The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-04-26

ExPuReArE AND MUTnATE MANU-
scRRrs TO SUIT THEIR TASTE
some interesting Information Drawn
from Ford's "Litersry shop" for the
Benefit of Mr.. Zangwill.


novel Jude the Obscure has occasioned
discussion from almost every point OF
view from which a novel can be dis
cussed. yet. apropos OF the criticism
which the striking out of divers passages
in the story as published originally in
Harper's Magazine called forth, there re-
mains a point which has not been con-
sidered, although it well deserves to have
been.
Recently in the Pail Mall Magazine
MI. /. Zangwill, reviewing Jude the OBJ
scure," which he had read in its unex-
purgated book form, referred to the
serial version as published in Harper's.
THE latter" he says, should be the
greatest curiosity of literature extant."
n so. doubtless, it is-at least one of
the greatest-by reason of the editors
attempt to render a story which, read in
any form, complete or excised, must
leave On the mind the indelible impress
of its central theme, acceptable to the
fastidious reader by cutting out certain
parts supposed to be improper. The
effect OF this editing has been, CT
course, TO leave what Mr.. Zangwill de-
6CIlDcS d. 1dWH1u6 gaps III the SIOTy
without making any the less evident the
authors general purpose in writing it.
Incoherency in the development of the
plot results, naturally, from the absence
of essential detail. and the reader is left
either to supply the missing passages
from his own Imagination, or, if he is not
sufficiently discerning to do that, to ar
rive at the conclusion of the narrative
in a condition Of mental confusion and
perplexity at the authors failure to tell
a connected story. This result should
not be any more acceptable to the author
than to the reader, and the wonder GER
tainly grows that a writer like Mr.. Har-
dy. who is presumably in a position to
make his own terms with publishers,
should have consented to the original
publication of his work in an expurgated
form. Mr.. Zangwill remarks that for a
magazine TO print a story like Jude the
Obscure"-a story with a purpose which
cannot be obscured-and endeavor to
effect a compromise with editorial scru-
Piles by emitting odd passages here and
there Is swallowing a camel and strain
ing at a gnat." Another observation be
makes In reference to the Harper's YER
sion OF Hardy's novel-that ii was
"Bowdlerized"-wfll not be so readily
understood upon this side OF the Atlantic
as In England. Bowdler was an emf
nent moraIist who edited an edition of
Shakespeare in which, by deciding what
passages in the plays should not have
been written and then eliminating them,
he performed for Shakespeare a piece Of
posthumous revision which the poet
doubtless had not time to accomplish in
his own lifetime.
FORD'S BOOK.
But II the term "Bowdlerized' is not
so familiar to Americans as to English
men. neither, apparently, are certain
conditions which exist upon our side of
the Atlantic familiar TO Mr.. Zangwill.
Had this English writer read a recent
volume from the pen of the well-known
American humorist and critic Mr.. James
L. Ford. now of the New York Journal,
he would have learned that, while the
practice of e~xpurgating passages from a
magazine story-as instanced in the
Harper version of Jude the OBSCURE
has been legitimized by many American
editors, there is also a valid reason for
its existence. Moreover, and this is the
main point aimed at in the present writ
@hoS VI 2<1AA ~ WOQAu AdNC OuIlu THAT
Mr.. Ford. while first in the field as an
obJector TO what he has himself chris
tened "~pruning-hook editing" yet finds
the blame to rest not entirely upon the
editor, but upo a certain narrowness
and prejudice prevalent among a large
section OF the reading public, although
by no means universal.
1t has been said lat Mr.. Ford was
first in the field of criticism which Mr..
Zangwill has just exploited. No one will
dispute Mr.. Ford's' right to the distinc-
ton, for the ppearance of his Literary
Shop evoked the unanimous m
that it was nothing if not original. AS
originality is rarer than genius-at least
In the literary SenSe-the compliment i'm
piled is obvious. The Literary Shop"
provided a series of entertaining glimpses
behind the scenes. but its X rays were
cast not only upon the hitherto impene-
trable curtain, but upon the audience
who sat in front of it. Mr.. Ford's ac-
count OF the e~xpurgating process to
which literature is sometimes subjected
is to be found in the paragraphs on
'-pruning-hook editing" One of these
describes how a story called the Red
Silk Handkerchief" by Mr.. H. c.. Bun
ner. had been sent to the Century Maya
zine.
The story contained a graphic de-
scription OF the tagging of a train to
avert a disaster. in which occurred the
PdSSoSC. dAQ AC
stood by the platform of the last car as
the train stopped. There was a crowd
around Horace in an instant. His head
was whirling: but. in a dull way, he said
what he had to say. An officious pas
senger, who would have explained it all
TO the conductor If the conductor had
waited. took the deliverer in his arms
for the boy was near fainting-and en-
Iightened the passengers who focked
around. Horace hung in his embrace,
too deadly weak even to accept the offer
OF one OF the dozen TASKS that were
thrust at him. Now an ignorant lay
man Will. / am bound, find nothing in
the quoted sentences that could possibly
give offense TO the most sensitive reader;
but IL was precisely at the point where
the quotation ends that the finely trained
n ever alert sense OF Mr.. Johnson
(the Century'S associate EDITOR told him
OF the danger hat lurked in the authors
apparently innocuous phrase. Hold on
he cried, can't you make ii two or three
TASKS instead of a dozen?' 1t
was the flask episode that really opened
my eyes to the peculiar conditions which
enconpassed the modern trade of letters
And il was the same episode
which finally proved to me Mr.. JOhnSOn's