Throughout the years Ian
Fleming’s James Bond novels have been subjected to various forms of editing,
censorship and even banning orders in some countries. The American editors of
Fleming’s novels often wanted to change passages in terms of race and American
culture, to correct small mistakes or to make Bond more acceptable to the
native readership. The editing of the Bond novels ranged from changes in
character names to changes in dialogue and description, to even changes in the
actual title. Several of the novels were also banned in some countries due to
their perceived violent and overtly sexual overtones. A study of the history of
the editing, censorship and banning of Fleming’s Bond novels reveals some
interesting new information.
The history of the editing of Ian
Fleming’s Bond novels begins with the very first, CASINO ROYALE (1953). It was
slightly edited in places when it was published in America to suit the
sensibilities of the American audience. Andrew Lycett’s biography of Ian
Fleming reveals how Fleming’s American editor toned down some of the language
used to describe one of the love scenes between Bond and Vesper Lynd depicted
in Fleming’s debut novel:
‘In New York, Al Hart, Ian’s
editor at Macmillan, was wielding the blue pencil on Casino Royale. Ian
was unconcerned about possible mutilation of his masterwork. Indeed he
specifically asked Naomi Burton at Curtis Brown, “Would Al Hart like to take a
bit of the edge off the torture scene? He can certainly do so if he wants to.”
The incident, where Bond’s genitals were whipped with a carpet beater, remained
intact, but Hart did suggest some alterations to spare the blushes of American
readers. Where Ian had written, “He slipped his hands down to her swelling
buttocks and gripped them fiercely, pressing the centres of their bodies
together. Panting, she slipped her mouth away from his and they clung together
while he rubbed his cheek against hers and felt her hard breasts pressing into
him” Hart’s bowdlerised version did not quite have the same urgency: “His hand
slipped down her back and pressed her body fiercely to his. Panting, she
slipped her mouth away and they clung together; he brushed her ear with his
lips and felt the firm warmth of her breasts against him.” Hart asked
plaintively, “That’s not too emasculated, do you think?”
Ian could not care less. He told
Hart that he had been kinder than Naomi Burton who had argued about “the
relative impropriety attached to the front and back of a woman”. However, at
this stage, Ian was more interested in sales promotion than textual exegesis.’
(‘Ian Fleming,’ Andrew Lycett, Phoenix, London, 2002, p. 249)
Later in Lycett’s biography of
Fleming the re-launch of CASINO ROYALE under a new title in America is
documented:
‘Bond provided the other main
reason for Ian’s transatlantic jaunt. There were signs that the American
reading public was beginning to take notice of him. In April a paperback
version of Casino Royale had been published by Pocket books, with a new
title, You Asked For It, and a suggestive dime-store cover showing a
girl in erotic déshabillé.’ (‘Ian Fleming,’ Andrew Lycett, Phoenix,
London, 2002, p. 275)
Since publication, some of
Fleming’s Bond novels have also been banned in certain countries through
falling foul of the censor. The earliest banning of a Bond novel was LIVE AND
LET DIE, which was banned in the Republic of Ireland in 1954. Andew Lycett’s
biography of Fleming confirms that this banning, rather like the joint
condemnation from the Vatican and the Kremlin that met Eon Production’s DR. NO
(1962), did the promotion of the novel no real harm:
‘The banning of Live and Let
Die in Ireland in May helped the general publicity.’ (‘Ian Fleming,’ Andrew
Lycett, Phoenix, London, 2002, p. 255)
The Republic of Ireland has a
long history of banning books from publication. The Republic of Ireland’s
culture was very moral and religious with Roman Catholicism being the religion
of 93% of the population. The Irish Censorship of Publications Board that
banned LIVE AND LET DIE are a still functioning independent board that was
established by the Censorship of Publications Act, 1929 in Southern Ireland.
Its function is to examine books and periodicals that are for sale in the
Republic of Ireland. At the time of the banning of LIVE AND LET DIE from
publication in 1954 the Censorship of Publications Acts of 1929 and 1946
governed it, but there was also a new act passed afterwards in 1967, which
added an amendment limiting the period of prohibition orders of books to a
period of twelve years, but the Board could then ban the book again. The
Censorship of Publications Board could prohibit the buying, selling or
distribution of any publication deemed indecent or obscene in the Republic of
Ireland. Each of the five members of the Board had to read the publication
under consideration before any decision on whether or not it was to be
prohibited could be taken. For a book to be banned at least three members of
the Board had to agree with the decision and only one member was allowed to
dissent. When considering a book, the Board measured its literary, scientific
and historical merit and also took into account the language in which it was
written and the likely audience it was intended for. Some of Fleming’s literary
contemporaries’ novels were also banned in the Republic of Ireland. Fellow
espionage novelist Graham Greene’s novel THE HEART OF THE MATTER (1948) was
banned for instance, as were works by the author of the ASHENDEN spy short
story collection – W. Somerset Maugham, who influenced Fleming to write his
Bond short story QUANTUM OF SOLACE. Evelyn Waugh, the author of BRIDESHEAD
REVISTED, and an acquaintance of Ann Fleming, also had books that fell foul of
the Irish censor. In 1950 the English poet, novelist and critic Robert Graves,
who had work banned in the Republic of Ireland, described the Irish censorship
laws as ‘the fiercest literary censorship this side of the Iron Curtain.’
Nowadays, however, the Republic
of Ireland’s attitude to censorship has greatly changed. Since the 1990s the
Censorship of Publications Board does not prohibit publications very
often. The popular Irish radio station
RTÉ 2 FM plays songs
from the top artists with any strong language unedited out before the
watershed. RTÉ 2FM also
has presenters who swear over the air long before the watershed. Such use of
swear words is not generally tolerated on BBC radio for instance, and if swear
words are broadcast the complaints that ensue mean an apology often has to be
made. Some of the Irish tabloids, such as the Irish Daily Star also
contain swear words in their headlines from time to time.
LIVE AND LET DIE (1954) also
underwent censorship when it was published in America, mainly due to the
depiction of the novel’s black villains, but also due to the correction of
local details. As Andrew Lycett’s biography notes,
‘With a few changes for the local
market, Live and Let Die was published in the United States in January
to an unenthusiastic response. Only 5,000 copies were sold and Al Hart at
Macmillan was uncharacteristically blunt when he said, “Mr Bond will have to do
better than this.”’ (‘Ian Fleming,’ Andrew Lycett, Phoenix, London, 2002, p.
268)
The most visible change is the
fact that Chapter 5 in the original British edition of the novel entitled
‘Nigger Heaven’ is unsurprisingly renamed ‘Seventh Avenue’ in the American
edition. The American censor also heavily edited the dialogue in this chapter
to the extent that a whole passage detailing an argument between a black man
and his girlfriend is entirely cut, and dialogue spoken by Felix Leiter is also
edited.
In the Berkley eighth printing of
LIVE AND LET DIE in paperback form in October 1985 it says that ‘This Berkley
book contains the complete text of the original hardcover edition,’ which is
cited in the printing history as having first been published by Macmillan in
1954. The British edition featured this passage in the chapter entitled ‘Nigger
Heaven’:
‘One can try,’ said Leiter. ‘But
I know what you mean – better the frying-pan you know than the fire you don’t.
It isn’t a bad life when it consists of sitting in a comfortable bar drinking
good whisky. How do you like this corner of the jungle?’ He leant forward.
‘Just listen to the couple behind you. From what I’ve heard they’re straight
out of “Nigger Heaven”.’ (‘Live and Let
Die,’ Ian Fleming, Pan Books Ltd., London, 1963, p. 46)
The passage was changed
considerably in the American edition:
‘One can try,’ said Leiter. ‘But
I know what you mean – better the frying-pan you know than the fire you don’t.
It isn’t a bad life when it consists of sitting in a comfortable bar drinking
good whisky.’
They finished their drinks and
Bond called for the check.’
(‘Live and Let Die,’ Ian Fleming,
Berkley Books, New York, 1985, p. 41)
In the British edition Bond and
Leiter had overheard an argument between a black man and his girlfriend that
used the dialogue which Fleming, and indeed Raymond Chandler, were very
impressed with at the time. The “Nigger Heaven” phrase that Leiter used in the
British edition is also removed as it formed the chapter title in the original
version. It was obviously removed, as it would have been seen as more overtly
racist, offensive and derogatory to black readers and indeed to some of the
American public at large. The physical descriptions of the couple and their
dialogue took up over two and a half pages in the Pan paperback edition but the
passage was entirely cut in the American edition. It could be said that the
passage didn’t really contribute anything in terms of advancement of plot, but
was just inserted by Fleming to give a dash of ‘local colour.’ Today Fleming’s descriptions and dialogue for
his black characters are seen as rather patronising and even racially offensive,
but such writing must be looked at from the very different social perspective
of the times. In April 2003, however, Penguin Books published LIVE AND LET DIE
in a new paperback edition in America, which restored the omitted text and
included the original title of Chapter 5, “Nigger Heaven”. Fleming’s Bond
novels had been out of print in America for a number of years before the
Penguin reprints came along.
Not all of the changes in the
text between the British and American editions of LIVE AND LET DIE were to do
with the depiction of the black characters in the novel. Some of the changes
that were made in the Macmillan edition had also to do with correcting minute
mistakes that Fleming had made that would be spotted by the native population
that were more familiar with such details. The interesting article ‘The Mystery
Trains of LIVE AND LET DIE’ by John Cork of the Ian Fleming Foundation reveals
some of the mistakes Fleming made about the trains Bond and Solitaire travel on
in LIVE AND LET DIE, and the changes that Al Hart made as a result:
‘Bond and Solitaire travel on the
Silver Phantom from New York in the novel, leaving the train in Jacksonville,
Florida. Fleming describes the trains in Penn Station in the British edition:
“Under the bare electric bulbs the horizontal purple and gold bands, the
colours of the (sic) Seaboard Railroad, glowed regally on the streamlined
locomotives.” [‘Live and Let Die,’ Pan Books Ltd, London, 1963, p. 95]
It
seemed odd that Fleming would get a detail like this wrong. He travelled with a
small notebook, which he kept to jot down just such notes. Nonetheless,
Fleming's American editor, Al Hart, made some changes to the text, including to
the above line. Hart altered the line to reflect the real colours of the
Seaboard Air Line Railroad, including the train's proper full name. Even though
the true Seaboard's colors [sic] were not as traditionally “regal” as Fleming's
purple and gold bands. The American version reads as follows: “Under the bare
electric bulbs the horizontal green, red, and yellow bands, the colours of the
Seaboard Air Line Railroad, glowed regally on the streamlined locomotives.”
[‘Live and Let Die,’ Ian Fleming, Berkley Books, New York, 1985, p. 83]
In fact, Fleming originally
described the colours of the Atlantic Coast Line, a competitor of Seaboard's
for the lucrative NYC to Florida market.’ (Excerpt from ‘The Mystery Trains of
LIVE AND LET DIE’ by John Cork)
Another example of the many edits
made to LIVE AND LET DIE concerns Fleming’s description of American cuisine. In
the fourth chapter of the novel, ‘The Big Switchboard,’ Bond enjoys a meal in
the British edition:
“He had a typical American meal
at an eating house called ‘Gloryfried Ham-N-Eggs’ (‘The Eggs We Serve Tomorrow
Are Still in the Hens’) on Lexington Avenue and then took a cab downtown to
police headquarters, where he was due to meet Leiter and Dexter at 2.30.”
(‘Live and Let Die,’ Ian Fleming, Pan Books Ltd., London, 1963, p. 34)
In the American edition the
passage appeared slightly differently:
“He had a typical American meal
at a restaurant called ‘Glorifried Ham-N-Eggs’ (‘The Eggs We Serve Tomorrow Are
Still on the Farm Today’) on Lexington Avenue and then took a cab downtown to
police headquarters, where he was due to meet Leiter and Dexter at two-thirty.”
(‘Live and Let Die,’ Ian Fleming, Berkley Books, New York, 1985, p. 30)
In the American version the
clever marketing ploy of combining ‘glorified’ with ‘fried’ to make
‘gloryfried’ is changed to ‘glorifried,’ it is described as a ‘restaurant’ and
not an ‘eating house’ and the eggs are now advertised as being ‘on the Farm
Today’ instead of still being in the hens. The time that Bond was due to meet
Felix Leiter and Captain Dexter is also changed from figures in the British
edition to words in the American edition. These cultural changes in the
American edition were made because clearly the American editors were not nearly
as amazed as Fleming - ‘the Englishman abroad’ - was by the different nature of
American cuisine and culture. Perhaps they thought such references would be
patronising for the American readership, as it would be instantly more familiar
to them. It is perhaps ironic that the change was made to the slogan of the
American ‘eating house,’ as Fleming, being the brilliant journalistic observer
of other countries and cultures that he was, would surely have copied it
verbatim from just such a place into his notebook for later use.
Fleming’s third James Bond novel,
MOONRAKER (1955) was re-titled
TOO HOT TO HANDLE when Perma
Books published it in America in 1956. Perhaps this was to avoid confusion with
Arthur Watkin’s stage play THE MOONRAKER, which was running at the time and was
filmed under the same title in 1958. As was the case with the first American
editions of CASINO ROYALE, the novel was subtitled MOONRAKER on the cover. TOO
HOT TO HANDLE was notable for being the only Fleming Bond novel that was
“Americanised,” meaning the exchanging of American idioms for British ones such
as “jack of hearts” for “knave of hearts” in the Blades bridge scene and
“elevator” for “lift.” The title was later changed back to MOONRAKER in America
in 1960. Fleming and his publishers
themselves went through various title suggestions for the novel, such as THE
INFERNAL MACHINE, WIDE OF THE MARK and THE INHUMAN ELEMENT, before finally
settling on the simple, yet effective, MOONRAKER.
On only two separate occasions
did Ian Fleming intervene and change elements of the text and circulation of
his Bond novels after publication. In his biography of the author, John Pearson
reveals how Fleming was forced to revise a character name in DIAMONDS ARE
FOREVER (1956) when the friend he had taken it from objected:
‘…[Fleming] found that his little
habit of amusing himself by bestowing the names of friends or relatives on
characters in his novels had this time involved him in a difficulty. […] But
when Diamonds Are Forever was published one of the victims objected
strenuously to Fleming’s private joke. This was Anne’s cousin, the present Lord
Arran, the columnist, who in those days was known as “Boofy” Gore. As a
surprise for him Fleming borrowed the nickname and attached it to a
particularly unsavoury character in the book. Great displeasure had resulted,
and this was the only occasion when Fleming is known to have apologised and
changed the name of one of his characters in subsequent editions.
He had not meant to be unkind.
Although he was the most selfish and egocentric of men in the way he planned
his life and pursued his objectives, he could take much trouble over the people
he cared for.’ (‘The Life of Ian Fleming,’ John Pearson, The Companion Book
Club, London, 1966, pp. 300-01)
In Andrew Lycett’s biography of
Fleming there is an elaboration on the “Boofy” Gore episode:
‘Ann was game enough to jump to
her husband’s defence and help defuse a potentially tricky legal problem when,
on Easter Day, she received an apopleptic call from her relative by marriage,
“Boofy” Gore, later the Earl of Arran. Gore had been alerted by Lord Lambton to
a passage in Diamonds Are Forever which ran, “Kidd’s a pretty boy. His
friends call him ‘Boofy’. Probably shacks up with Wint. Some of these homos
make the worst killers. Kidd’s got white hair though he’s only thirty. That’s
why he works in a hood.” Ian had done his usual trick of assigning the names of
friends and acquaintances to his characters. But Kidd was a particularly
unpleasant character. Gore railed against Ann: Ian was his best friend, how
could she have allowed him to do this? Ann replied that she was only married to
Ian: she had neither written nor even read the book in question. Still fuming,
Gore contacted Ann’s sister, Laura, who telephoned Ann, by then out at church
for Easter Sunday matins. Fionn fielded her aunt’s abuse: “Your mother may like
pansies but other people don’t. Don’t forget Boofy has a million friends and
Ian has none.” (‘Ian Fleming,’ Andrew Lycett, Phoenix, London, 2002, pp.
288-89)
Andy Lane and Paul Simpson’s book
THE BOND FILES (2000) actually gives the character name change Fleming was
forced to make in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER:
“In the first edition of the
book, Kidd was given the nickname ‘Boofy’ as a reference to a friend of Ian
Fleming – ‘Boofy’ Gore – who later became Lord Arran. Gore was reportedly very
unhappy that his nickname had been purloined, and Fleming had it changed in
later editions to ‘Boofuls’ Kidd.” (‘The Bond Files,’ Revised and Updated
Second Edition, Andy Lane and Paul Simpson, Virgin Publishing Limited, London,
2000, p. 23)
In the 1962 eight printing of
DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER in Pan paperbacks, however, and therefore presumably in
all of the previous Pan editions of the novel, Kidd is still referred to by
Leiter in the text as ‘Boofy,’ and not the nickname ‘Boofuls’ which Fleming had
it changed to. Presumably the change of Kidd’s nickname was made only in the later
reprints of the novel in hardback by Jonathan Cape beyond the first edition,
and Pan Books Ltd. took its’ text from the Jonathan Cape first edition which
contained the ‘Boofy’ nickname. Then again, perhaps Arthur ‘Boofy’ Gore forgave
Fleming and permitted him to allow the paperback edition to use his nickname,
or, more probably he had no control over the paperback editions or perhaps he
did not notice that they had reverted to using his nickname again.
There was a slight amendment made
to later editions of Fleming’s FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE (1957). Fleming’s
original manuscript had the title ‘From Russia, With Love,’ but later published
editions of the novel had no comma in the title and a lower case ‘w,’ so that
the title appeared as ‘From Russia with Love.’ The film version used this
slightly amended title when it was released in 1963.
Fleming’s sixth Bond novel, DR.
NO (1958) also underwent some amendments when it was published in different
editions. DR. NO was serialised in America under the title NUDE GIRL OF
NIGHTMARE KEY. Hutchinson Educational Ltd. published a special ‘junior’ edition
entitled DOCTOR NO under their Bulls-Eye Books range in 1973, which was adapted
from the Fleming source novel by Patrick Nobles. The violence, in what critics
saw as Fleming’s most sadistic novel, was carefully toned down and the sexual
content was removed entirely. As well as a simplified text, the Bulls-Eye
edition of DOCTOR NO also included drawings of Bond’s guns, and sketch maps of
the West Indies showing both Jamaica and a plan view of Crab Key. Other junior
editions from Hutchinson Educational included Fleming’s LIVE AND LET DIE and
THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN.
DR. NO was also the first Fleming
Bond novel to contain a censored swear word (the f-word) in dialogue. In the
particular scene Quarrel, on Bond’s instructions, is twisting the arm of the
Chinese ‘freelance’ photographer, Annabel Chung in order to procure
information, who for the second time has taken Bond’s photograph. Bond is
trying to make the stubborn Chung see sense and relent to Quarrel’s pressure:
“Tell,” said Bond softly. “Tell
and it will stop and we’ll be friends and have a drink.” He was getting
worried. The girl’s arm must be on the verge of breaking.
“____ you.” Suddenly the girl’s
left hand flew up and into Quarrel’s face. Bond was too slow to stop her.
Something glinted and there was a sharp explosion. Bond snatched at her arm and
dragged it back. Blood was streaming down Quarrel’s cheek. Glass and metal
tinkled onto the table. She had smashed the flashbulb on Quarrel’s face. If she
had been able to reach an eye it would have been blinded.” (‘Dr. No,’
Ian Fleming, Pan Books Ltd.,
London, 1965, p. 38)
In this instance it gave the
scene more bite and added to the sense of the Chinese photographer’s clear
venom at her captors.
In GOLDFINGER (1959) there is
another rare four-letter word (again the
‘f-word’) spoken by Bond in an understandably angry exchange with Goldfinger as
a circular saw is about to cut him in half. In the scene in Chapter 15 of the
novel, entitled ‘The Pressure Room,’ there is the following passage:
“Bond decided it was time to stop
talking. It was time to start winding up the mainspring of will-power that must
not run down again until he was dead. Bond said politely, ‘Then you can go and
____ yourself.’ He expelled all the breath from his lungs and closed his eyes.
‘Even I am not capable of that,
Mr Bond,’ said Goldfinger with good humour.” (‘Goldfinger,’ Ian Fleming, Pan
Books Ltd., London, 1965, p. 150)
The swear word was already edited
out before publication, and it is an understandable piece of censorship.
Perhaps it was even censored out like this on Fleming’s manuscript. Four letter
words have never featured very heavily in Fleming’s novels and this was only
the second time Fleming had used the ‘f-word’ in his dialogue. Although Fleming
and his creation were certainly not prudish about strong language, these kind
of swear words feel out of place in the literary Bond’s world, and are
thankfully used sparingly by the author so that in the rare instance when they
are used, they are all the more effective as a result. In Raymond Benson’s
continuation Bond novels there has been a greater use of strong language. For
instance, Benson’s second Bond novel, THE FACTS OF DEATH (1998) contained a
passage where Felix Leiter used the ‘f-word’ heavily.
In THE JAMES BOND DOSSIER (1965)
Kingsley Amis states that ‘The Spy Who Loved Me was banned in Australia
and the Central African Federation.’ (‘The James Bond Dossier,’ Kingsley Amis,
Pan Books Ltd., London, 1966, p. 85). The Central African Federation was
brought into existence by the Conservative government in Britain in 1953 by
combining the territories of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in southern Africa. It was
also less commonly known as the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland and it
came to an end in 1963. Australia still has high levels of book censorship
compared to other democratic nations, such as in Europe and in North America.
Many books are apparently banned in Australia through fears that they may
offend certain segments of the population. Books containing erotica (which THE
SPY WHO LOVED ME could possibly be said to qualify for with the cinema
seduction scene with Derek) and illegal drug use are the most readily banned in
Australia. In a footnote in THE JAMES BOND DOSSIER, Amis says that Punch
disliked the book for being ‘pornographic,’ and he believed that the ‘hideous
seduction scene in a cinema’ was what they were referring to. Amis actually
thought that the scene could not be more anti-pornographic and, in defence of
Fleming, noted that the term is commonly misused to mean ‘concerned with
physical sex.’ (Ibid, p. 59) THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (1962) was most
probably banned in these countries due primarily to the comments that arose
from Fleming’s use of the first-person female viewpoint of the heroine,
Vivienne Michel. Towards the end of the novel, after having just made love to
Bond, she infamously suggests that,
‘All women love semi-rape. They
love to be taken. It was his sweet brutality against my bruised body that had
made his act of love so piercingly beautiful.’ (‘The Spy Who Loved Me,’ Ian
Fleming, Jonathan Cape, London, Fifth Impression, 1963, p. 197).
It is somewhat strange that the
novel did not follow the fate of LIVE AND LET DIE and receive a banning order
in the Republic of Ireland also. The Censorship Board provided under The
Censorship of Publications Act of 1929 and 1946 in the Republic of Ireland
could prohibit the sale and distribution of a book that was not only ‘indecent
or obscene’ but also that advocated ‘the unnatural prevention of conception or
the procurement of abortion or miscarriage or the use of any method, treatment
or appliance for the purpose of such prevention or procurement.’ Perhaps the
abortion described by Vivienne Michel was the reason that the novel was banned
in several countries around the world.
In THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, Vivienne Michel tells the reader how she was
forced to have an abortion by her German lover, Kurt Rainer, when she tells him
that she is pregnant with his child:
‘The business of my abortion, not
to mince words, was good training for my new role. The concierge at my hotel
looked at me with the world-weary eyes of all concierges and said that the
hotel doctor was on holiday but that there was another who was equally
proficient. (Did he know? Did he guess?) Dr Susskind examined me and asked if I
had enough money. When I said I had, he seemed disappointed. The gynaecologist
was more explicit. It seemed that he had a chalet. Hotels in Zurich were so
expensive. Would I not care to have a period of rest before the operation? I
looked at him with stony eyes and said that the British Consul, who was my
uncle, had invited me to recuperate with his family and I would be glad if I could
enter the clinic without any delay. It was he who had recommended Dr Susskind.
No doubt Herr Doktor Braunschweig knew the Consul?
My hocus-pocus was just good
enough. It had been delivered with my new decisive manner and the gambit had
been thought out beforehand. The bifocals registered shock. There were coolly
fervent explanations and a hasty telephone call to the clinic. Yes, indeed.
Tomorrow afternoon. Just with my overnight things.
It was as mentally distressing
but as physically painless as I had expected, and three days later I was back
in my hotel.’ (‘The Spy Who Loved Me,’ Ian Fleming, Jonathan Cape, London,
Fifth Impression, 1963, pp. 81-2).
After the largely negative
critical fall-out which resulted from Fleming’s attempt to “examine Bond from
the other end of the gun barrel” in which he had for the first time written a
Bond novel in the first person narrative of the heroine, and in which Bond only
appeared two-thirds of the way through, he tried to stop any further print runs
of the novel. This was one of the few times that Ian Fleming actually acted as
his own censor. As Lycett’s biography of Fleming reveals:
‘To his publisher Ian admitted
that his “experiment” had “obviously gone very much awry”. As a result he asked
[Michael] Howard [a director at Jonathan Cape] to help him ensure that The
Spy Who Loved Me had “as short a life as possible”. Calling on Jonathan
Cape to accept its share of their inevitable joint financial sacrifice in “as
friendly a spirit as you can muster”, Ian requested that there should be no
reprints and no paperback version of his controversial book. Ann’s reaction
suggested what a trying partner she could be. Having badgered Ian and made him
feel guilty about the book, she wrote to Evelyn Waugh the following day, telling
him in confidence of her husband’s resolve. But, true to character and
conscious of the need to keep the Bond cash cow producing, she could not resist
adding flippantly, “I am doing my best to resolve this foolish gesture because
of the yellow silk for the drawing-room walls.”’ (‘Ian Fleming,’ Andrew Lycett, Phoenix,
London, 2002, p. 402)
After Fleming’s death in August
1964, Lycett reveals how Fleming’s wish not to have THE SPY WHO LOVED ME
republished beyond its Jonathan Cape hardback editions and Book Club editions
was abandoned:
‘The Fleming backlist was
exploited for all its worth: after the idea of issuing The Spy Who Loved Me
in paperback arose, Hugh Fisher, one of the title’s trustees, was unhappy about
appearing to ignore Ian’s express wish that it should be assigned to the
literary scrapheap. When Peter Janson-Smith, as Ian’s agent, produced solid
evidence that Ian had not meant what he said, Fisher nevertheless felt duty
bound to resign.’ (‘Ian Fleming,’ Andrew Lycett, Phoenix, London, 2002, p. 446)
THE SPY WHO LOVED ME also
appeared in a condensed form in Stag Annual men’s magazine, published by
Atlas Magazines in 1964 under the title MOTEL NYMPH. It featured rather
salacious illustrations of Vivienne Michel, Bond and the other characters from
the novel. THE SPY WHO LOVED ME was finally published in paperback form by Pan
Books in Britain in 1967, the year in which Fleming’s last three published Bond
short stories also appeared in Pan paperbacks under the shortened title
OCTOPUSSY.
Ian Fleming also stated that he
did not want the film producers, Harry Saltzman and Albert R. ‘Cubby’ Broccoli
to use any more than the title of the novel for any future film. He did not
want any of the plot of his novel to be filmed, but wanted an original story to
be written for the title. This was what happened when THE SPY WHO LOVED ME was
filmed in 1977, of course. There were, however, two small links to the Fleming
novel in Roger Moore’s third outing as James Bond, despite Fleming’s wishes.
Fleming’s primary villainous thug in the novel, Sol ‘Horror’ Horowitz has
steel-capped teeth, a feature which Karl Stromberg’s steel toothed henchman,
Jaws, was to inherit. Another scene that was borrowed slightly from the novel
was where Major Anya Amasova finds Jaws in her wardrobe on the train. In the
novel, Vivienne had found ‘Horror’ hiding in her wardrobe.
In Soviet Russia it was not just
the literary James Bond that was banned, but the cinematic incarnation also. As
Vladislav Pavlov wrote in his article entitled ‘Behind Enemy Lines, The Russian
Perspective’ in the ‘James Bond 007: Goldfinger’ Titan comic strip book:
“Penetration of the Iron Curtain
was always quite a difficult task, even for a fictitious spy. The tightly
sealed borders and propaganda machine sifted out all the material venerating
the ‘capitalistic way of life’ and anti-Soviet ideas, leaving no chance for the
forbidden fruits of the ‘decadent West’ to ripen. So it’s no wonder that
anything concerning the notorious James Bond was officially banned in the
USSR.”
At the beginning of the article
there is an interesting quote from the state pedalled propaganda against Ian
Fleming’s creation:
“James Bond lives in a
nightmarish world where laws are written at the point of a gun, where coercion
and rape is considered valour and murder is a funny trick.” (Yuri Zhukov, Pravda
Newspaper, September 30, 1965)
Vladislav Pavlov reveals that
despite this propaganda from the state organs against James Bond he was still a
figure that was well known:
“the very names of Ian Fleming
and his creation were well-known, and occasional articles, similar to Zhukov’s
one, would appear in the Soviet media attacking 007, vilifying him, juggling
with facts for the benefit of the regime. As a result, in this maze of
propaganda, lies and distorted mirrors, the Russian people would catch
occasional glimpses of Bond’s shadow.”
The article also makes it clear
that there was an intellectual underground that took the risk and were able to
get hold of Ian Fleming’s banned Bond novels:
“Some people studying English or
those involved in the publishing business were also on occasion lucky enough to
lay their hands on a few smuggled paperbacks, including Fleming’s novels. […]
In short, to be published in the USSR, a novel had to be politically neutral,
with no anti-Soviet ideas or, better still, actually criticise the American
‘way of life’. James Bond’s escapades did not match these criteria, so, for the
huddled masses, 007 remained the proverbial forbidden fruit.”
With the advent of the era of perestroika
and glasnost ushered in by Mikhail Gorbachev censorship in Russia was
beginning to cease to exist. As Pavlov writes:
“Moreover, the first Russian
editions of Ian Fleming’s novels appeared in bookshops, the short stories often
published discreetly as leaflets. Due to the then lack of copyrights law, the
market was all but deluged with various editions. Some translations were
rough-and-ready; other editions contained incorrect information in Ian
Fleming’s biography. Nevertheless, the reader was finally able to fully enjoy
the James Bond novels, discovering him to be very different from the image
drawn in the angry and slanted articles of the past.”
According to this article there
is still work to be done in promoting the literary Bond in modern Russia as
“the non-Fleming Bond novels are still out of favour with Russian publishers,
except for Kingsley Amis’ Colonel Sun, and a couple of ‘books of movie’ by John
Gardner and Raymond Benson.” (Extracts from ‘Behind Enemy Lines, The Russian
Perspective,’ Vladislav Pavlov, ‘James Bond 007: Goldfinger’, Titan Books,
London, 2004)
This study of the history of the
banning, editing and censorship of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels has revealed
the changing nature of these practices throughout the years. It is interesting
to consider how what were probably Fleming’s two most controversial novels,
Live and Let Die and The Spy Who Loved, suffered the most stringent
censorship and banning. The modern reader can indeed be grateful that Fleming’s
Bond novels can now be read freely in almost all countries unedited and
uncensored, as the author initially intended. Ian Fleming, it seems, had the
last triumph, and his free speech and independent thought, no matter how
controversial and unpalatable it was initially deemed, prevailed in the
end.
TBB Article No. 6
© The Bondologist Blog, 2007.
