The Great Woke Publishing Cash Grab: After Roald Dahl now James Bond gets a makeover as Ian Fleming's books to be revised
LONDON, ENGLAND: In the wake of the reissue of Ian Fleming’s James Bond series to mark the 70th anniversary of ‘Casino Royale’, Ian Fleming Publications, in the first book of the same, has decided to rewrite the canon to remove some offensive references. A sensitivity review was commissioned by Ian Fleming Publications and was carried out by the sensitivity experts at the publishing house, Penguin Books following the Roald Dahl row.
It is reported that mainly the inappropriate and racially discriminatory terms towards Black people, including N-word, will be edited in the new drafts.
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However, it is interesting to note that the terms used by Fleming for people of East Asian ethnicities will be retained. Other controversial terms like “sweet tang of rape,” “blithering women,” failing to do “a man’s work” and homosexuality being a “stubborn disability” will also be kept, reports Mirror.
How will the books be edited?
The reissued books will come with an expected disclaimer, "This book was written at a time when terms and attitudes which might be considered offensive by modern readers were commonplace," as reported by The Telegraph on Saturday, February 25.
The disclaimer is expected to further contain, "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 was set," reports Mirror.
The adventures of the HMSS spy. James Bond will be presented to the readers in the 70th anniversary edition after undergoing some editorial censors too. An instance where a scene is rewritten from the issue of ‘Live and Let Die, was mentioned by Fox News. While talking about the Africans, Fleming originally wrote that they are "pretty law-abiding chaps I should have thought, except when they’ve drunk too much." This is rephrased as, "pretty law-abiding chaps I should have thought." Instead of using the ‘N-words’, phrases like “Black people” or “Black man” will be used.
What was the Roald Dahl controversy?
Many offensive adjectives like “fat”, “ugly” and “crazy” from Roald Dahl’s books would be edited to make them more acceptable to modern readers, as noted by The Telegraph on February 17. Keeping with the culture of the contemporary world, body-sensitive language related to looks, and gender would fall under censorship. Thus, the character from ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’, Augustus Gloop will now be described as “enormous” instead of “fat.” The altered versions also propelled towards including more gender-neutral and inclusive language. Thus, while describing a particular ethnic group in the books, “men” are getting replaced by “people.”
The altered versions are getting published by Puffin Books, a subsidiary of Penguin Books in the UK catering to children. The reworked versions will come with a disclaimer at the bottom of the copyright page of the books, “Words matter. The wonderful words of Roald Dahl can transport you to different worlds and introduce you to the most marvelous characters. This book was written many years ago and so we regularly review the language to ensure that it can continue to be enjoyed by all today.”
However, Roald Dahl himself was against the reworking of his books. In a conversation published by Mirror, Dahl is found to be saying, “I’ve warned my publishers that if they later on so much as change a single comma in one of my books, they will never see another word from me. Never! Ever!”
Thus, the fans of Dahl were divided by this step taken by the publishers. Following a backlash which was supported by the Queen Consort Camilla, the Penguin group decided to retain the original books in their ‘Classics’ collection while the altered versions will continue to be published by Puffin Books, reports Today.
