It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
^ Back to Top
The MI6 Community is unofficial and in no way associated or linked with EON Productions, MGM, Sony Pictures, Activision or Ian Fleming Publications. Any views expressed on this website are of the individual members and do not necessarily reflect those of the Community owners. Any video or images displayed in topics on MI6 Community are embedded by users from third party sites and as such MI6 Community and its owners take no responsibility for this material.
James Bond News • James Bond Articles • James Bond Magazine
Comments
Yes, in the US the chapter title NIGGER HEAVEN from LIVE AND LET DIE was changed into something else.
Anyone thinking about starting to get them now would need a fair amount of disposable income in their bank account. But I wonder if the FS will do a box set when they’re all done? - selling a box set of all of the books at a lower price than it would be to buy them all individually.
The chapter title was changed to SEVENTH AVENUE in the US editions and the "local colour" scene in the same chapter where Bond listened in to a black couple talking in their Harlem dialect was cut completely. There were also certain other 'race edits' throughout the rest of the novel and in some of the others, including Diamonds Are Forever. I believe the original text was restored in US editions of the Fleming novels in more recent years. Anyone interested in knowing some more can read my article here:
https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com/2012/08/james-bond-novels-that-were-edited.html?m=1
The (very nice) hardback Penguin Vintage Classics 2017 edition used the US version of the book Live and let Die, where chapter five was called Seventh Avenue instead of Nigger Heaven.
But more importantly, it deleted about three pages of text from that chapter, (as did the original US versions as I understand it).
Now, seeing as the original US version of the book had these changes, it could be debated if this is censorship in the true sense, as Fleming himself agreed to the US version. But either way, I was glad to see Folio went with the full-fat UK version of Live and Let Die.
The only worrying thing now, is that Folio are going to stay strict to their plan of issuing the first UK edition texts, which would mean Octopussy wouldn't include the story Property Of A Lady. And this would mean people with a complete Folio edition collection, wouldn't have all the James Bond adventures in there.
I did mention this before on here, but it got no response. I've even thought of contacting Folio about it.
Ideally, I'd like to see 007 in New York in there too.
I got the Folio edition of YOLT for Xmas, and I love it! That makes three hardback copies of YOLT I have now. Here they are. Along with the Folio there's the Cape first edition, and the Cape book club 1964 edition, which I particularly like as it depicts Blofeld in his suit of armour walking through the garden of death.
Very jealous of this beautiful collection of YOLT novels.
I've got to do a re-read at some point soon as well; I want to get it in before Horowitz' new novel comes out.
I'm excited for the next Horowitz too.
The one on the left was the second ever Fleming Bond I read. I had an hour to wait for my bus home after school and the library was just across the street, so I would sit there and read books and magazines. That one is one I remember picking up.
Maybe just cobbling them together used is the better way to go anyway. Again, not that easy to do for the english versions in Germany, but just clicking on a link is boring anyway, isn't it?
My friend was very particular as to how he kept the books and I've upheld his standards. I cherish them not because of any perceived monetary value (I know they're not worth anything anyway) but in memory of a good friend who introduced me to Ian Fleming's work.
I half wish I owned one of the Folio Society editions as from what I've seen the illustrations are beautiful, but I'm someone who prefers to imagine a scene/characters when reading so I'm not sure if I'd go out of my way to get one.
I look on the Folio illustrations as some else's versions of what they read, and I'd never use them as reference points to help me visualise the book in my mind. I don't think they're there for that.
A novel should be just a two way relationship between the author and the reader. That's how I see it.
The Folio Society Flemings are nice to have though; the Dalton illustrations, while they don't replace my own imagined imagery, are really nice new Bond content to have.
Yes, he looked a bit of Hoagy Carmichael, well this guy:
I always find that reference interesting. Partly because very few people nowadays would know what Carmichael looked like, but also because Fleming only references Bond as looking like him twice in the early books. In later novels he tends to lean more into the colder aspects of Bond's appearance and runs more with the 'mysterious dark stranger' impression. I get the sense his original idea of what Bond would look like and how he would come across changed slightly as the novels got more fantastical after CR. Even the Daily Express illustration of Bond that Fleming oversaw (as well as the early comic strips) bears little resemblance to Carmichael.
Honestly, I tend to imagine Bond as a mixture of a young Oliver Reed and young Christopher Plummer when I read Fleming. The Carmichael reference never brought anything to mind for me.
I'm not sure about OHMSS, the brainwashing plot and Blofeld's description quite brought the book down for me, and Tracy didn't had much of a presence, I found her a bit weak, she's sandwiched between two greatly written Bond Girls (Domino and Kissy), the romance was also a bit rushed.
The stakes are low since it's just focused on UK.
I don't imagine any actor in the role when reading the books. To be honest, the person I am imagining who Bond is when reading the books is actually myself in the role.... :))
Let me see..... 🧐😅
Makes sense, I suspect we all (even subconsciously and to different extents) would like to be Bond.
I'm old enough to remember him, though his star had waned by my time. I've seen a few of his films in the past. He was very big in his day, but long forgotten. For those who don't know what he looked like here's a link to a photo.
https://jamesbondradio.com/reading-fleming-casino-royale-1953-benjamin-clow/hoagy-carmichael/
Whenever I see his photographs I always think an English accent should come out of Carmichael's mouth. Obviously he was American. Again, it gives you a very different idea of Bond if you know what Carmichael looked like compared to if you read Bond's description without the reference in other Fleming novels.
The only time I've ever sort of 'gotten it' with regards to a version of Bond coming across like a young Carmichael is in this clip:
It might just be his more low key performance, but the way he moves his eyes and the slight smiles he gives is how I imagine Fleming envisioned Bond in CR. It's not how I do personally, but I just get that sense.