Chapter II: Pilgrimage Volume II I 
       
The Collected Editions (CE) and the English First Editions (E) Compared

Interim

CE: Volume II, Book 5, 1938 / 1967

E: London: Duckworth, 1919

 
Quotation marks for dialogue, and for sayings:

 ' . . . ' in CE 

" . . . " in Interim 1919

Titles of books, journals, music, etc.:

Italics in CE

" . . . " in Interim 1919

Publishing house rules:

Mr, Mrs etc. in CE 

Mr., Mrs. etc. in Interim 1919

Foreign words and phrases:  

Italics in CE

Italics in Interim 1919

Misprints and errors are indicated by an asterisk*

SUMMARY OF VARIANTS

The presentation of dialogue in the first seven chapters of this novel is unlike that of any of the four novels which precede it. (1) Speeches are represented without quotation marks. (2) Speeches are usually embedded in long paragraphs without breaks. (3) Between units of dialogue or between a speech and a narrative comment, Richardson inserts a period, or a dash, or two dashes, or a period combined with a dash. Since the practice is not consistent, it would be onerous in the extreme to record all these variants The same is doubly true of the quotation marks, for in CE the dialogue is treated entirely conventionally, with practically all speeches assigned individual paragraphs, while the First Edition has no regular quotation marks and few paragraphs. In these circumstances I have ignored the absence of quotation marks, noting rather their occasional anomalous appearance. Moreover, because the differences in paragraphing are so very numerous, I have instead recorded all paragraphs by number within each chapter of the First Edition so that the reader can check where, in relation to CE, the paragraph breaks are placed. What surprises most is that in the midst of Chapter VIII and indeed in the midst of Miriam's conversation with the Canadian doctors (CE 411, E 218) the First Edition text reverts, with a few lapses, to the conventions which have prevailed throughout the previous novels. Since the earlier parts of Chapter VIII have few occasions for quotation marks and these are treated irregularly, I have for convenience established the transition as beginning with Chapter VIII (CE 401, E 198). From that point on my treatment of variants returns to its normal practice: all omitted or irregular quotation marks are noted, as are all deviations in paragraphing. I repeat. In respect to chapters VIII through XI of the first edition: I return to normal conventions for recording variants.

The variants between the English First Edition and the Collected Edition, 2452 (including 901 commas), are indeed numerous and would be much more so were one to record all the differences between dialogue with and without punctuation marks. The number of substantive variants, 419, is also larger than for any other of the Pilgrimage volumes, though fully 142 of them are indications of paragraphing. As well, 51 involve the following: section breaks (2), punctuation (16), italics (8), spelling (21), number (1), word order (2), and tense(1).

In 23 places Richardson deletes words found in E. Among the most revealing: Miriam. | Miriam, quivering, and clenching her clasped hands. (CE347.24; E101.21-22); and again | again into the lamplit greyness leading along to Donizetti's (CE374.8; E148.24-25). By dropping the specifics in the latter case, Richardson reinforces the sense of Miriam's immersion in her nighttime London walk. But by far the most startling change is the omission in CE of an entire section at the beginning of Chapter VII (CE397; E189.1-190.21). In E the first of its three paragraphs is mainly a digression about Bella de Castro, a person not elsewhere mentioned in Pilgrimage, and the last paragraph is at the least difficult to follow. I conjecture that Richardson while thinking about revising this section concluded her text would be best served by its deletion. No such radical surgery is performed on any other of the novels.

On 10 occasions she adds words, the only notable one being a sentence about Mendizabal (CE338.12-13; E84.5).

Finally, there are 35 instances in which one word or a set of words is substituted for another. These are quite routine, from a | the (CE330.27; E69.14) to acquired | engaged (CE341.10;E89.11). But Mrs Barrow is twice called Mrs. Barlow (CE379.2-10; E156.13-24), and the title Dante, Six Sermons is a revision of Four sermons on Dante (CE406.27-28; E208.17-18).

There are only 14 misprints to be noted in CE, all easy to pick out, even piercing together (CE385.31) instead of piecing together (E168.10). But note the confusing punctuation at CE423.22-30; E239.18-240.4. There are 49 misprints and errors in E, all rather obvious, even Mrs. Bailey's brushing at her skirt, not her shirt (CE429.27; E251.1). In addition, 95 "misprints" relate to quotation marks in the First Edition: 24 are present in Chapters I to VII where they should be absent, and 71 are absent in Chapters VIII to XI where they should be present.

The revisions to Interim are more major than for any other of the novels, since Richardson inserts quotation marks and paragraphing for dialogue in the first seven chapters, regularizes the lapses in Chapters VIII to XI, and deletes the opening section of Chapter VII.

Substantive variants are marked >

 

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