Posted by Alan Hakim on April 13, 2012 at 06:25:07 user awhakim.
In Reply to: Re: Peter Duck - some thoughts posted by Owen Roberts on April 12, 2012 at 14:58:04:
Tony Colwell gave a talk on "Publishing AR" at the TARS Third Literary Weekend in 1995. He told a fine story of Jonathan Cape, who had a certain reputation for tinkering with the text of his authors. Tony says, "Recovering in hospital from an illness, Jonathan wanted something to do and was given a de Beauvoir proof [of The Second Sex] to read. In it he came across a passage which said that after coitus a large percentage of the male population likes to light up a cigarette. Jonathan crossed out 'cigarette' and wrote in the margin 'pipe'."
After the conference, Tony was assailed by doubts, and looked up the facts. Sadly, they were not quite as neat as his anecdote, but the underlying truth about AR's world is there. It's all in his fascinating talk in the Transcripts.