Page 93 - RPS Awards 2023 Coverage Book

8 March 2023

From Roald Dahl to Ian Fleming, censorship

is good for the book trade

Releasing bowdlerised books into a predictable storm of ridicule and then making the
“classic texts” available is clever business.

By Andrew Marr

Photo
by BFA / Alamy Stock Photo

First Roald Dahl; now Ian Fleming. Censorship is not, it turns out, a simple matter. Both men
had a very dark side. It isn’t only the sexist and racist language in the James Bond books but
also, for example, a strong undercurrent of sadomasochism, which derived from Fleming’s own
preferences. Removing individual words that jolt modern readers is a comparatively
straightforward business. But there are pages in Casino Royale on Bond’s torture by Le Chiffre