IFP says Bond story alterations in line with Fleming’s wishes

Ian Fleming, drawn by Mort Drucker, from the collection of the late John Griswold.

Ian Fleming Publications, in a statement issued Feb. 27, said alterations in new editions of the author’s stories are “something Ian Fleming would have wanted.”

IFP specifically said changes to Live And Let Die, the second Bond novel, were in line with changes made in the original 1950s U.S. edition.

“We consulted with a number of external parties but ultimately decided that, rather than making changes in line with their advice, it was instead most appropriate to look for guidance from the author himself,” IFP said.

Live And Let Die, featuring a Black villain with part of the story taking place in New York City’s Harlem, has various racial issues. The title of chapter five in the original British edition contains the n-word. It was changed to “Seventh Avenue” in the U.S. edition.

“The original U.S. version of Live And Let Die, approved and apparently favored by Ian, had removed some racial terms which were problematic even in mid-1950s America, and would certainly be considered deeply offensive now by the vast majority of readers,” IFP said.

IFP said it would apply similar standards to other Fleming stories.

“We thus decided to apply the sensibilities of the original U.S. edition of Live And Let Die consistently across all the texts,” IFP said. Racial words “likely to cause great offense now, and detract from a reader’s enjoyment, have been altered, while keeping as close as possible to the original text and period.”

IFP said changes are “very small in number.” Some books, including Casino Royale, Fleming’s first novel, have not been changed.

IFP has taken over the publishing of Fleming novels and short stories. New e-books are out now and new paperbacks are to be issued in April for the 70th anniversary of the publication of Casino Royale.

Fleming’s “books deserve to be read and enjoyed as much now as when they were written,” IFP said. “We believe the new Bond editions will extend their pleasure to new audiences.”

UPDATE: Andrew Lycett, a biographer of Ian Fleming, weighed in via a commentary in The Independent.

“I feel strongly that what an author commits to paper is sacrosanct and shouldn’t be altered,” Lycett wrote. “It stands as evidence of that writer’s – and society’s – attitudes at a particular moment in time, whether it’s by Shakespeare, Dickens, or Ian Fleming.

“But there’s no way Bond’s character in the Fleming books can be modified to make him politically correct. Fleming created a sexist, often sadistic, killer, with anachronistic attitudes to homosexuals, and to a range of people of different nationalities. These stand as evidence of how Britons (or at least some of them) thought at a particular moment in time.”