Theos-Talk Archives (July 2003 Message tt00244)

Pendragon

It is heart warming to read what you write, as it is very difficult to get
across that which you see and know, and experience. Not thinking so much
about Communists and Communards, but the whole implication of making
alterations and editing her works.

<<<I always felt the most comfortable when reading the old original edition
of
the Theosophist or Lucifer. Just to hold those old volumes in hand, with
their yellowish paper half falling apart, gives you quite a different
force.>>>

Yes, it is quite different.

Many years back having acquired some odd issues of early "Lucifers" it was
astounding when reading some quotes HPB made from the Kalevala, to then for
some reason look at the similar passage in the "Collected Writings" and see
that changes had been made. It was difficult to describe why it was so
different. It wasn't in the words, but rather to do with, as you so well
put it, "quite a different force."

Cobden-Sanderson wrote that when he edited Shakespeare's Sonnets "as I
proceeded I found two other & more important things, first, that slowly,
like the coming on of night, I was changing the whole aspect of the Sonnets,
and, secondly, that the original punctuation had a method in its seeming
madness, though its method was not the method of to-day; that, in fact, it
was based, not on logical or grammatical structure, but on emphasis and
literary gesture." And at the end he quotes Percy Simpson (Shakespearean
Punctuation): "Modern punctuation is, or at any rate attempts to be logical;
the earliest system was mainly rhythmical."; "Modern Punctuation is uniform;
the old punctuation was quite the reverse." (This is quoted from a
pamphlet: "Shakespearean Punctuation," The Doves Press, [c.1911])

Cobden-Sanderson realised what he had done and "cancelled all the sheets I
had already printed, both vellum and paper, and began the edition over
again..." How he felt about his alterations to Shakespeare's Sonnets, is
much the way I felt about the alterations made to HPB's writings. Boris de
Zirkoff changed the whole aspect of The Secret Doctrine, by editing it, and
the whole aspect of HPBs writings, by editing them. He looked to the dead
letter, rather than to the rhythm/emphasis/gesture, and so on..."quite a
different force."

The spelling in de Zirkoff's Secret Doctrine is Uniform, the spelling in the
original SD of HPB and the Masters was quite the reverse.

Thank you for your enthusiastic reply, and for all those other inspiring
thoughts, with which I am in accord.

Tony


-----Original Message-----
From: Pendragon [mailto:pendragon@cqmail.net]
Sent: 16 July 2003 6:29 pm