Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels to be edited to remove material deemed offensive – IndieWire

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Following the news that adapted versions of several of Roald Dahl’s novels were being released to protect modern readers from language deemed offensive, another iconic British novelist’s estate follows suit.

According to a new report in Sunday TelegraphNew editions of Ian Fleming’s original James Bond novels omitting the offensive passages are set to be released this spring by Ian Fleming Publications. The report claims that Fleming’s estate has worked with “sensitive readers” to point out and remove what they see as language that reflects outdated attitudes about race.

Publications by Ian Fleming claim that Fleming himself was on board with the inclusion of less offensive racist language, and approved the changes to “Live and Let Die” before his death in 1964. “a black person” or “a black man”.

“We at Ian Fleming Publications have gone through the script of the original Bond books and have decided that our best course of action is to follow Ian’s lead. A spokesperson for Ian Fleming Publications told The Sunday Telegraph, We have made changes to the Live and Let Die programme, which he himself has authorized. “Following Ian’s approach, we looked at the instances of several ethnic terms across the books and removed a number of individual words or replaced them with terms that are more acceptable today but in keeping with the period in which the books were written.”

The republished Bond novels will include a disclaimer: “This book was written at a time when terms and situations that might be considered offensive by modern readers were commonplace. A number of updates have been made in this edition, keeping as close as possible to the original text and the period in which it was made.” set in it.”

The news comes at a time of heightened cultural sensitivity in the publishing industry, but also when the James Bond film series is trying to reinvent itself. Franchise producer Barbara Broccoli is in no rush to find a new 007 actress as she and her team try to determine the next direction to kick off the series. She has ruled out the possibility of a female James Bond, but said she would consider British actors of any race for the role.