Mysteries - Knut Hamsun [168]
“Which is all right?”
“Which is a fact! And”
16 307/274. Deleted in CW: “... Obviously this is not radical enough for you-unless it should happen to be all too radical. Well, as you like! ... Am I boring you, Doctor?”
17 311-12/276. The following two words (“like Maupassant”) were added in CW; the P text goes on: “who served bitter drinks. Oh sure, it was the amount—the quantity-and the pungent taste that determined the value of the brew.... Well, he-Nagel-was no connoisseur, he was only a simple agronomist with ordinary horse sense, and consequently he didn’t lay claim to having fifty people on his side. He had at one time happened to make the mistake of expressing his view on the topic of Shakespeare. It was at an evening party. Yes, indeed, he had read Shakespeare; he had decided to ascend to the pinnacle of culture, that was his ambition, and so he read Shakespeare. But he had found Shakespeare to be deplorably dull and his devotees very, very easily satisfied. Then an expert got up from his chair, a connoisseur, an aesthete, who told him indignantly: “Well,” he said, ”this is your little opinion, but that doesn’t mean it is the opinion of people the world over!” Heh-heh, it was not the opinion of people the world over, he said! Good grief, what a funny man! No, indeed, it was not all the world’s opinion, but so what? What concern was it of his-Nagel’s-whether the fifty thousand who had received the seal were of another opinion? What was it to him that humankind bet on red, while he bet on black? ... And now they even came rushing along with Maupassant. Oh, dear!
18 313/277. In P, “this silly line” is “this single line by Victor Hugo.”
19 313-14/277. Long passage deleted in CW:
“But that verse isn’t all that impossible, is it?” the student objected.
Nagel let himself go once more: So, it wasn’t that impossible, eh? However poorly it had been recited, it had produced the desired effect ? Well, there you see. No, then it would have to be read differently ! He really ought to have gotten up, positioned himself by the door, and from there spewed this wonderful line of poetry on the gentlemen’s heads. Oh yes; for if Victor Hugo were to show to advantage, he had to be recited with wet, slavering chops, or his spirit abandoned the poem, so to speak.... Well, they had better not talk about Victor Hugo anymore. Blessed be his memory! Skoal.
They drank.
20 315/277. Deleted in CW: must first of all be able to grip a penholder without kid gloves; he
21 315/277-78. Up to this point of the sentence, P reads: Had the gentlemen ever heard canvas being rent? Heh-heh-heh, a quite impressive sound! ... Oh well, come to that, perhaps one sound was no worse than another,
22 315/278. In P, the rest of the sentence reads: reeking virtue, and his propaganda for his slobbering god.
23 316/278. In P, the sentence continues as follows: which Tolstoy had never been in his earthly life.
24 316/278. In P, the rest of the sentence reads: but Tolstoy hadn’t risen even to their level.
25 316/278. The rest of this sentence was added in CW.
CHAPTER XIV (pp. 169-81)
1 328/284. The three preceding sentences were added in CW. Instead, P reads: “I’m really so poor at it, even if I try. And some excuse can be made for me too, if you consider everything. What shall I do?”
2 328/284. Deleted in CW: “It has always worked before, when I really willed something, but now I find it very difficult.”
3 331/285. The “windbag” comparison was added in CW.
4 331/285. Dagny’s answer is deleted in CW: “I’m not at all angry with you, but you sadden me again and again. You don’t do it on purpose, but ...”
CHAPTER XVI (pp. 194-217)
1 375/306. P uses the word “delusion,” not “cotton wool.”
2 392/314. The last clause was added in CW.
3 393/314. P reads: His face was exceptionally pale. -In starting a new section at this point, I am following the P text.
4 396/316. In P, the last clause reads: “and that makes me go too far.” Different reflexive verbs are used in the two texts: forivre