Zukofsky’s
Texts
For
an overview of the state of LZ’s texts, see Mark Scroggins’ “Note on Texts” in Louis
Zukofsky and the Poetry of Knowledge (1998). Below is an incomplete list of errata
that have been recorded so far, followed by a list of textual variants for “A” 1-8.
“A”
Errata
designated (CZ) were reported by Celia Zukofsky in Paideuma 8.3 (Winter 1979): 585.
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1.3.27
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were [should be] are (CZ)
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1.5.25
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lamposts [should be] lampposts (Scroggins)
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6.25.8
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soldiers!” [should be] soldiers!’
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6.36.19
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they [should be] thy (CZ)
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7.40.19
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fellow [should be] follow (?)
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7.42.13
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Bother [should be] “Bother
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8.75.7
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Make [should be] Made
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8.88.27
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hat [should be] hath (CZ)
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8.93.9
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Jenny [should be] Johnny
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8.94.14
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illusions..” [should be] illusions . . “
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8.103.24
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Molinare [should be] Molinaro
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8.104.26
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shard [should be] shards
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12.138.20
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I [should be] it (CZ)
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12.164.28
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“Plato and…” [should be] “Plato” went first and then
“Aristotle.” (CZ)
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12.167.31
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check [should be] cheek
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12.171.4
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Is is [should be] Is it
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12.171.21
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widsom [should be] wisdom
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12.172.31
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be [should be] he
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12.191.10
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inalnd [should be] inland
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12.214.30
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fact” [should be] “fact”
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12.251.28
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Is is [should be] It is or Is it (?)
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12.261.17
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his and [should be] and his (CZ)
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13.277.7
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flourescents [should be] fluorescents (CZ)
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14.357.13
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them [should be] thim (?)
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21.446.11
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(broken type) [should be] festers (CZ)
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21.456.8
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(broken type) [should be] traction (CZ)
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22.508.20
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grammer [should be] grammar
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22.510.19
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every yet [should be] ever yet (Leggott)
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23.555.36
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desért [should be] desert (CZ)
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Collected
Shorter Poems
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Anew 15
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85.1
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Not [should be] No
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Bottom:
on Shakespeare
There
are quite a few instances throughout Bottom where quotation marks
are missing at one end or the other of a quotation, but I have not attempted to
identify these.
50 3.1444
[should be] 3.144
289 Henry VI [should
be] Henry V
399 T. & C.,III,iii,22 [should be]
T. & C.,III,iii,221 (Leggott)
424 ‘thoughts’ no ‘subjects’
[should be] ‘thoughts’ on ‘subjects’ (?)
443 τουτο δέ πρός έυα:
[should be] τοϋτο δέ πρός ένα:
Textual Variants in “A”
LZ carefully revised most of the pre-World War II movements of “A”, specially “A” 1-6 and -8, subsequent
to their original printings. In later movements, LZ seems to have done little
more than correct printing errors between journal and book publications,
although this has yet to be systematically verified. “A” 1-6 were revised in the
summer of 1942, while “A”-8 was less extensively revised in Oct. 1957 as LZ
prepared the text for the publication of “A” 1-12 (1959).
Characteristically, LZ’s revisions are largely a matter of cutting
and concision, sometimes rearrangement, but only rarely rewording, much less
adding to the earlier text. Particularly in “A” 1-7, which was
published complete in An “Objectivists” Anthology (1932), LZ went
meticulously through the earlier text, making numerous changes on the level of
punctuation and lineation, as well as cutting a number of substantial passages.
In the case of “A”-4, he rearranged the collaging of the segments in the
majority of the movement. Nevertheless, on the whole these revisions are in the
nature of tightening the poetic text rather than a significant rethinking of
the poetic presentation. It is noticeable that he tends to delete the more
personal details in the early movements, as well as toning down the more
explicit references to the Soviet Union, the Communist Party and its discourse
in “A”-8, although it is equally evident that he makes no effort to downplay
the Marxism and Leninism of the original version. Interestingly, some of the
deletions in “A” 1-6 and even a few in “A”-8 cut out repetitions that were
originally intended to imagistically and thematically bind together the
sequence, but subsequent developments appear to have encouraged LZ to conceive
of the movements as relatively autonomous, although the idea of the poem
recycling itself recurs intermittently.
The textual variants listed below compare the text of the final
edition of “A” (1978) with that of a “corrected” text of “A” 1-7 as they appear in An
“Objectivists” Anthology (OA), with page and line numbers referring to the former. OA included an Errata
sheet noting 22 misprints in the “A” texts, so I have taken incorporated these as
the correct versions of the OA text, but noted all such instances as OA Errata. For “A”-8 the
comparative text is that published in New Directions 1938. Other early printings
of individual movements that have been examined are listed at the head of each
movement (see Printings of “A” for full listing) and are
assumed to follow the OA text, unless otherwise noted. As far as I can tell, LZ did
not significantly revise “A”-10, but at present I do not have access to the
original printing in Calendar: An Anthology of 1941. The OA printing was done in
France and reflects European punctuation conventions in putting spaces before
colons, semicolons, question and exclamation marks, as well as putting
punctuation outside quotation marks (although not entirely consistent on this
score); this has been standardized to American practice below. Except in
obvious cases, no effort has been made to determine which line breaks are due
simply to insufficient right margin since it is extremely difficult to second
guess LZ’s practice in such cases, or what might be due to the decisions by the
compositor.
All material that appears below is copyright © Paul Zukofsky, is
used by permission, and may not be quoted by third parties without the express
written permission of the copyright holder.
“A”-1
An
“Objectivists” Anthology, ed. LZ. Le Beausset, France and NY: To, Publishers, 1932.
Pagany 3.3 (Summer 1932).
Title In
OA the first six movements are presented in pairs with titles: First and Second
Movements: "Come, ye Daughters"
1.2 Round
of fiddles] justified left; Pagany printing as in final text.
1.2 Bach.] Bach— / The double
chorus.
1.3 Come,
ye daughters,] “Come, ye daughters, [throughout italicized lines from the
libretto of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion are also in quotations marks].
1.4 dresses,] dresses
1.5 Whom?] whom?—” [Pagany printing: Whom?—”].
1.7 How?] How?—”
1.8 His
legs blue, tendons bleeding,] His legs, blue tendons bleeding, / Tinsel over
his ribs
1.9 holy!] holy—”
1.10 Black
full dress of the audience.] Black, black full dress in the audience—
1.11 Dead
century, where are your motley] Dead century where is your motley,
1.13 Easter] indented.
1.14 Matronly
flounces, starched, heaving,] Matronly flounces, / —starched, heaving, /
Belly freighted—boom!
1.16 Where’s] where’s
1.17 “Ah,
there’s the Kapellmeister / in a terrible hurry—] “Ach, dort eilt sich
der Keppellmeister—”
1.19 Johann
Sebastian, twenty-two / children!”] “Johann Sebastian! (twenty-two / children!)”.
1.21 The
Passion According to Matthew,] According to Matthew,
1.23 Rendered
at Carnegie Hall, / Nineteen twenty-eight, / Thursday evening, the fifth of
April. / The autos parked, honking.]
Repeated
here at Carnegie,
That was Thursday, ‘twenty-eight, the fifth evening
of
April,
April, and
autos honking outside, all those
that were
parked there.
2.1 A
German lady there said: / (Heart turned to Thee) / “I, too, was born
in Arcadia.”] (“Hearts turned to thee”) / German lady / Auch ich war in Arkadien
geboren. [Pagany printing has no stanza break following].
2.7 “Not
that exit, Sir!”] “No suh! / Not past that exit, Zukofsky!” / “Agh, Satan! Agh—gh!”
2.8 molting,] gradual molting, [separate
line].
2.9 As
tho blood stained] Blood staining
2.11 “Not
that exit!” / “Devil! Which?”—] “Not past that exit, Zukofsky!” / “Devil!
what!—?”
2.13 Blood
and desire to graft what you desire, / But no heart left for boys’ voices. /
Desire longing for perfection.]
“Blood of your desire to graft what you desire,
Consider the Angels who sang in the boys’ choir
God’s cherubs,
If seen near the ocean, stripped white skins, red
coat
of the sunburn,—
They have mothers.”
“No, Satan, not heart that bled
Over boys’ voices, nor blood
Flowing for lost sons,—
I have harbored perfection.” [no stanza break following].
2.16 stars] the stars
2.17 Spits
across]
Spits free across
2.18 the
spittle drowning worlds—] and his spit seems to drown worlds,
2.19 stepped
free]
passed free
2.21 The
usher faded thru “Camel” smoke;] Asmodeus fading to “Camel” smoke,
2.22 The
next person seen thru it, / Greasy, solicitous, eyes smiling minutes after, / A
tramp’s face,] Greasy, solicitous, eyes longing minutes after, / Smiling, a
tramp’s face,
2.29 About
me,]
But about me,
3.2 High
necks turned for chatter:] Stopping of turned necks for chatter:
3.4 He
admired so our recessional architecture—] It was he who admired so our recessional /
architecture,
3.7 mother?] mother,
3.9 perused] had perused
3.10 Patrons
of poetry, business devotees of
arts and letters, / Cornerstones of waste paper,— / “Such lyric
weather”— / Chirping quatrain on quatrain; / And the sonneteers—when I consider
/ again and over again— / Immured holluschickies pesisting thru polysyllables,]
The immature pants that filled chairs
Patrons of poetry, business temples erected to
arts
and letters,
