Fleming’s novels to be butchered by totalitarian creeps

https://variety.com/2023/film/news/james-bond-novels-edited-racism-1235536164/amp/

Quote :

After the Roald Dahl text editing controversy that erupted in recent days, it is now the turn of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels to be rewritten.

A report in U.K. newspaper The Telegraph reveals that ahead of the reissue of the Bond novels in April to mark 70 years of “Casino Royale,” the first book in the series, rights holders Ian Fleming Publications Ltd commissioned a review by sensitivity readers.

Each book will carry the disclaimer, “This book was written at a time when terms and attitudes which might be considered offensive by modern readers were commonplace. 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 Telegraph said.

A commonly used pejorative term used for Black people by Fleming, whose Bond books were published between 1951 and 1966, has been removed almost entirely and replaced with “Black person” or “Black man.” In other instances, references have been edited.

For example, in “Live and Let Die” (1954), Bond’s opinion of Africans in the gold and diamond trades as “pretty law-abiding chaps I should have thought, except when they’ve drunk too much” has been altered to “pretty law-abiding chaps I should have thought.”

Cont.

Told you this was inevitable.

Buy hard copies of any book, film etc. you enjoy. The Woke Khmer Rouge will get its claws on everything.

Where does it end? Why not just ban the books altogether? People complain about the Taliban and the IS dismantling old statues, this is not too dissimilar.

I wish the West would just die so that something respectable could emerge from the ashes.

The West is dead, all that’s left is its skinsuit being worn by an elite who hate it.

I utterly disagree with this happening, naturally. That said, a few days after the Roald Dahl rewriting became common knowledge his publishers announced reissues of the original versions. Makes me wonder if the whole thing was some sort of elaborate marketing ploy.

CJB wrote:

The West is dead, all that’s left is its skinsuit being worn by an elite who hate it.

This is very true.

https://www.ianfleming.com/statement-new-editions/

The Fleming Estate has put out a statement in support of the new Year Zero editions and assumes Fleming would’ve been pleased.

CJB wrote:

https://www.ianfleming.com/statement-new-editions/

The Fleming Estate has put out a statement in support of the new Year Zero editions and assumes Fleming would’ve been pleased.

I guess, and he probably would have been overjoyed had they burned every single copy of his books.

CJB wrote:

https://www.ianfleming.com/statement-new-editions/

The Fleming Estate has put out a statement in support of the new Year Zero editions and assumes Fleming would’ve been pleased.

May they all be tossed in one of Blofeld's suppurating fumaroles.

Denouncing your own kith and kin is a feature of every cultural revolution after all.

I highly recommend anyone who hasn't completed their Ian Fleming sets to check out their local thrift stores and used book stores to see if they can finish their collection. No doubt we'll see a spike in prices on older copies of the Ian Fleming books in the near future plus if you buy new copies you'll be giving money to the Maoist clowns who approved of this lunacy.

CJB wrote:

The West is dead, all that’s left is its skinsuit being worn by an elite who hate it.

We're all being ruled by the cockroach aliens from Men in Black at this point.

CJB wrote:

new Year Zero editions

What a coincidence! Arriving just in time to celebrate the 0th anniversary of Ian's creation.

I am honestly surprised they are not going further with these edits than they are, which appear right now to only be censoring the original language referring to black folks. (The Telegraph article made it sound like Fleming was wallpapering the books with the "n-word" which he actually used, I think, twice in fourteen books. They'll just be chasing down and scratching out "Negro" I suppose?)

Focused changes makes it easier to adjust for next year's improved revised zero year editions.

Featuring now and every year in fact until the copyright expires in 2035.

I had no idea Enver Hoxha was chair at IFP.

"This year will be harder than last year. On the other hand, it will be easier than next year."

Blunt Instrument wrote:

I utterly disagree with this happening, naturally. That said, a few days after the Roald Dahl rewriting became common knowledge his publishers announced reissues of the original versions. Makes me wonder if the whole thing was some sort of elaborate marketing ploy.  

I had heard the rumor that IFP were doing "collector's editions" since they have the publishing rights now, but I am not sure it'll be exactly the same as the Dahl thing. I might be wrong, but the Dahl "classic" editions will still presumably target the general reader at that expected price point. Whereas I would imagine that if IFP comes out and says, "Well we are offering the original texts" it'll be in much higher grade, collector-end volumes especially for the fan.

Strangways&Quarrel wrote:

No doubt we'll see a spike in prices on older copies of the Ian Fleming books in the near future

I stand corrected. Chair is not Hoxha, it is Auric Goldfinger.

I’d love to say this is just a cynical ploy to boost sales, but I truly believe these people are motivated by demented ideology.

CJB wrote:

I’d love to say this is just a cynical ploy to boost sales, but I truly believe these people are motivated by demented ideology.

They are. It's ideology over profit. And it's a bit difficult to punish these people because every major corporation shares the same ideology. So you transfer your purchases from Nike to Addidas. You're taking money from Molloch and giving it to Pazuzu.

This is kind of insane. Though with the Roald Dahl controversy, I also had the feeling like it was cynical opportunism on the part of the publisher, following their revised texts announcement with one in which they promised to publish the original texts as well.

Next up: Mein Kampf republished, but this time with Hitler praising jews.

Phantom Commander wrote:

Next up: Mein Kampf republished, but this time with Hitler praising jews.

And the Old Testament with the Jews worshiping the Canaanites.

Right. And a new edition of Moby Dick where Captain Ahab is a member of Greenpeace.

Phantom Commander wrote:

Right. And a new edition of Moby Dick where Captain Ahab is a member of Greenpeace.

Phantom Commander wrote:

Right. And a new edition of Moby Dick where Captain Ahab is a member of Greenpeace.

That's funny. Back in the 90s when I kept hearing about interactive storytelling, I always used MOBY DICK as an example of why you don't get to pick your own ending, cuz nobody really wants to see the version where Ahab gets a bionic leg and then kicks the whale to death with it.

Oh, I dunno. That sounds pretty cool.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Oh, I dunno. That sounds pretty cool.

Sounds like the Marvel version, starring Samuel L. Jackson as the whale and McCauley Culkin as Ahab.

The only choose-your-own style book I have and enjoy is one with a young kid investigating the JFK assassination -- in all versions, he winds up dead, just like everybody else who showed too healthy of an interest.

The whole drama by committee thing, which is I guess how the interactive films tried in the 90s went, was to have the audience vote on how to go forward in the story, which kind of wipes out the possibility of surprise and makes it all about suspense. I strongly believe that balancing between suspense and surprise is the essence of most good cinematic storytelling, and when you go too far one way or the other, you often come a cropper.