Quote:
Originally Posted by BeccaPrice
seriously, I do understand your point, but I still think it's wrong to re-write an old book to modern sensibilities. When does that stop being editorial discretion and start being a new creation?
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I think it's fine to make changes as long as you notify readers at the start--"typographical errors have been corrected, and some archaic grammar and phrasing has been changed to be more enjoyable for modern readers."
If there are substantial changes, rather than the occasional word or a change in punctuation, it should be labeled as a derivative or other notably different work.
In either of those cases, the converter is taking on the job of "editor." I think it's perfectly reasonable to say, "I'm converting this book so people can enjoy reading it today, not so they can marvel at the literary standards of a century ago"--it just needs to be said before someone reads or pays money for the book.
(Disclaimer: I'm involved in a project to do this professionally, so my judgment is biased. We're taking Victorian-and-earlier erotica works, and updating them drastically. Dialogue, for example, wasn't always "one line per speaker," so we're breaking up long paragraphs and arranging them the way they'd be published today. We want these books to be readable; we figure archive copies are widely available elsewhere.)