A week or so later, several books spread the word Roald Dahl including the library Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matildaand WitchesReportedly changed to remove insensitive words, we now hear that some of the James Bond novels are also being updated.
Ian Fleming Publications Ltd, which owns the rights to the novels, has decided to remove racist content from the books based on the blockbuster film series as the property prepares to celebrate its 70th anniversary. A number of books have been edited, incl Casino Royale, Live and Die, Thunder, Quantum of Solaceand Golden finger.
In addition to the revisions, each reprinted book contains the following words:
“This book was written at a time when terms and views that might be considered offensive by modern readers were commonplace. This edition has made a number of revisions to be as close as possible to the original text and its era. Marked.”
According to a new report The Telegraphracist language was removed across the board.
In a statement to The Telegraph, Ian Fleming Publications said:
“At Ian Fleming Publications, we looked at the text of the original Bond books and decided that the best course of action was to follow Ian’s lead. We made changes to ‘To Live and Die’ that he authorized.”
“Following Ian’s approach, we looked at several examples of racial terms throughout the books and either removed a number of specific words or replaced them with terms that are more acceptable today but more appropriate to the era in which the books were written. We encourage people to read the books for themselves when the new papers are published in April.”
I’m angry about the changes and I’m totally against banning the book, but I don’t think there’s any harm in removing racist language that isn’t relevant to the story. What do you think?
via: CB