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A Note on the Text
Keep the Aspidistra Flying was published by Gollancz on 20 April 1936 Three thousand copies were run off, of which 2,194 were sold; most of the remainder were lost as the result of an air-raid It was not published again in Orwell’s lifeti’s Uniform Edition in 1954 and in America in December 1955, published by Harcourt, Brace Despite the fact that there is only one relevant edition, and that Orwell corrected the proofs, preparing a text in line hat Orwell originally wrote presents difficulties, some insoluble
Orwell co of 1936, and by the time he left London on 31 January 1936 for his journey north to gather an Pier, he was under the impression that his text had been accepted It was only as the proofs started to coh in February that fears were aroused at Gollancz, who then referred the book to their solicitor Oras required to ly resented He was upset partly because he objected to such in-house censorship, and at so late a stage, and partly because he had tothe same number of letters in order that his text would not overrun Moreover, he had to do all this in a setting the grieois co as essentially worthless in the novel After dealing with one series of objections, he wrote to his agent, Leonard Moore, with considerable bitterness, to say that had he been told these changes were required before type-setting began he would ‘have entirely rewritten the first chapter and e of prose or even a whole chapter revolves round one or two key phrases, and to re to pieces’ This letter ritten on 24 February 1936, the day after Orwell’s descent into the Crippen pit, Wigan, about which he wrote with such feeling What infuriated Oras that he was not allowed to link a description of the popular novels of Ethel M Dell and Warwick Deeping as ‘garbage’ with the ‘synthetic garbage’ he refers to on page 4, line 2 A key phrase was cut (and one that cannot be restored) It is quite probable that, as with A Clergyhter, it was not only weakness he perceived in his novel that led hi later in his life, but the way it had been ‘garbled’ Although he wished neither of these books to be reprinted, he was not averse to their publication in cheap editions ‘whichin a few pounds for my heirs’ (Notes for his Literary Executor, 31 March 1945)
A search of the files of Victor Gollancz Ltd brought to light several pages of the original typescript of Keep the Aspidistra Flying and correspondence between Orwell and his publisher about the changes that were required The objections can be grouped under three headings: 1 Advertising; 2 Naed obscenity Some of this inforinal text to be restored (Page/line nuiven in brackets)
1 Advertising: The advertising character, ‘Roland Butta’, had to be changed to ‘Corner Table’ (4/9) As Orwell explained, the new name ‘has the same number of letters and to some extent preserves the effect of Lyons teashops etc without referring to any real advertisement’ The link, presumably, ith Messrs Lyons’s Corner House restaurants Throughout the novel, Orwell used a nuans It was decided that all these had to go ‘Have a Camel’ was ohbrow… Dandruff is the Reason’ was replaced by ‘Kiddies Claht Starvation’ advertiseood for you’ was cut out and ‘Get that waistline back to nor these changes he had ‘equalised the letters but [I] have altered the order entirely and have stuck in slips of paper showing how it should read I hope the coht’ ‘Bovex’ also presented problems Its name was too like Bovril, Oxo, Beefex, etc, but Orwell insisted there was no e” is cut out there is no cos advertised, only a protest against the whole business of advertisement’
2 Names of people and companies, etc: Orwell had to re and Drage’s—on page 274 soe’ at 126/21 The business—college at 56/11 was originally called Clark’s College The naer (211/16) was cut out and even the Waterloo Rad (222/7) had to be delocalised Understandable fears were expressed that Mr McKechnie was based on Orwell’s former employer at Booklovers’ Corner, Francis Westrope Orwell explained that McKechnie is ‘an old man hite hair & beard who is a teetotaller and takes snuff My late eed clean-shaven man who is not a teetotaller & never takes snuff… If you really wish I will get hi a libel action’
3 Alleged obscenity: It is possible to restore much of what has so far been described Unfortunately, Gordon Co with Rosemary at Burnham Beeches cannot be printed as Orrote it Gollancz’s lawyer advised that pages 155—7 should ‘be considered very carefully froed obscenity’ Orwell’s response is poignant: ‘I have altered certain passages here in Mr Gollancz’s office and I think he has now no objection’ Gollancz walked a knife-edge in the al action and his caution was justified, but for Orwell therehis novel at his publisher’s desk Yet Orwell also showed a certain innocence in these ested that ‘Come here Not a bad mouth Come here’ (197/6—7) should be excised ‘for reasons wh it wd be easier to explain in conversation than in writing!’ (and this was a handwritten note added to a typed letter so that the typist should not be shamed) Oras nonplussed ‘Not altered,’ he replied ‘Cannot see any dirtyhere’ It was allowed to stand
Where restoration is possible, this has been done A iven in the Textual Note to the Co, 1987) There is, however, an intriguing irony in this h it is not certain whether Orwell intended it, in the choice of ‘Comstock’ for the principal character’s surname The founder of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice (1873) was Anthony Comstock (1844—1915) who initiated the ‘Co of obscene h the US mail
Finally, although he is dubbed ‘Sir’ John Drinkwater (138/5), this is not a h it was assumed to be and ‘corrected’ in the Uniform Edition) but a small element in the satire
PETER DAVISON
Albany, London
I
THE CLOCK struck half past two In the little office at the back of Mr McKechnie’s bookshop, Gordon—Gordon Coed twenty-nine and rathera fourpenny packet of Player’s Weights open and shut with his thumb
The ding-dong of another, remoter clock—from the Prince of Wales, the other side of the street—rippled the stagnant air Gordon arettes away in his inside pocket He was perishing for a sarettes left Today was Wednesday and he had noto him till Friday It would be too bloody to be without tobacco tonight as well as all tomorrow
Bored in advance by toot up and ure, with delicate bones and fretful ht sleeve and its ; his ready-made flannel trousers were stained and shapeless Even fro
The ot up He knew the precise sum that was there Fivepence halfpenny—twopence halfpenny and a Joey He paused, took out the miserable little threepenny-bit and looked at it Beastly, useless thing! And bloody fool to have taken it! It had happened yesterday, when he was buying cigarettes ‘Don’t mind a threepenny-bit, do you, sir?’ the little bitch of a shop-girl had chirped And of course he had let her give it him ‘Oh no, not at all!’ he had said—fool, bloody fool!
His heart sickened to think that he had only fivepence halfpenny in the world, threepence of which couldn’t even be spent Because how can you buy anything with a threepenny-bit? It isn’t a coin, it’s the answer to a riddle You look such a fool when you take it out of your pocket, unless it’s in a a whole handful of other coins ‘How irl says And then you feel all round your pocket and fish out that absurd little thing, all by itself, sticking on the end of your finger like a tiddleywink The shop-girl sniffs She spots immediately that it’s your last threepence in the world You see her glance quickly at it—she’s wondering whether there’s a piece of Christ to it And you stalk out with your nose in the air, and can’t ever go to that shop again No! We won’t spend our Joey Twopence halfpenny left—twopence halfpenny to last till Friday
This was the lonely after-dinner hour, when few or no customers were to be expected He was alone with seven thousand books The save on the office, was filled to the bried and unsaleable On the top shelves near the ceiling the quarto volumes of extinct encyclopædias slumbered on their sides in piles like the tiered coffins in coraves Gordon pushed aside the blue, dust-sodden curtains that served as a doorway to the next roo library It was one of those ‘twopenny no-deposit’ libraries beloved of book-pinchers No books in it except novels, of course And what novels! But that too was a matter of course
Eight hundred strong, the novels lined the roo backs, as though the walls had been built of ed alphabetically Arlen, Burroughs, Deeping, Dell, Frankau, Galsworthy, Gibbs, Priestley, Sapper, Walpole Gordon eyed them with inert hatred At this moment he hated all books, and novels y, half-baked trash ht hundred slabs of pudding, walling hiht was oppressive He h the open doorway into the front part of the shop In doing so, he smoothed his hair It was an habitual lass door Gordon was not ih, and because his hair was usually too long he gave the i for his body He was never quite unconscious of his s at hi a chest, with a you-be-damned air which occasionally deceived simple people