Rewritten for its 70th anniversary
The James Bond novels have been rewritten to remove a number of racial references from Ian Fleming’s work, according to the British media The Telegraph, which said the books will be reissued in April to mark 70 years since »Casino Royale», the first in the saga, was published.
Texts to be reviewed
According to this information, Ian Fleming Publications, the company that owns the literary rights to the author’s work, has commissioned a review of the classic texts under its control by sensitive readers.
The context is different
The books will now be accompanied by this sentence, «This book was written at a time when terms and attitudes that modern readers might find offensive were commonplace.»
Some words and descriptions will be removed
Changes to Fleming’s books will result in some depictions of black people being modified or removed, as well as other shocking words or descriptions, and in the U.S. versions, sex scenes will be toned down.
Only a few words and concepts will be modified
However, references to other races or ethnicities will remain, such as Bond’s terms for East Asian people and the spy’s derogatory views of Oddjob, the Korean character from »Goldfinger.»
Not a complete rewrite
References to the «sweet smell of rape», «silly women» who can’t do a «man’s job» and homosexuality as «a stubborn disability» also remain.
It will maintain the same significance
Instead, a scene showing James Bond visiting New York’s Harlem neighborhood, where a ‘striptease’ in a nightclub causes the male crowd to «shake» has been modified.
There were terms that should be eliminated
In addition, the ‘n’ word has been removed, and replaced with »black person» or »black man».
Already authorized by the author himself
«We at Ian Fleming Publications reviewed the text of the original Bond books and decided that our best course of action was to follow Ian’s lead. We have made changes to »Live and Let Die» that he authorized,» the company has assured.
