.

The 2021 adaptation of Mitford’s novel co-stars Emily Beecham as the narrator, Fanny Logan, and Lily James as her cousin and the main character, Linda Radlett.

The plot of Mitford’s novel centres on Radlett’s unconventional family and her search for romantic love, and the book became a bestseller on its release in 1945, leading to two follow-up works.

The Mitford sisters, pictured in 1935 (from left): Jessica, Nancy, Diana, Unity and Pamela. The youngest, Deborah, is absent
The Mitford sisters, pictured in 1935 (from left): Jessica, Nancy, Diana, Unity and Pamela. The youngest, Deborah, is absent

It was inspired by Mitford’s own upbringing, and life with her famous and infamous sisters, including Diana, who later married British fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley, and Unity, who became a personal acquaintance of Adolf Hitler. 
Mitford died in 1973.

Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels and Agatha Christie’s murder mysteries have also had sections removed or rewritten by Ian Fleming Publications Ltd and HarperCollins, respectively.

Penguin has been approached for comment.