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Also reprints Agatha Christie adapted to modern times | show

Several novels by British author Agatha Christie have been edited and adapted to the present day, with potentially offensive language removed. This also happened with the books of Roald Dahl and Ian Fleming (James Bond).

Agatha Christie, from the documentary The Queen of Crime (2018) © VRT

According to the British newspaper The Guardian so-called ‘sensitivity readers’ have stripped the reprints of insults and references to ethnicity. These include passages from the famous detective books with Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple as the main characters, which Christie wrote between 1920 and 1976.

In the new editions, references to ethnicity, such as black, Jewish or Gypsy, have been deleted. The torso of a female character is no longer described as ‘black marble’, it is no longer about a judge’s ‘Indian temperament’, and the term ‘oriental’ is also avoided.

Something similar happened with passages that could be considered racist in the new releases of the James Bond books. These were modified or removed, it was announced at the end of February. Publisher Ian Fleming Publications Ltd, who owns the rights, had the original texts reviewed by a group of proofreaders. New versions have been created as a result of that assessment.

It was previously announced that the British publisher Puffin has changed several passages from British copies of Roald Dahl’s books so that “everyone can enjoy” Dahl’s work. That’s how a character is in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory no longer ‘fat’ but ‘huge’ and in that same book Oompa Loompas are no longer short men, but small people. In addition to the modernized books by Roald Dahl, the original is also still available. It is unclear whether this is also the case with Christie’s books.

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