[hardy-l] Satirical President

[Richard Nemesvari]

Rosemarie's note about the "AEschylean phrase" appearing in her first
edition of *Tess* is interesting, first of all because it must mean I
read the presentation of variants incorrectly in the Clarendon edition
(oops).  Leaving that aside, the entire discussion began because Judith
encountered the "Archsatirist" formulation in the first American
(single-volume) edition of *Tess,* which I own and can therefore confirm
contains that variant.  According to Purdy the American first edition
was set from the serialization in *Harper's Bazar,* which in turn was
set from proofs of the original British serialization in the *Graphic.*
Actually, things were more complicated than that, but we don't need to
go there for the current issue.  So what all this seems to suggest is
that Hardy created the phrase for the first British edition, but that
revision didn't make it into the American first.  And so the evocation
of a deity having his "sport" with Tess would already have been in place
for the July 1892 Preface's evocation of *Lear.*  Does anybody out there
have a copy of the May 1892 "New and Revised" American edition, also
published by Harper and Brothers, which incorporated changes Hardy had
made to the British first?  I'd be curious to know if he inserted the
"President of the Immortals" into this later American printing, or left
his archsatirist in place.

 

 

Richard Nemesvari

Department of English

St. Francis Xavier University

rnemesva at stfx.ca

 

 

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