Eva Dema
FINALLY LAYING DOWN HIS PEN upon The Dynasts (1903-8), Thomas Hardy resignedly declared: ‘Well, there it is: some pages done carefully, some galloped over, & now staring me accusingly in the face. I wonder if I shall ever be able to revise them’.1 To anyone familiar with Hardy’s lifelong, compulsive revising habits – particularly in relation to his verse – this ‘wonder’ rings with more than a slight disingenuousness. As Samuel Hynes’s account of the compositional history of this ‘carefully and copiously revised’ work reveals, Hardy had, in fact, already begun amending the earlier portions of his three-volume poem by the time this ‘wonder’ was expressed.2 Having scribbled revisions into printed copies of Part First (1903) and Part Second (1906), Hardy would soon offer Part Third (1908) its own share of alteration: amending The Dynasts in its entirety several times over the course of the next two decades, Hardy made his last corrections in 1927, the year before his death. It was not for want of revision, then, that errors continued to linger in the text. Indeed, it was much to Hardy’s frustration that, in 1921, he was forwarded a letter from an eagle-eyed reader who had discovered a misprint – ‘despise’ in place of ‘despite’ – in his edition of the poem. Having already corrected The Dynasts for no fewer than five republications, a reasonably disgruntled Hardy wrote to his publishers: I am much obliged to the Bedford gentleman for pointing out the misprint. I find that it occurs in every edition of ‘The Dynasts’ except the first in three volumes, where it was correct – so that the printers are guilty, & not I; though of course I should have noticed it. (Letters, vi. 86) The pages that had once stared at Hardy ‘accusingly’ had, it seems, become the stage for wider accusations: ‘the printers are guilty, & not I’. Hardy would often think about textual error in terms of moral culpability. When writing of another set of mistakes in 1919, he declared: ‘They are, happily, innocent misprints, not the guilty sort that make a banal sense of a passage’ (Letters, v. 316). Elsewhere, similar divisions would be drawn: ‘The following slips are those I noticed more particularly: some are obviously accidental: some are blameworthy’ (Letters, iv. 82). Just as the underscored ‘blameworthy’ implies a party to be blamed, so ‘guilty’ misprints were considered the product of a guilty hand, and Hardy was always eager to establish whose. Having obtained the proofs for his sixth volume of verse, Late Lyrics and Earlier (1922), he turned to Sydney Cockerell for assistance in locating any hidden blunders: formerly secretary to William Morris’s Kelmscott Press, Cockerell was particularly attentive to printing matters, and it was his ‘rare eye for misprints & other errors’ that earned him these previews of Hardy’s proofs (Letters, vi. 121). When Cockerell promptly produced a list of corrections, Hardy replied: ‘Only think: three of them were of errors made by the printer, & were not in the MS., e.g. I wrote “Thence” – they printed “Hence”, &c’ (Letters, vi. 122). Whether deflecting blame or, on occasion, accepting it – ‘I am just now immersed in the drudgery of correcting blunders (partly mine, partly printers’)’, he would admit elsewhere – Hardy rarely located an error without also identifying its origins (Letters, vi. 26). With the exception of the posthumously published Winter Words (1928), all of the extant holographs of Hardy’s verse – of which there are eight, one for each collection of poetry he published – were produced as printer’s copies; these are late-stage drafts filled with small-scale tweaks, submitted for the typesetting of proofs. Handling these manuscripts occasionally entails reading around tangible traces of the printing process: from the fingerprint stains of ink-covered hands to roughly pencilled proof marks, these pages remind us that these poems were passed between the highly fallible hands of printers. As a result of Hardy’s habit of destroying the rougher drafts of his verse, very few revisions from earlier stages of the compositional process survive. The vast majority of the amendments we now have access to, therefore, are those that sit in a particularly pressing proximity to print: besides these amendments made to printer’s copies, the corrections Hardy made in proof and alterations made post-publication were almost all to survive. Hardy’s acute concern for negligible textual blunders – partly his, partly printers’ – prompted him to read his poems extremely closely, his ‘microscopic’ gaze facilitating a range of notably slight revisions.3 But with the extant holographs of Hardy’s verse typically deemed ‘fair’ copies – drafts, that is, that exhibit minimal alteration – the notably minor amendments they house have been recurrently overlooked. Terms which denote magnitude are often, after all, imbued with connotations of value: ‘minor’, ‘slight’, and ‘minute’ are all commonly used to describe Hardy’s verse revisions, and while they aptly reflect the scale of these alterations, they also pass an implicit judgement on their importance, encouraging their critical neglect.4 As Phillip Mallett summarises: ‘Hardy was a lifelong reviser of his texts, but the changes made to the poems rarely extend beyond the rewriting of a line or a word’.5 Samuel Hynes, meanwhile, similarly contends that although Hardy was ‘a lifelong reviser of his poems … individual changes in the texts were rarely extensive’.6 Critical interest in Hardy’s revisions has, in consequence, been confined almost exclusively to his more substantially altered prose, as in Simon Gatrell’s seminal study Hardy the Creator (1988).7 Indeed, while Gatrell offers painstaking attention to the drafts of Hardy’s prose, he simultaneously asserts: ‘There is little to say about the manuscripts of Hardy’s poetry’.8 But if the extant holographs of Hardy’s verse exhibit only minimal alteration, these ‘minor’ amendments should not necessarily be dismissed: despite their magnitude, these undeniably slight revisions were, I hope to show, also deeply significant. Hardy is, of course, not alone in having conceived of textual error in terms of guilt. Geoffrey Hill, for instance, would come to formulate the notion of ‘empirical guilt’: ‘an anxiety about faux pas, the perpetration of “howlers”, grammatical solecisms, misstatements of fact, misquotations, improper attributions. It is an anxiety only transiently appeased by the thought that misquotation may be a form of re-creation’.9 In Hardy’s case, the connection between ‘empirical guilt’ and the act of ‘re-creation’ accrues a particular pertinence. Always deeply troubled by his own proximity to error, Hardy’s desire to deflect blame is exemplified by his printing troubles, but extends well beyond them: an eagerness to divert culpability can be traced in many of his amended drafts, especially in those verses that are themselves about guilt. While Hardy’s tendency to attribute his own mistakes to his printers would leave the lines of blame somewhat blurred, his revised manuscripts and proofs testify to a similar smudging of guilt: having initially assigned blame to one party, Hardy would often amend his drafts to settle culpability upon another. His highly charged pronouns were, I argue, essential to this process: in his frequent amendment of these minor words, Hardy performed a blame-shifting across his poems that would, in several his to his publishers: I’. the of Hardy’s were & the printers by & ‘The of an printing and in 1921, a of printing in the are and many and to this of than to work to where may The were a particularly and an Hardy on occasion, their though his of the of he once his think about reading them The are but as no printer, or one from can be with verse, I reading (Letters, vi. in Hardy was for the of the of his – all of while the to the proofs of the volumes, he was typically of his he would to his to to proofs of the it is that I should read (Letters, vi. Hardy’s anxiety was to that he had in for this edition were first in last I was that I correct those proofs there be errors in the – of a (Letters, iv. anxiety of ‘minute’ errors – of which misprints were – only where his verse was ‘I would he … misprints may be especially as are more to poetry than to (Letters, v. While Hardy’s to error was his verses were at it was as as – the of the – that he is to a printer’s if no changes are the misprints (Letters, for was only more with he his printers as while an would soon into the Hardy wrote to the in more than I am to the printers’ not at once that, in a list of be a misprint for (Letters, iv. Hardy was from alone in this with many of his a similar sense of frustration their own for instance, was in his of the and misprints that he deemed me to so who is often to have the of error – are not misprints but of he – not always the of ‘I am extremely by all those printer’s he the proofs of (1922), these to be in I hope were so in their as printed with & with printers’ wrote to his to not of without me the proofs. I have just been the of and and in I find the set of blunders in and of some of which I have corrected and and the of printers for ever them misprints, rarely his can no more printers in than the of the course, were for as as have their into they have the of As asserts: were with these textual he were errors were so – printing was particularly across and with the of and – and it that and printed to is the a of critical interest in error, attention been to produced in the the time Hardy published his first volume of verse, had come a the had the of and to just a of that had to the of over the course of Hardy’s much would to of verse between and Hardy was writing in a by a – one as of often by the of and a But this in a for error – as the that had Indeed, many from the read as for the out of between the of the printing As in The proof is not only a to a but is a to him and to his … often we a to a been to by the of the blame upon where it to that often of and where they not with the of the wrote in The of a (1906), in a of with the on the one and the on the was as for instance, would that be guilty of to no any to from blame by that have read it be than But while were and upon blame was just as often from the printing house were more than of the them by the of and and were to ‘The or in in the to time in that should be at a ‘The that can any of a them to in and many to make the first of a work very error, similarly the result of on the of in not writing as their should be printed and upon having they so much it would that was located than error When The in the soon that it had the and was as to for it of to Hardy’s own with – his eagerness to the of a textual to or his printers. were and Hardy would guilty of the lines of culpability The for instance, to the terms and – the typically to the amendment of a printing error, the to an alteration from an of – already been by on of that Hardy a list of amendments to his for the of the these were the to a upon which ‘the first printing had but the printing the was no printing The was a one with who the terms across his his revisions as course, there is to that Hardy to more than a sense of at the to to a revision, and that is, a little of this Hardy’s of the would to In the of the poem of Hardy were the only alterations Hardy made to the poem at this stage of to before the and his he was to the poem to his printers in this the another alteration would to the of line was to be altered to a Having made the Hardy would on the for In from the proof to the – just as the and have done upon the corrected proofs – it is to the of this amendment as a As the Hardy’s had and the had set that this alteration no but another of as a of the It is particularly that this is, it be a Hardy a upon these minor words, which were often to for in ‘The I have done To the in the having a he had his The is it is made the is in an or he are as into this is Hardy’s to the which had have It similarly this is the of or if the in a It is this of the that between have and I have that so many of Hardy’s as recurrently revised As the of poems and and the to Hardy’s interest in pronouns is and the of these across his poetry as ‘The of in Hardy’s verse – that is, poems in which the very first is a – is, by or about one in of all his poems … I it would be to this in any other Hardy’s manuscripts and meanwhile, also a with these words, as of revisions the to the first for and the for the The poem the particular that Hardy upon in the act of and in the process of As two the of a we find their pronouns last and as the with ‘I the of to the of this and the While the first two are by Hardy’s in the we are to the of the But as the the is not a the that had is not the to now As the of the – that – the into a the of the that now between as to another. The of pronouns in – I to be – to in the of this it in fact, the of these that had once ‘I am to to in the I in to other and to me in the as used to other to in a line with and While this pronouns in Hardy’s revisions upon His alterations to he thought about which pronouns to and where to place to the of the we find only five two of which upon these minor the line of the poem now last and Hardy had we last – and It is to to Hardy to an in to the of the or if he was upon and to an the with the The result is, the of the which these – and – only by an revisions, would the In the of the printed edition of the Hardy I is as though were they have their Hardy’s is the product of revision, with the line in the having the have their – and ‘the – to the of the as they from the is the to this ‘I … I pass … I as a much more than ‘the the I of the while also out to that other the In these revisions – the of one and the of another – we can Hardy the of as he and the of pronouns to these three of the a Hardy’s poetry some of the in the and so can a of not just by they not but also by to the of their in a particular Hardy’s own to the of these minor is notably in poems which the of – poems where between the individual and the become all the more In ‘The for instance, another are a of the revision, Hardy would to was the of a in to he the verse individual pronouns It is a to be but one which the ‘I and I not The that to the into a of As the of one for another is the of for the of this line in its all the more to an acute of and attention to pronouns Hardy’s proofs and manuscripts for the as he In for instance, pronouns form the of as Hardy to the poem in the first or his he every of and or in the and these alterations in similarly attention in a in a as Hardy several at into the of an he are the lines that but in the Hardy had first much It was upon of the proofs that Hardy turned his this in a of to the and with the and Hardy only and the edition of the the printed and the which were, for a to in the there are of this each or the sense of The a between and and in between the and own that the revised The by the – which of the of by – the to to some and to an As pronouns are in and and in to the scale of the as the is to without of culpability upon pronouns – the in which these Hardy’s revising in to a proximity to – particularly pressing in the poetry that his of guilt: the of his first While these verses are often as Hardy’s they are also considered his It is who the guilt’ of these over the and over the of that that ‘Hardy between blame and traces Hardy’s tendency to from the of to in one for the of their and in the next his own The manuscripts and proofs of these poems the of these while Hardy’s as it across and across in to the revisions we can also a blame-shifting that occurs between drafts of the very poem. When revising the of ‘I a poem in the of his from Hardy made a of to the When Hardy’s and published Thomas Hardy’s after he a particularly of the ‘There is for us to except the that the in which somewhat underscored not only as the but and extends the own with While Hardy’s rewriting of the line one of many from this it is in the to that he more the of the to just one not blame is pronouns – – while and this of each the that this deeply the to his Hardy would also the that had once the it with a more he offers a – one that own to not blame But it While Hardy the of his revisions to work their own judgement on the sense of his and these are alterations that to their – as would – the of the a meanwhile, Hardy the of his to just after death. the he a own with Hardy’s is in the printed edition of the in the we find was at one stage the two leave little for that Hardy had his own in of to make the the that Hardy first wrote out only to his between of from he to out the proximity of a before to the of a on a The of these is, by between in the Hardy first I it to after an of revision, these lines to a so it In to the Hardy at a of these so it the ‘I it to to the more it Hardy’s wider revisions the by this in the he to only to his once The between and ‘a in the sense of by the with the the at an Just as Hardy’s other revisions with of from from to and he initially to from to his revised to and all the that Hardy all well I have elsewhere that, in the of the of Hardy the of his in to a which had become a that was in the of amend But while the revisions in this particular often an of as Hardy to make a of the wider a more Hardy with his as he to his but he was not always to to of his alterations made elsewhere would, in fact, work to deflect culpability. In for instance, a poem that an Hardy had would on … have the poem its with its of which had once read I after and published after the of a not to have Hardy to his guilt. In to the poem to and to Hardy from his own line of the from and an he is able to his a more the of all, in not where Hardy just one to the which in the is to be of Hardy’s of the as the of his and often and in Hardy’s as this poem once upon Hardy’s occasionally of in the to a – out from and from his – we Hardy another of his own culpability. with the of misprints in his Hardy was writing to in to make a I am of to the of the writing on & them or would be a somewhat more copies of next made & them to the on by to the with (Letters, to every of and the of his his eye at every to the between Hardy’s desire to have his verses and his of the by which they Just a after his letter to Hardy a of the published The Thomas from the and (1906), by by a which ‘I am a little for which I am not although only are in it – so as they can be with so many (Letters, With Hardy’s from his by printing he to they now but it is the – – that Hardy’s wider for the origins of the we find printed in the we the pronouns and particularly where them from the first we are to are Hardy’s with to the the of Hardy’s printing – of course I should have noticed – it is a or attention that often Hardy’s guilt. In he … I of and in ‘The is In the meanwhile, he for all he to the more of their The the where Hardy two with at the of their ‘the he would in his the poem after and following of a Hardy his on the of the I but The poem more in an to the of its own each from to to before while its in its of its all this the poem to to Hardy from his own him to make the he is at the to having at their these lines Hardy to from his as he would in was just were to while this is of it to its we Hardy’s was just would to the In to the of for a somewhat Hardy his in this just as so many of his revisions to As Hardy’s printing remind also be a textual is he after the of of a of in a first edition – at any with (Letters, v. this letter with a list of corrections for the edition of the Hardy as the of – a to To with is to a somewhat critical but it is to that this stage of was one that often Hardy to his once ‘The an the of the many poems Hardy wrote after it to offer a are As in his reading of the Hardy the and across the the he his these two pronouns at the of his Hardy’s of by a of and across the a from to the earlier he are by of – – while the its attention of But for all this attention to the there is one that to the of the we find that the As with is altered to while the that is to a several at these minor Hardy was to with the that in the following line around me or he was the more than with just as the on its an while the of the of the last of connection between Hardy and the that be as so Hardy’s always hope of out on this ‘The is, after all, a poem about connection than Hardy’s as the in for the sense of by this – as Hardy he is, in fact, the only in the – is upon the where this letter is to with pronouns by to as the first that a of blame also be the for while Hardy was an in ‘The we find only it is the which is who is of as of Hardy’s – me – occurs across the While in is in at a on an is and in ‘The is as as if In the of – just about the to – we is across the as Hardy to and often the that he and had in Indeed, than assigned to by who another of deflecting culpability in in the of the attentive While of are – the somewhat would for just as as a as Hardy is to – Hardy is to the while the from the of much to the of there is an to be this much in fact, a for the It is and meanwhile, that would in proof become as the the of the of Hardy to at an we he often as Hardy’s revisions with it is the altered which is to amendments that to that I’. work was by the and