I wouldn't call this a comic exactly, but I've been thinking about revisions a lot lately. In the last month, two friends sent me their manuscripts that had already been accepted for publication and announced, "I want to change everything! What do I do?" I would call this a poet's problem, but then I remember reading that Hemingway rewrote the ending of A Farewell to Arms 39 times. Dorothy Parker said it took her months to write a single story because if she wrote five words, she edited seven. Amor Towles submitted his most recent book, Table for Two, and then took the book back to work on it some more. He also edits his books between the hardback and paperback editions.
Nin-
Yeats says somewhere that revision was an ecstatic joy for him. "Heaven" I think he called it.
My mentor & friend Donald Hall claims to have revised some of his poems 500 times, over a decade. (I never asked him if it was worth it.)
I've revised some of my poems 10 times or so-- some were worth it, some not, but it was joyful(and educational).
Ken
Posted by: Ken Lauter | October 20, 2024 at 10:21 PM
Oh that is a lot of revisions! I think I might rival him at times, sadly. I wish I found it joyful!!
I do enjoy seeing the revisions of famous poems!
Posted by: Nin Andrews | October 22, 2024 at 02:14 PM