Amid outrage over Roald Dahl’s novels being ‘air-edited’, Ian Fleming’s James Bond books are also being revamped across genres. After considering sensitivities, some references to race were removed from the book. The new editions are also expected to include a disclaimer noting that Ian Fleming wrote the book at a time “when terms and attitudes that might be considered offensive by modern readers were commonplace”. .
According to reports, several depictions of Black people have been reworked or edited in the latest editions of the 007 book. Terms like n-word or Bond take on African crimes in Live and Let Die – nothing out of the ordinary in the original book – has also been removed.
However, some references involve other peoples – such as Bond’s mocking views of Oddjob (Goldfinger’s Korean minions) and some of the terms used to describe East Asians – brought it into the update issue.
According to a report by The Daily Telegraph, references to “sweet rape” and “stubborn disability” aka homosexuality were omitted. “Women who flirt” and those who do “man’s work” are also honored in the updated version.
The development comes just days after edits to Roald Dahl’s books caused outrage in the UK and beyond.
“When it comes to our rich and varied literary heritage, the prime minister agrees with the BFG that we shouldn’t talk nonsense. We have always defended freedom of speech and freedom of expression,” Max Blain, a spokesman for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, told reporters at the time.
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