Dhalgren - Textual Accuracy and Redaction

Textual Accuracy and Redaction

Dhalgren is a typographically complex novel. Because of logistical delays, Delany had only three days to correct the nearly 900 pages of publisher's proofs prior to the book's first publication. As a consequence, there were hundreds if not thousands of typographical errors in the first edition. Over the years, Delany managed to have corrections made to the text on several occasions, often with the help of dedicated readers and colleagues. Though the 17th Bantam printing (1985) marked a new high in the novel's textual accuracy, the gain became a loss when Bantam let the book go out of print. The 1996 Wesleyan edition constituted an entirely new typesetting, complete with its own unique errors and inconsistencies. Fortunately, Vintage Books was able to license the Wesleyan typesetting for use in its edition, and twice allowed extensive corrections to be made.

Four times in the twenty years from 1982 to 2002, editor Ron Drummond proofread and redacted the text of Dhalgren, the latter two times at Delany's specific behest. Dozens of Drummond's corrections were incorporated into two late Bantam printings, and hundreds more in the first and third printings of the Vintage Books edition. Because of Drummond's work, the third and later printings of the Vintage edition are considered by the author to be the most accurate rendering of the text. Nevertheless, the early submission by Delany of a mistaken correction to the publisher and the publisher's prompt (if promptly forgotten) response led, months later, to the inadvertent introduction of the single worst, most meaning-obliterating error in the novel's convoluted publishing history, an error that Vintage has failed to correct in subsequent printings: on page 791, in the left-hand column, paragraph 16 should have a single pair of quotation marks, one at the beginning and one at the end, with none in the middle. What currently reads

Lanya said, "You weren't writing too much at your place, either." She said she thought there were too many people around.

was originally intended and written as a single utterance by Madame Brown as follows:

"Lanya said you weren't writing too much at your place, either. She said she thought there were too many people around."

Even with these errors, the current Vintage edition of Dhalgren remains the most accurate published to date.