Days after Roald Dahl’s classics were modified, several James Bond novels have also been rewritten to remove racial references, according to The Telegraph report. The move was authorised after a sensitivity review.
All 007 books are expected to be reissued in April to commemorate 70 years since Casino Royale – the first book in the series was published. Ian Fleming Publication Ltd, a company that owns the rights to Ian Fleming’s works will be issuing disclaimers in the new book.
“This book was written at a time when terms and attitudes which might be considered offensive by modern readers were commonplace,” the proposed disclaimer will read according to the publication.
“A number of updates have been made in this edition, while keeping as close as possible to the original text and the period in which it is set.”
According to reports, the usage of the n-word has been replaced with ‘Black person’ or ‘Black man’.
In one of the scenes in Live and Let Die when Bond visits a strip club in Harlem, New York, a passage has been altered to remove the pigs’ reference.
“Bond could hear the audience panting and grunting like pigs at the trough. He felt his own hands gripping the tablecloth. His mouth was dry,” reads the original text which has been rewritten to, “Bond could sense the electric tension in the room.”
Netizens were not impressed by the move and slammed the publication for taking the ‘woke’ route.
One Twitter user wrote, “Last week Roald Dahl, this week Ian Fleming. I assume they can’t rewrite Orwell since they need to use his work as a playbook,” while another added, “The day is not far off when owing books from a certain time period will be criminalised with possible jail and re-education.”
The decision to rework the James Bond books comes in the backdrop of Rold Dahl’s classic children’s books being modified to fit the current palette of readers.
The Roald Dahl Story Company which controls the rights to the books said it worked in collaboration with Puffin Books to re-examine the texts.
The word “black” was omitted from the description of the terrible tractors in the 1970s “The Fabulous Mr. Fox.” The machines as per the latest editions are just “murderous, brutal-looking monsters.”
However, most were not impressed by the censorship. Salman Rushdie took offence to the move and said, “Roald Dahl was no angel but this is absurd censorship. Puffin Books and the Dahl estate should be ashamed.”
(With inputs from agencies)
