The revised versions of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels will now feature a disclaimer following a review by sensitive readers
In April - it will mark 70 years since Casino Royale - the first book in the series - was published and to make the special occasion, all of the author's thrillers featuring 007 are set to be reissued.
Ian Fleming Publications Ltd - the company that owns the literary rights to the writer's work - authorized an inspection by sensitivity readers of the classic texts.
According to The Telegraph, a disclaimer accompanying the reissued texts will read: "This book was written at a time when terms and attitudes which might be considered offensive by modern readers were commonplace. 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."
The changes to the author's books result in some depictions of Black people being reworked or removed. Terms such as the n-word were featured in Fleming's writing from the 1950s and 1960s.
A scene in the book that was set during a strip tease at a Harlem nightclub was originally written as "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."
This has been now been changed to "Bond could sense the electric tension in the room," as well as a passage describing accented dialogue as "straight Harlem-Deep South with a lot of New York thrown in," has been removed.
Other revised lines include the renowned character's opinion of Africans in the gold and diamond trades as "pretty law-abiding chaps I should have thought, except when they’ve drunk too much," which has been modified to "pretty law-abiding chaps I should have thought".
However, the outlet shared that some references to other ethnicities, such as a term for east Asian people and Bond's views of Oddjob - Goldfinger’s Korean henchman will remain.
In addition to this, comments such as "sweet tang of rape," "blithering women," doing a "man’s work" and remarks about homosexuality being a "stubborn disability" have been kept in.
Ian Fleming Publications spoke about the changes to The Telegraph and said: "We at Ian Fleming Publications reviewed the text of the original Bond books and decided our best course of action was to follow Ian’s lead. We have made changes to ‘Live and Let Die’ that he himself authorized."
"Following Ian’s approach, we looked at the instances of several racial terms across the books and removed a number of individual words or else swapped them for terms that are more accepted today but in keeping with the period in which the books were written," they continued.
And over on Twitter, the response to the news has been far from positive, with people calling for the books to remain untouched and viewed as products of their time.
"More madness," one Twitter user wrote. "It is Ian Fleming's work. His views at that time represent a personal time-capsule of social attitudes. These should be considered and commented upon within the parameters of that period of history. Nothing more."
A second added: "The James Bond novels were not written for pearl-clutching scolds of indeterminate sex.
They are thrillers written for people who like thrillers. Do not gut them to appeal to people who do not want them to begin with. Leave history untouched."
And a third wrote: "Is anyone who wasn't reading Bond books now more likely to start?
"They document a changing world. Casual sexism and racism happened. Better that we know that and can view the texts from a positin of social enlightenment than we change and forget this."
As previously mentioned, the new paperbacks will be published in April.
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