Scribner releases modified version of Hemingway novel ‘A Moveable Feast’

Aug 06 2009

I first read about Scribner’s plans to release a modified version of Ernest Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast (aff link) in this New York Times OpEd back in July, but have only now gotten around to writing about it. This story brings up a lot of questions about what publishers owe to the authors and novels they publish, especially after the author has long been deceased and can no longer speak for himself.

In this particular case, Scribner is going to be publishing and shipping a modified version of Hemingway’s book A Moveable Feast to bookstores around the country (and probably the world). I haven’t seen this new version yet in my local bookstore, though I’m keeping my eyes open.

The changes made to the book are the result of one of Hemingway’s grandsons who did not like the way the novel portrayed his grandmother:

The grandson has removed several sections of the book’s final chapter and replaced them with other writing of Hemingway’s that the grandson feels paints his grandma in a more sympathetic light. Ten other chapters that roused the grandson’s displeasure have been relegated to an appendix, thereby, according to the grandson, creating “a truer representation of the book my grandfather intended to publish.”

This brings up a whole host of ethical questions for the publishing world. Can and/or should a publisher really do this? Even the person wanting the changes holds the copyright to the work, shouldn’t they have to publish a separate book instead of forever changing the original?

While those aren’t easy questions to answer, they are questions that need to be addressed, especially today where digital content has thrown a wrench in the copyright machine.

A Moveable Feast was first published by Scribner in 1964, after Hemingway died. By all accounts, the manuscript was pretty much complete and Hemingway intended it for publication. So why would Scribner want to change Hemingway’s work in such a dramatic fashion? And, as the NYT OpEd points out, what happens if family of other prominent people mentioned in the book (think: F. Scott Fitzgerald) don’t like the way their own family member is portrayed?

As an author, I am concerned by Scribner’s involvement in this “restored edition.” With this reworking as a precedent, what will Scribner do, for instance, if a descendant of F. Scott Fitzgerald demands the removal of the chapter in “A Moveable Feast” about the size of Fitzgerald’s penis, or if Ford Madox Ford’s grandson wants to delete references to his ancestor’s body odor.

I’d be concerned too. And I’d certainly hope that anything I have written would be preserved ‘as is’ for publication, even after my death. Okay, maybe the publisher could clean up my writing and correct the occasional spelling error or typo, but I definitely wouldn’t want any major re-writing to be done in the name of sparing someone’s feelings. Publishers, after all, have a responsibility to the authors they publish, and then to the readers:

All publishers, Scribner included, are guardians of the books that authors entrust to them. Someone who inherits an author’s copyright is not entitled to amend his work. There is always the possibility that the inheritor could write his own book offering his own corrections.

I totally agree with the above assessment. If the grandson does not like the way A Moveable Feast depicts his grandmother, then write a new book offering the new corrections. Scribner needs to leave the original alone.

Do you think Scribner should be allowed to make these changes to Hemingway’s work? Leave a comment below with your thoughts.

2 Responses

I think it’s a travesty and should be illegal. No one but the author should ever be allowed to change the text. If “she meant to do this” the changes should be included separately or clearly marked. Any text should be referred to as “Altered.” Copyright is intended to preserve the manuscript as published or discovered, not become a legal means to make it politically correct for grandma.

Teri-K 8/7/2009 6:50 pm
Hi Teri! Thank you for your comment.

I agree, only the author should be allowed to make such drastic changes to any written work. Once he/she dies, then the work they leave behind should remain unchanged.

Brad Vertrees 8/8/2009 12:15 pm