Changes in the text (was, AR evangelicals?)


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Posted by Guy C. on May 11, 2005 at 01:14:41 from 129.210.61.153 user Astronomer_Guy.

In Reply to: Re: AR evangelicals? posted by Alan Hakim on May 10, 2005 at 18:33:40:

(Don't worry, I'll get to Ransome eventually...)

I'd never noticed the difference Alan Hakim mentions (between the American and British versions of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone), the "extra character" in the sorting hat scene. He suggested it was added to the American version.

Actually, it turns out J. K. Rawlings mentions this on her web page:

"Anybody who has read both the American and British versions of 'Philosopher’s Stone' will notice that Dean Thomas’s appearance is not mentioned in the British book, whereas in the American one there is a line describing him (in the chapter “The Sorting Hat’).

"This was an editorial cut in the British version; my editor thought that chapter was too long and pruned everything that he thought was surplus to the requirements. When it came to the casing on the film version of 'Philosopher’s Stone', however, I told the director, Chris, that Dean was a black Londoner.

"In fact, I think Chris was slightly taken aback by the amount of information I had on this peripheral character. I had a lot of background on Dean, though I had never found the right place to use it. His story was included in an early draft of 'Chamber of Secrets' but then cut by me, because it felt like an unncessary digression. Now I don’t think his history will every make it into the books..."

She then goes on to tell the rest of the back story.

Back to Ransome... the issue that started this, was how changes were made between the US and UK editions of Harry Potter. I do not know of any such changes made by the American publishers of Ransome, and I do remember as a kid being wonderfully fascinated by such mysterious terms as "torch" and "paraffin".

But now I wonder; how could some of the most mysterious phrases in Ransome be "improved" for the modern American child? I propose a contest, for the "best" translation into modern American of the famous telegraph from Daddy...

1. "Better wet than wusses; if not wusses, won't get wet"
2. "Better drowned than duffers :)"
3. "As long as they wear lifejackets and helmets, they can get away with being duffers."

I am sure this crowd can come up with better ones than these!


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