I've actually been struggling with this in
connection to my translation of Virgilio
Piņera's long poem "La isla en peso. There are
two lifetime editions: 1943 and 1969. The 1969
changes the lineation and introduces a pun that
could also be a typo: "auropeo" for "europeo."
There are no other typos, and the context makes
the pun plausible. The complete poems that came
out a few years ago reproduces exactly the 1969
edition, auropeo and all. Every other reprinting
maintains the lineation of the 1969 and silently
corrects to europeo. But we know that Virgilio
was fond of puns in his late work and may well
have added it. It's also possible that he
intended it in 1943 and the printer changed it, assuming it was a typo.
The 1943 was a private limited edition, and
presumably Virgilio had some control. He probably
had less control over the much larger government
printing in 1969. Was the new lineation Virgilio's or the typesetter's.
OK, so here's my decision. I think the lineation
of the 1943 is superior, and I'm adhering to
that. I also like the pun. So, a mixed result. My
choices and the why will be explained in a headnote. The point is transparency.
Mark
At 07:28 PM 4/25/2009, you wrote:
>This discussion reminds me that while reading through the Variorum
>Edition of Yeats, it seemed to me that most of his later revisions
>were bad ones. I've noticed also at least one case in one of Robert
>Frost's most famous poems where he made a later revision which I
>thought weakened it. Another case is Whitman, whose tampering with
>the original version of Leaves of Grass often diluted its effect.
>
>I suppose the editor of a Selected or Collected poems would have to
>use the poet's final version, though perhaps with footnotes about some
>changes.
>
>But f you were editing a more general anthology, would you feel
>obliged to use a poet's final draft of a poem, or would you use
>earlier ones if you thought they were better?
>
>--
>===============================================
>
> Jon Corelis http://jcorelis.googlepages.com/joncorelis
>
>===============================================
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