Ian Fleming’s original James Bond novels have been “rewritten” to remove racist remarks ahead of a coming re-release, The Telegraph has reported.
Ahead of a coming re-release to mark the 70th anniversary since the release of Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale novel, the first in the James Bond series, the publication reports that the works have been “rewritten” to appease woke sensibilities.
The revelation comes after a week of controversy surrounding recent reprints of Roald Dahl’s books, with it being revealed that the works of fiction have been edited in order to change or remove language deemed problematic.
According to The Telegraph, this practice of editing problematic content, supposedly to appeal to modern audiences, has now extended to Fleming’s work, with so-called “sensitivity readers” being drafted in to examine the novels.
As a consequence, the 70th-anniversary edition reprints due out in April are to sport a number of major changes compared to the original, as well as a trigger warning at the beginning warning readers of each book’s contents.
“This book was written at a time when terms and attitudes which might be considered offensive by modern readers were commonplace,” the disclaimer will read.
References to the race and ethnicity of characters appear to have borne the brunt of the changes, with the use of terms deemed offensive or antiquated said to have been axed in favour of descriptors more befitting of modern progressive tastes.
Some sexual descriptors have also allegedly been reworked, with The Telegraph giving the example of one reference to a group of men ogling a woman doing a strip tease at a nightclub acting “like pigs at the trough” in Live and Let Die being axed.
“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 is set,” the included disclaimer is to explain, with iconic characters such as Oddjob said to have had their descriptors rejigged.
The revelation concerning the classic James Bond novels, which have spawned a thriving film franchise that has seen worldwide success, comes shortly after the revelation that the works of Roald Dahl were being heavily edited in order to appease progressives.
According to reports last week, coming reprints of children’s novels from the classic author are to be edited in order to remove references deemed problematic, with the description of infamous glutton Agustus Gloop from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as being fat said to have been removed.
Other references to historical figures and events have also been airbrushed from the works, with one reference to the famed British poet and novelist Rudyard Kipling said to have been removed entirely.
Though celebrated as being one of Britain’s great writers, Kipling has since been attacked for his political views, with one article published by a leftist outlet in the U.S. describing him as a “racist f*ck” before adding that his famous children’s novel The Jungle Book is “imperialist garbage”.