London, 26 Feb. The novels by super sleuth James Bond will be re-released without racial references that could be considered offensive, on the 70th anniversary of the publication of the first book in the series, ‘Casino Royale’.
The company that owns the rights to the books, Ian Fleming Publications, has commissioned a review of the texts by a panel of readers and has decided to republish the novels without these potentially offensive racial allusions, the Sunday Telegraph revealed today.
Among the changes, it is expected that the word “black” (sic) with which slaves of this race were referred to in English will disappear, although other racial descriptions will also be removed, while others will remain unchanged. .
Likewise, a disclaimer will be introduced to accompany the adventures of 007 which will remind that “this book was written at a time when terms and attitudes which might be considered offensive by modern readers were common”.
“A number of updates have been made to this edition, while keeping it as close as possible to the original text and the period in which it is set,” reads the notice, revealed by the “Sunday Telegraph”. .
The news comes after this week the publisher of British author Roald Dahl’s books announced it would be editing parts of his works to remove any offensive or offensive hints.