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(may cause offense)
GAVIN O’TOOLE chuckles through a guide to politically correct usage of the literary canon

You Can’t Say That Any More
Ivor Vertue, Abacus, £14.99

 

AS Washington rapidly begins to resemble imperial Rome under a power-hungry absolutist, one might be tempted to revisit Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, but those of a delicate disposition should be warned, the language and tone of this 1599 theatrical masterpiece is dangerously outdated — and today may cause offence.

Indeed, this staple of English literature is a prime candidate for a revision that drags it kicking and screaming into a modern era in which we must navigate our narrative universe using a compass of overindulgent hyper-sensitivity.

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