Supposedly racist expressions will be excluded from new editions of James Bond books, 007, created by British writer Ian Fleming, reported the British newspaper. The Telegraphlast week.
As of April, the new titles censored by the publisher begin to circulate in the United Kingdom, as this is the month in which a commemorative version of Cassino Royalefirst novel about the spy.
As agreed, the word “blacks” will be replaced by “black people” or “black woman”, or “black man”. In Live and Let Die, an excerpt was deleted in which James Bond claims that Africans involved in the gold and diamond trade were “law-abiding”, “except when they drink too much”. In the same story, the spy visits a nightclub in Harlem, New York’s African-American neighborhood, and the audience is described as “panting and grunting like pigs”. The new edition will say: “Bond could feel the electrical tension in the environment.”
New editions of the books will come with a note: “This book was written at a time when words and attitudes that might be considered offensive by modern readers were commonplace. Updates have been made to this edition, but with the aim of keeping as close to the original text as possible.”
Fleming is not the only author whose work is being rewritten to excise “problematic passages”. The works of Roald Dahl, author of children’s literature classics such as Matilda, will also receive new editions. Pejorative terms referring to weight, mental health, violence, gender and race will be replaced. In Charlie and the Chocolate FactoryAugustus Gloop will no longer be described as “enormously fat”, but only as “enormous”.
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