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Cosmopolis 14 • 2 9 COSMOPOLIS Number 14 February-March, 2001 Contents View from the Ivory Tower 1 View from the Ivory Tower The second—and final—textual integrity conference was held Report from the Oakland TI Conference over the weekend of 10-11 2 TI Trivia Quiz: On the Up-and-Up? February, at the Oakland home Texans Involved ofJohn Vance and his wife Tammy. Attendance was excel- 2 Take the TI Trivia Quiz lent with nineteen people taking Try to be fastidious part, including two from Australia Alun Hughes and two from Great Britain. 3 Reflections on Contemporary Literature The Conference covered similar ground to the initial tex- Salient points made. Vance the victor. tual integrity conference hosted by Paul Rhoads in France, but with a more practical emphasis, reflecting the fact that 9 Double Digitizing a number of us now have some real TI experience. There Rationale. Chris Corley. was a strong focus on the actual mechanics of doing the DD Techniques. Paul Rhoads. work, and small group sessions were run by Tim Stretton (Wyst), Steve Sherman (Madouc), John Robinson (The Languages 11 Techno-Proofing of Pao and Techno-Proofing) and Jesse Polhemus ( The Dying WordPick. Ian Davies. Earth books) to share experiences learned to date. We are now building up a good body of TI experience (especially 12 Post-Proofing when we add in the work of Patrick Dusoulier—who Steve Sherman couldn’t be with us—on The Book ofDreams). The weekend also provided a good opportunity to test 13 Proofreading Update out the new TI Handbook, Alun Hughes’ distillation of Steve Sherman his TI expertise with a little input from Tim. The 13 Letter to the Editor Handbook will be available on the relaunched TI website as soon as a couple of minor procedural points are ironed The Obstreperous Free-Vancer out. The Handbook contains many practical examples, but Carl Goldman is short on general rules—for good reason! The more we 16 Project Review look at the evidence available to us, the more we see that “one-size fits all” solutions simply don’t fit the bill in most History and thanks! cases. TI will be literary detective work—and each story 18 Call for a CPA will be a new case. The VIE Needs you ! The Vances’ generous offer to host the Conference had many benefits. Oakland is home to a superb collection of manuscript evidence, and just about every conceivable edition of the books (indeed the books alone ran to 64 boxes!), which meant that people were able to start work on their assignments straight away. It was also a great thrill for everyone to meet Jack on the Sunday afternoon; and Jack’s wife Norma came over on both days and held us enthralled with her recollections. Only those who were methods, which is to say that some folks of rigid mind there will know Jack’s particular reason for writing The might focus on the term “cheating.” Seems that the last Kragen! We’ll all remember with gratitude, too, the excep- question and answer for the quiz was overheard by one tional hospitality of John and Tammy—special thanks of our team members. He (or she) expressed the laud- are due to Tammy who kept us all fed and happy while able, if naive thought that perhaps he should abstain looking after young Glen, who was very off-colour all from helping us, as he’d overheard Tim, Alun and John through the weekend. Schwab making up the last quiz question. I had merely It wasn’t all work, of course! On the first day the eager to observe that not a one of Jack’s best characters would folk were split into four teams to take the TI Trivia Quiz, have hesitated for a millisecond to take advantage of set by Alun, Tim and John Schwab. The questions were such an inadvertent stroke of luck, and the deed was designed to stretch, and afteran epic struggle the done: we wrote down our answer. Shortly thereafter, we Wankh, comprising Richard Chandler, Chris Corley, Jody graciously accepted the plaudits of the other worthy, but Kelly and Bob Lacovara triumphed by a single point, with perhaps more fastidious, groups. the Pnume, Chasch and Dirdir close behind, the clincher being the final question where the Wankh’s knowledge of Bob Lacovara Finnish translations saw them home. For those of us who’d been in Oakland this time last year, the chance to meet up with old friends was a great Take the TI Trivia Quiz bonus, but it was also good to make so many new ones. After having spent nearly eighteen months corresponding For those of you with a mind for trivia, here are the with some of you, the time for a first meeting was long posers we set our four teams in Oakland, dreamed up overdue. Having met all of our TI workers over the course with sadistic relish over a leisurely breakfast. The teams of the two conferences, I feel confident that the future of had access to no reference materials other than their this part of the project is in very safe hands. The enthu- own brains. Test your own knowledge—answers in the siasm, commitment and discrimination on display was most next issue! heartening: I salute you all—and look forward to The TI Trivia Quiz receiving your completed assignments in the near future! 1. Which story had the original title of “The Uninhibited Tim Stretton, Textual Integrity Team Lead Robot”? 2. What is the full original title of Showboat World, the title under which the Underwood-Miller edition was The Lone Star State Shows published? 3. Give all the names under which Jack published novels Its Mettle in Oakland or stories. 4. Which two stories were left out of the UK edition of The “quiz” was a set of 20 questions, selected to Eight Fantasms and Magics? stump and puzzle, that was given to the attendees. We 5. How many of the Demon Princes did Gersen actually were divided into four groups, and I suspected right kill? away that the division was hardly random: the three 6. Which of Jack’s works have been adapted for radio, Texans (Chris Corley, Jody Kelly and me) wound up in TV or film? the same group, along with Richard Chandler. The ques- 7. Which of Jack’s books have only been published in a tions were of two sorts: things one might possibly know, single edition? and items of information which were, to my mind, 8. Which cover is shown below? dreadful cheats, being tidbits of arcane trivia. (Translate a title from Polish? Sure.) After all was said and done, however, the Texans with help from honorary Texan, Richard, carried the day (as Texans are wont). But now, however, it’s time for a con- fession. We enhanced our score through unconventional Cosmopolis 14 • 2 9. Give alternate titles for: “Sail 25”, “The World down in disgust after ten pages. But this time I persisted Between”, “Ultimate Quest”, “The Absent-Minded to the end, only to learn that first impressions, yet once Professor”, The Faceless Man. again, had been correct. 10. What will the VIE titles be for: Take My Face, The Fashionable trash! Dishonest, pretentious foolishness! Dying Earth, Bad Ronald, To Live Forever, “Assault on a An insult to an intelligent reader! Does this book have City”? any qualities? It must be conceded one: chutzpah. Auster 11. What was Malagate’s name in the magazine version writes as if he were a genius: a sensitive, tortured artist, of Star King? whose readers are begging for each word—a revolting 12. Which of Jack’s novels had its first edition in Dutch performance. To assuage my spirit, and punish this translation in 1979, prior to the English-language impostor for what he, and his army of admirers, have edition? inflicted upon me, I won’t keep my disgust to myself or 13. Attach the right numbers to Trullion, Marune, and Wyst. resist the temptation to compare him to a real writer, 14. Which is the longest Jack Vance novel? cruel and easy as the game may be. So, how does this 15. Which short story has only been published once? toast of the New York literary smart-set compare to a 16. Which novels or stories won Hugo, Nebula and Edgar literary non-entity read only by a few odd-ball sci-fi awards? fans? 17. Name the three Joe Bain stories. Auster’s silly book begins with a great clatter: the nar- 18. Which two stories in The Dying Earth had their order rator must write his story in great haste! He must save reversed in the Hillman edition? the reputation of his friend! This device reappears only 19. What was the title of “Guyal of Sfere” in the at the very end, and is utterly unconvincing, a feeble ploy Hillman edition of The Dying Earth? to give his scribble an aura of novelty. The narrator is 20. Which novel was published in Finnish as named Peter Aron, initials P.A.—Paul Auster, get it?— Avaruusrosvot? but there is this other nuance: Peter and Paul are the two epistolary apostles; and Aaron is the brother of Moses, Tim Stretton the one who did the talking—or writing as the case may be…In any case “Peter Aron” turns out to be Auster in all sorts of ways, as a glance at the back cover of the Reflections on book reveals: both were born in New Jersey, both went to Columbia University, both lived in France for a few years, Contemporary Literature: both came back to New York, both end up living in Brooklyn.
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