After Roald Dahl, edited James Bond books to remove ‘offensive’ references

Racist phrases have been removed from the original James Bond novels from the 1950s and 1960s after a sensitivity study, according to a report in the Telegraph. New installments of Ian Fleming’s well-known book series will be made available in April to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the author’s first novel, “Casino Royale”, first published in 1953.

Terms like the n-word, which were prevalent in those decades, have been edited into the novels. In the novels released between 1951 and 1966, the often derogatory term for black people has been almost completely replaced by “black person” or “black man”.

However, there are still references to other ethnicities, such as a phrase for East Asian people and Bond’s mocking views of Oddjob, Goldfinger’s Korean accomplice. Aside from this, there are still references to the “sweet taste of rape”, “blistering women” not doing “man’s work” and homosexuality as a “stubborn handicap” in the books.

According to the outlet, Mr. Bond’s assessment of Africans working in the gold and diamond markets in “Live and Let Die” (1954) has been changed to “nice law-abiding fellows I should have thought” from “nice law-abiding fellows I should have thinking, unless they’ve had too much to drink”.

Each book will also include the disclaimer: “This book was written at a time when terms and notions that may be considered offensive by modern readers were commonplace. A number of updates have been made to this edition, trying to keep as close as possible to the original text. and the period in which it takes place.

Also Read: Roald Dahl’s original books to be published by Penguin amid censorship backlash

According to the Telegraph, the move comes following a review of the James Bond series by sensitive readers commissioned by Ian Fleming Publications, the company that controls the author’s writing rights.

Ian Fleming Publications told the outlet: “We at Ian Fleming Publications reviewed the text of the original Bond books and decided it was best to follow Ian’s lead. We made changes to Live and Let Die which he himself approved .”

“Following Ian’s approach, we looked at the examples of different racial terms in the books and removed or otherwise exchanged some individual words for terms that are more accepted today but are consistent with the period in which the books were written,” she said.