New editions reflect authors' final drafts
By Doug Simpson
Associated Press
Fans of "All the Kings Men" could be in for a shock when they read the new edition of Robert Penn Warren's 1946 novel.
The protagonist has a different name. The narrator has a fouler mouth and a dirtier mind. Chapters four and five have merged into a single chapter.
The new "All the King's Men" is the latest so-called "restored" novels: new editions of classic books that are something like the "director's cuts" released by filmmakers. A restored novel is essentially the author's final draft. If the book's editor made any changes, those changes are eliminated.
However at least one prominent literary critic wonders whether restored editions are such a good idea.
"I find this all very dubious," said Harold Bloom, a Yale University literature professor. "I can understand scholars going to the universities where these are housed and looking at the original typescripts. I'm not quite sure why the general public needs this."
Those who support revisionist publishing say restored editions are necessary because book editors make the wrong changes for the wrong reasons — and usually damage a book's literary merits.
Restored editions "give the reader more of the wonderful words, the stimulating prose of these authors," said Matthew Bruccoli, editor of a restored, 736-page version of "Look Homeward, Angel," Thomas Wolfe's famously wordy 1929 novel.
In the past 10 years, scholars have published restored editions of novels by William Faulkner, Mark Twain and others. The original published versions of Faulkner's "Absalom! Absalom!" and "The Sound and the Fury" are out of print. They've been replaced by restored editions that are closer to what Faulkner wrote but different from the books read by thousands.
"All the King's Men" may be an unusual choice for restoration because the author apparently liked the finished product. Warren publicly praised his editor, Lambert Davis, even though Lambert changed the book in many ways.
As originally published, "All the King's Men" is the story of a conniving Southern governor, Willie Stark, a character modeled after former Louisiana Gov. Huey Long. The novel was a best seller and won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
But it wasn't exactly the novel that Warren wrote. On the advice of Davis, Warren changed his protagonist's name to Stark from Talos. Warren liked Talos because of an overtone from Greek myth, but Davis wanted a less foreign-sounding name. Editors at the publishing house, Harcourt Brace, also had Warren cut out the raunchy musings of narrator Jack Burden. Davis also cut the lengthy fourth chapter into two chapters.
Noel Polk, editor of the restored version, said Warren's final draft, or typescript, "was demonstrably superior to what the editors wanted him to do."
Warren, who died in 1989, might have agreed to the editorial changes out of fatigue or because he felt the editors had a fresher view of the book, Polk said. Polk wrote in his afterword that the restored edition is "a novel superior to, more interesting and complex" than the original published edition.
Bloom hasn't read the new "All the King's Men." But he questioned the wisdom of publishing "restored" versions of classic novels.
"I just find it hard to call them restored texts, because the authors accepted what editors had done," said Bloom, who knew Warren and wrote an introduction to his collected poems in 1998. "Authors like (Warren) and Mr. Faulkner had enough prestige that they could have made sure the editors' suggestions improved" the books.
Even supporters of restored classics agree that the original published version still has merit and shouldn't be tossed out.
"The version that's been around has a kind of historical validity," said Cheryl Hurley, president of the Library of America, which published a restored version of Richard Wright's "Native Son." "Several generations of people know that book. Not everybody has to rush out and read the new version."
