Before becoming a world-renowned writer, Ian Fleming studied first at the elite Eton College and the equally elite Sandhurst Military Academy. Then he worked in as a journalist for the Reuters Agency, he was a stock broker, and during World War II he served as an adjutant to the admiral in charge of British intelligence. His experience of working in military intelligence served him well when he wrote his cult spy novels about
James Bond to censorship. Offensive words are removed from the originals
Casino Royale, the first novel about casinos, was published in 1953. Interestingly, there is a well-established belief that Flemig modeled the main female character on the life story of Krystyna Skarbek – a Polish agent of the British secret service of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and an agent of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) and the first woman who worked for British intelligence.
His books quickly appealed to filmmakers and became the basis for screenplays for films no less iconic than the literary character himself. Interestingly, “Casino Royale” was filmed in 1954 as part of the television series “Climax”, and in 1967 the “unofficial” British-American adaptation premiered. It was a surreal comedy starring David Niven as James Bond and Orson Welles as Le Chiffre.
During Fleming’s lifetime, the James Bond film franchise, which has continued so far, was launched, and the novel “Doctor No” was the first to be filmed, which was actually the sixth part of the book series. Before Fleming died prematurely in 1964 of a heart attack (he was only 56 at the time of his death), he had already written twelve novels and nine James Bond stories.
Ian Fleming Publications, which owns the rights to literary originals, has announced that new editions of Fleming’s novels will go on sale in the spring. Nevertheless, it was decided to remove racially negative vocabulary from the originals. According to the publishers, although the individual terms used by the writer in the 1950s and 1960s were not considered offensive, they now bear witness to past and harmful racial stereotypes.
Ian Fleming Publications even reports that Fleming himself supported the idea of introducing inclusive and less racially offensive language. According to their account, he himself approved the revisions to the novel Live and Let Die before his untimely death. Most of the amendments reportedly replace pejorative terms for black people with the phrase “black man” or “black person.” A spokesman for the publishing house told The Sunday Telegraph:
The Ian Fleming Publications team reviewed the texts of the original James Bond novels and decided it was best to follow Ian’s footsteps. We introduced in < > changes that he himself has authorized. live>
Following this track, we looked at a few racial terms in the books and removed a few words or replaced them with terms that are now more acceptable but related to the period in which the novels were written.
The new edition of the books is also to be provided with an information note: “This book was written at a time when terms and attitudes considered offensive today were the order of the day. Appropriate corrections were made in the book, which at the same time were faithful to the realities of the era in which the text and the events were embedded.”
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
