Paterson (Revised Edition)
Page 26
confused 1963 and original have confounded
lined with sheepskin/lines with shipskin 1963 Error originates with 1963 printing.
Best/Warmest IST
everyone/everybody IST
Josie Original and Yale typescripts read Jo; change occurs on Harvard printer’s typescript.
209 wounded wounded Treated as an error and amended to “wounded” in the 1963 printing. As 1963 on one of the Za190 typescripts and as first edition on a number of others and the Harvard typescripts. When consulted during preparations for the 1963 printing, Thirlwall listed this among a number of suggested changes in a note to James Laughlin, adding “sounds a bit mushy for WCW” (ND Archives). Since WCW let the repetition pass on a number of the late typescripts and in the first edition I have restored it.
210–211 Dear Dr…. A.G. The third letter from Allen Ginsberg included in Paterson, see also pp. 172–174 and 193. (May 20, 1956, Yale uncat.). The text was amended with the posthumous 1963 printing to bring it closer to the original, but inconsistently. In keeping with the principles for Book V laid out in “A Note on the Text,” I have generally followed WCW’s probable transcription typescript, filed with Za190, and note below the verbal differences with the original, the first edition and the post-1963 printings. Most of the changes from the original are introduced on one of the later Za190 drafts.
your introduction WCW’s introduction “Howl for Carl Solomon” to Ginsberg’s Howl and Other Poems (1956).
the point/to the point IST
though/thought IST
on a ship/in a ship IST
family on my/family on way to a Original and 1963. I follow the transcription and IST.
have a whitmanesque/do have a whitmanic Original and 1963. I follow the transcription and IST.
&/and IST
image/images Original and 1963. I follow the transcription and IST.
poppa/papa IST
any case/my case IST
struggle/trouble IST
the stones/stones IST
to the mind All printings and transcription, original has “of the mind”
mind/mind too Original, transcription and 1963, change occurs when original cut later.
magazine will be put out/magazeen will be out IST
ANY TIME All printings and transcription, original has TIME
SUNFLOWER SUTRA Omitted in IST. The poem appears in Howl and Other Poems
WCW omits following “contain”:
3 shorter poems too, written subsequent to howl:
Supermarket in California—a homage to whitman
Sunflower sutra—declaration of the experience of
happy real mercy
America—make of it what you can.
WCW omits eleven lines of the letter following “times” that discuss the literary and travel activities of Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, Robert Creeley, and Richard Eberhart.
Following “weeks” WCW omits “if the FBI doesn’t get me first. Shipping out for Govt Military Sea Transport to refurbish the DEW (defense radar arctic paranoia installactions).”
compassion The two dots are in AG’s original.
Following “find” WCW omits “not that hard. I mean to indicate next move, next step ahead, jump of the imagination, Whitman had enormous sense of humor and Freedom”; and following “shut up” WCW omits “here’s some more poems which will be going in the book.”
etc etc In all printings, but not in the original, which has a period following “too,” the only word omitted here from the original.
out … etc. WCW omits the final fourteen lines of the letter, which concern details of the magazine, Moby, and of possible contributors.
A.G. Original reads Allen Ginsberg, is signed Allen, and adds a c/o address.
212 … The whores … G.S. Taken from a four-page typescript titled “Bordertown” now with Yale Za190, sent to WCW by Gilbert Sorrentino. An accompanying letter, dated 9 January, 1956 (Yale uncat.), begins:
I have just finished reading your book The Desert Music, and I’d like to tell you that I haven’t read poems of such beauty in months or even years. What interested me especially was the last (title) poem, ‘The Desert Music,’ since, about four years ago, when I was in the Army, I wrote a narration in prose, I suppose you could call it, called Bordertown, which deals with a town like the Juarez of your poem … this being Nuevo Laredo.
I’m taking the liberty of sending you the writing, even though it needs revision….
WCW replied on January 12, “Your story is a knockout and one of the best written accounts of the sort that I remember ever to have read.” And a week later: “The story is a rough one but exceptionally well written and must not be lost sight of—and I don’t intend to lose sight of it as you’ll see when the occasion shall arrive. … an unusual success in a young writer. More power to you” (Univ. of Delaware). And see Weaver 217. The sketch has not been published elsewhere.
On 6 April 1962 Sorrentino wrote to WCW: “When you praised that short sketch of mine (the one that you later used pieces of in Paterson 5) it was one of the great things to ever happen to me, both as a writer, Perse, and as a man. At the time, I was broke, miserable, had a huge body of poems and prose that no one had any interest in, and worst of all, I didn’t know a single writer to whom I could show any of the work, for ‘professional’ criticism. You gave me the confidence and the strength to feel my own slowly-ebbing confidence and strength fully. … I am deeply and permanently grateful to you” (Yale uncat.).
A number of changes were made to the passage in the 1964 second printing of the 1963 text (referred to below as 1964), in part through a note to James Laughlin from Hugh Kenner reporting “indirectly” on nine suggested corrections by Gilbert Sorrentino (Sept. 1, 1963, ND Archives), and also by the original typescript’s arrival at Yale. Nine of the ten changes are those communicated by Professor Kenner. While some of the changes return to the original, others create a further version. In keeping with the principles for Book V laid out in “A Note on the Text,” I have generally followed WCW’s probable transcription typescript, filed with ZA190 (which in this case returns the text closer to the original than either previous printing), and note below the verbal differences with the original, the first edition and the 1964 text. Most of the changes from the original were introduced on one of the later Za190 drafts.
pleading/bleeding IST
A real house, a real house I follow the transcription and IST; original reads “A real house, a reel house,” 1964 reads “A reel house, a real house,” following the Kenner/Sorrentino correction.
vulgar assailing/vulgarassailing IST and on transcription
against the dancers/against the door In all printings. I follow the original and the transcription.
your ear/your ear dances IST, your ear dancers 1964 following the Kenner/Sorrentino correction. I follow the original and the transcription.
you argue/argue IST, and you argue 1964, following the Kenner/Sorrentino correction. I follow the original and the transcription.
laughs noise/laughs nose All printings, I follow the original and the transcription.
four cuatro … cuatro dolares/four quarto … quatro dollars IST/four quatro … quatro dolares 1964, following the Kenner/Sorrentino correction. I follow the original and the transcription (although the latter reads “dolars”).
friend’s voice/friends IST, friends’ voices 1964 following the Kenner/Sorrentino correction. I follow the original, the transcription reads “friend’s” but omits “voice.”
his face/the face 1964 following the Kenner/Sorrentino correction. I follow the original, the transcription and IST.
her fingers fragile touches/fingers fragile touch 1963, original has “fingers fragile touches”; 1 follow transcription and IST.
of whorehouses/of the whorehouses 1964, following the Kenner/Sorrentino correction. I follow IST and transcription, original has “of the whorehouse.”
G.S. not in the original—which also ends
here.
WCW omits all but two lines of the first two pages. Other differences between the original and the Paterson text of this edition (almost all with their source in the transcription):
dolla, two dolla/dollah, two dollah
shit/sh—
fills … the … guitar soaked night air/fills the dust of air and corners, fills the dust and guitar-soaked air of night. WCW marks the omissions and changes. He also omits the next, two-line, paragraph, and following “the house” omits fourteen lines in which the narrator takes in “the wild incredulous scene,” and sits down with a beer.
against a door/against the door
all white/all in white
white … bride … Both ellipses are in Sorrentino’s original
and find her/and you find her
and smile/and smilesmile Revised by WCW, Za190.
a buttock/buttock
please and/please
Between “twice” and “I go twice” WCW omits “… you go twice? And smile yes yes twice”
213 the birds… also Possibly WCW’s prose. The description is of the second of the unicorn tapestries, see note to p. 206.
214 One warm … away Probably WCW’s prose. In earlier typescripts “Willow Point” reads “Santiago Grove” and “San Diego Grove” (in Rutherford), while the initials G.B. and L.M. are late substitutions for the initials of the actual persons. A staff memorandum in the New Directions files dated 3/3/58 reads “Wittenberg thought long about the short passage in PAT V … and suggested that I talk again with W.C.W. about the presumed death of the lady. He also suggested that we change some of the details, but we both thought that ‘Sandy Bottom’ should not be molested. I called W.C.W. this morning…. and Bill said to change the initials … and we agreed to change ‘San Diego Grove’ to ‘Willow Point.’ We also changed the initials of the young sailor. Bill said, by the way, that the lady and all her family had been dead for 30 years.”
214 “Loose your love to flow” From WCW’s poem “The Wind Increases” (CP1 339).
215 “I am … A.P. A.P. is Levi Arnold Post (1889–1971), then Emeritus Professor of Greek at Haverford College. WCW told his friend Charles Abbott, the librarian at the University of Buffalo, on November 3, 1956, that he had received the letter Post had written to Abbott, and “his opinion of the writings of Sappho, that which makes her verse distinctive in quality, fascinates me, it is just what I wanted to find out” (Buff F 985). WCW and Post exchanged correspondence in 1957 and 1958, and WCW told Abbott on Jan 1, 1958, that in Paterson he was quoting from Post’s “letter to me which I can no longer find” (Buffalo F989). But these lines are not in the two Post letters to WCW filed among WCW’s uncatalogued correspondence at Yale, and may be from Post’s letter to Abbott. WCW and Post met briefly at the wedding of Abbott’s son David, and when WCW read at Haverford. Post was editor of the Loeb Classical Library. See also Weaver 217–18.
215 Peer of … dying A translation of Sappho’s Fragment 31. In 1957 WCW published a slightly different version as a separate poem, see CP2 348 and accompanying note.
215–216 13 Nv …?????? A 1956 letter from Ezra Pound to WCW (Yale uncat.). In a letter to New Directions on 25 February 1958 Pound expressed concern about the letter’s planned inclusion in Paterson in the light of efforts to have him released from St. Elizabeths (which happened in May 1958): “it may be o.k. or it may be MOST untimely to release it/no need to protrude my blasted nekk any FURTHER at this time…. Bill dun’t mean no harm, but I am gittin tired of incarceration, gap cd/be left for later edition/soz not to afflict his artistik cawnscience” (ND Archives). And Pound wrote to WCW on 27 February 1958, “I dunno that I can afford to be quoted at this time. especially as yu indicate the expressed emotion has not been Wordsworth’d in tranquility” (Yale uncat.). Somewhat irritated, WCW was ready to cut the entire letter out, but Pound subsequently made some cuts and revisions—noted below—and WCW accepted the emendations for the first edition. And see Mariani 713–14.
The cuts were restored in the 1963 printing, when some further changes were made to bring the text closer to the original letter, although some differences remained. In keeping with the principles for Book V laid out in “A Note on the Text,” I have generally followed WCW’s probable transcription typescript, filed with Za190, and note below the verbal differences with the original, the first edition and the post-1963 printings. Where the transcription reflects a probable misreading of EP’s handwriting, I have followed the original. Most of the changes are introduced through the various retypings, including the copy prepared for Pound that carries his revisions.
my BilBill/by BilBil IST, change occurs in draft for EP
vide/Vid IST and transcription—misreading of EP’s script, I follow the original
makes/make IST, change occurs in draft for EP
they offered/was offered IST and transcription, misreading of EP’s script, I follow the original
economics/econ 1963 and original, I follow the transcription
dunghill FDR Omitted IST, one of EP’s deletions. In the 1963 printing although the material was restored, the ellipsis periods were retained in error.
and the stink that elevated him Omitted IST, not on draft sent to EP
to Rapallo Omitted IST, one of EP’s deletions
still want/want 1963 and original, I follow the transcription
the book/his book 1963 and original, I follow the transcription
educ/educate IST, I follow the original and the transcription
buzzards/old buzzards IST, added in draft for EP, I follow the original and transcription
shittahd aaabull I follow the original and transcription. IST has shitta daaabull, an EP revision, 1963 has shittad aaabull
Some additional verbal differences from the original remain:
for SIX/or SIX Transcription has “(f)or”; EP amends
don’t/dont Difference is on transcription
re Beum/re … All printings. EP removes the name. Robert Lawrence Beum was editor of the magazine The Golden Goose.
I found/I have found Difference is on transcription
217 us of/of Spectrum (1958)
219 Knocking around … eat From Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow and Bernard Wolfe, Really the Blues (New York, 1946), p. 53.
The text was changed with the 1963 printing to read as the source, although two minor punctuation differences remained. In keeping with the principles for Book V laid out in “A Note on the Text,” I have generally followed WCW’s probable transcription typescript, filed with Za190, and note below the verbal differences with the original, the first edition and the post-1963 printings. Most of the changes from the original are introduced in one of the later Za190 drafts. WCW’s transcription accurately recorded the two minor punctuation differences not restored in 1963.
Rapp/the Rapp IST
be/begin IST
know that/know why IST
mournful/moanful Original and 1963, I follow the transcription,
patterns/patters IST
even/not even Original and 1963,I follow the transcription.
219–221 Satyrs dance … beasts These lines appear as part of WCW’s 1955 poem “Tribute to the Painters,” see CP2 296–98 and accompanying note.
220 abstraction/abstractions New World Writing (1955)
was aware WCW’s typescripts read “was ware,” as do all non-Paterson printed versions of these lines. The change is made by an editor on the Harvard printer’s typescript, possibly with WCW’s approval.
prey on/prey upon New World Writing
A letter/the letter New World Writing
221 a Minotaur/the Minotaur New World Writing
Fifth/9th New World Writing. WCW realized he had the wrong symphony, see note on CP2 494.
tail/back New World Writing
had not/has not New World Writing
The New World Writing version omits “comforting/his companions.”
221–222 (Q. Mr…. difficulty The first two-thirds of an int
erview with Mike Wallace as printed in “Mike Wallace asks William Carlos Williams Is Poetry a Dead Duck?” in the New York Post, October 18, 1957, p. 4.6. Thirlwall’s note on a typescript at Yale identifies this as an interview carried on the television program Night Beat, and the annotation has misled some commentators. But a recording of the program now at the Rutherford Public Library does not include these exchanges, and WCW is not interviewed there by Wallace. Mike Wallace confirms, letter to Christopher MacGowan, April 30, 1991, “The New York Post piece with William Carlos Williams was done only for print, and only for the New York Post and the syndicated papers that carried it.”
“2 partridges … Denmark …” From WCW’s poem “Two Pendants: For the Ears” see CP2 208.
Robert MacGregor, vice-president of New Directions, in telling WCW on March 13, 1958, that E.E. Cummings wanted $25 for use of his poem in Paterson, also reported a visit to Cummings to check the manuscript’s version with him. “He said it was not right at all and took it upstairs and then came back with it retyped somewhat differently…. He … evidently had seen the interview as reported in the New York Post. He said that what you should have replied was that this was not a poem at all, ‘and it isn’t.’ I told him that this is all very well for the author to say, but that you, as a defender of modern poetry, had to defend it, no matter if you didn’t see much sense in it. He wants to see proof, too.” This letter, and Cummings’ typescript, are in the New Directions files. Cummings adds an “I” to the Post’s “FalleA” and adds the stanza breaks. In Cummings’ Collected Poems (1968) the poem has another six lines.
Verbal differences from the New York Post, all present on early typescripts:
here’s part/here’s a part
that it is/that it’s
of poetry and the sense/between the essence of poetry and the sense
ignore sense/ignore the sense
I have retained the Paterson punctuation. All ellipses are in the source except the final one.
223 a Nativity/ The Adoration of the Kings, 1564, in the National Gallery, London.
223 got to/get to The Nation (1958)
225 we have come/have come All printings. A possible uncaught error on the galleys, I have restored the reading of all typescripts, including the Harvard printer’s typescript.