Not an Error, But a Revision in The Spoils of Poynton (A Reply to Tintner)

In a brief notice in the Henry James Review in 1983, Adeline Tintner calls attention to a sentence of The Spoils of Poynton which was altered between the 1897 (SP-1897) and the New York editions (NT). The New York Edition sentence, she says, "made no sense." Accordingly, the 1987 Penguin edition--otherwise faithful to the New York Edition--has emended the "garbled" sentence (SP-Penguin 20). The Penguin emendation appears on page 80 and reads identically to the New York Edition up through the word cabinet but follows the 1897 text thereafter; a note at the end of the book echoes Tintner's remark that the later sentence "makes no sense" (SP-Penguin 242). Actually, the New York Edition sentence is comprehensible, though challenging for a reader to process. Here it is, with bracketed labels, indentation, and italics added for convenience:

How could she [Fleda] pretend not to be affected
     [a] with the very pendants of the lustres tinkling at her
     [b] and with Mrs. Gereth,
        [c] beside her,
        [d] staring at her even as she herself [Fleda] stared at the cabinet
        [e] and hunching up [f] the back of Atlas under his globe? (NT 71)

The New York Edition version differs from the 1897 text at points [a]-[f], most of the differences having to do with whether phrasal relationships are indicated by commas, or by and, or not at all. Note that the use of and at point [e] makes it clear that this phrase is coordinated with [d] and thus modifies Mrs. Gereth, who is "staring [. . .] and hunching." In 1897, however, without the and, phrase [e] is syntactically ambiguous. It can be subordinate to [b] and coordinate with [d] as above, OR (as laid out below) it can be interpreted as subordinated to the clause embedded under [d] and thus attributed to Fleda, who "stared [. . .] hunching":

How could she [Fleda] pretend not to be affected,
    [a] with the very pendants of the lustres tinkling at her,
    [b] and with Mrs. Gereth
        [c] beside her
        [d] and staring at her even as she herself [Fleda] stared at the cabinet,
            [e] hunching up [f] a back like Atlas under his globe? (SP-1897 75, qtd. by Tintner)

This grammatically possible misreading is prevented in the New York Edition text. That, along with the purposeful pattern of changes at [a]-[d], strongly suggest that James deliberately revised the sentence in an effort to make it more syntactically foolproof. At the same time, for whatever reason, James changed the simile at [f] to a metaphor. One could argue that this is a change for the worse--the simile is more explicit--though I find the metaphor to be stronger, reflecting Fleda's impressions more immediately. In any case, with the higher interpretive demands it places on the reader, it is certainly more characteristically Jamesian.

Though there are doubtless times when "the author himself nodded" (Tintner), this is not such an occasion. Future editions of Spoils which are based on the New York Edition text should restore the revised sentence as James intended it to read.

Works by Henry James

NT--The Novels and Tales of Henry James. Vol. 10. New York: Scribner's, 1908.

SP-1897--The Spoils of Poynton. London: Heinemann, 1897.

SP-Penguin--The Spoils of Poynton. London: Penguin, 1987.

Other Works Cited

Tintner, Adeline. "A Textual Error in The Spoils of Poynton." Henry James Review 5 (1983): 65.

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