New edition of 'A Farewell to Arms' publishes Hemingway's 47 alternate endings

[xg4bx]

"Ernest Hemingway toiled over the final scene in 'A Farewell to Arms,' writing and re-writing 47 different possible endings to the novel before its publication in 1929.

In the end, it seems, he found the right words. The dark, melancholy conclusion helped turn the book into a bestseller and cement his reputation as one of the great American writers.

Now, each of the 47 rejected endings are available in a new edition of the classic novel -- available for sale on Tuesday."


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...e-endings.html

[Lynx-lynx]

Gosh .... 47 different endings?????

I loved it the way it was published, but will need to re-read to bring it more freshly to mind.

Can't imagine reading through 47 different endings though .....

[kennyc]

WTF? I kinda hate this. Almost every book has been toiled over and scenes re-written, that doesn't mean they should ever see the light of day.

[Belfaborac]

I'll quite happily make do with the one ending I've read. I also very much doubt that Hemingway would be particularly pleased with it.

[tubemonkey]

Monkey exclusive - previously unknown alternate ending #48 revealed.

Spoiler:

Catherine successfully gives birth to their child, but it's not human; it's an alien. Upon birth, it attempts to devour Catherine; but Henry pleads for her life. The alien tells Henry that he needs human flesh to sustain himself. Henry offers to give part of himself and the alien agrees to just eat Henry's arms. As the alien approaches, he tells Henry to "say farewell to your arms". Satiated, the alien flees to the mountains and later has a successful acting career alongside Sigourney Weaver.

After recovering from shock,Catherine no longer sees Henry as the strong man she once knew. So she leaves him and returns to England, where she marries an Earl and lives happily ever after. Meanwhile, Henry attempts to salvage his life and moves to Monte Carlo. Having pity for a wounded war vet, he's given a job as a croupier; but is fired after the first deal. Dejected and with no friends to help, Henry leaves for Marseille and is never heard from again.

[Rob Lister]

Honestly, I couldn't get to the end of the first one.

[poohbear_nc]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Monkey exclusive - previously unknown alternate ending #48 revealed.

Spoiler:

Catherine successfully gives birth to their child, but it's not human; it's an alien. Upon birth, it attempts to devour Catherine; but Henry pleads for her life. The alien tells Henry that he needs human flesh to sustain himself. Henry offers to give part of himself and the alien agrees to just eat Henry's arms. As the alien approaches, he tells Henry to "say farewell to your arms". Satiated, the alien flees to the mountains and later has a successful acting career alongside Sigourney Weaver.

After recovering from shock,Catherine no longer sees Henry as the strong man she once knew. So she leaves him and returns to England, where she marries an Earl and lives happily ever after. Meanwhile, Henry attempts to salvage his life and moves to Monte Carlo. Having pity for a wounded war vet, he's given a job as a croupier; but is fired after the first deal. Dejected and with no friends to help, Henry leaves for Marseille and is never heard from again.

A "two hanky" ending! Brilliant! Evocative! Heart rending! Kudos!

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by kennyc

WTF? I kinda hate this. Almost every book has been toiled over and scenes re-written, that doesn't mean they should ever see the light of day.

I agree.

[hrosvit]

Originally Posted by kennyc

WTF? I kinda hate this. Almost every book has been toiled over and scenes re-written, that doesn't mean they should ever see the light of day.

Much like many "director's cut" versions of movies. There's usually a damn good reason all that crap ended up on the cutting room floor. Editing is a good thing. Re-writing often is too.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by kennyc

WTF? I kinda hate this. Almost every book has been toiled over and scenes re-written, that doesn't mean they should ever see the light of day.

It smacks of the estate trying to wring every last dime out of its commodity, especially as his work is entering the public domain in some countries. Hemingway has never been prolific as since his death. His list of posthumous works:

(1964) A Moveable Feast
(1969) The Fifth Column and Four Stories of the Spanish Civil War
(1970) Islands in the Stream
(1972) The Nick Adams Stories
(1985) The Dangerous Summer
(1986) The Garden of Eden
(1987) The Complete Short Stories Of Ernest Hemingway
(1999) True at First Light

I'll make an exception for A Moveable Feast (full disclosure: I'm reading it now), but the bulk is repackaged short stories and novels that took a LOT of editing to give them any coherence.

RIP, Papa!

[LovesMacs]

There is an academic term for this, "la critique génétique", in which earlier manuscripts of an author's work are studied and compared to see the process of how something develops. There's an article on English Wikipedia about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critiqu...A9n%C3%A9tique, but it looks as if a machine wrote it. The article on French Wikipedia http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critiqu...A9n%C3%A9tiqueis shorter but more readable.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by LovesMacs

There is an academic term for this, "la critique génétique", in which earlier manuscripts of an author's work are studied and compared to see the process of how something develops. There's an article on English Wikipedia about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critiqu...A9n%C3%A9tique, but it looks as if a machine wrote it. The article on French Wikipedia http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critiqu...A9n%C3%A9tiqueis shorter but more readable.

I see the point of making discarded versions and manuscripts available for the interested, but when something is repackaged for commercial exploitation the motivation is greed and not aiding scholarly inquiry.

[RainingLemur]

I think it's kinda cool that they get released, cause I sometimes like seeing what the author thought could have worked as the ending...

But, 47 endings? Just Michael-Bay the ending and have a bunch of explosions.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by issybird

I see the point of making discarded versions and manuscripts available for the interested, but when something is repackaged for commercial exploitation the motivation is greed and not aiding scholarly inquiry.

Exactly.

I've been wanting to read From Here to Eternity, but the e-book version is a revised edition, putting back material that was cut by the editor. While it's interesting academically, I want to read the version that was originally published, that was part of popular culture in the fifties, that includes whatever compromises were made. I don't want some new and improved version created by the author's estate.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Belfaborac

I'll quite happily make do with the one ending I've read. I also very much doubt that Hemingway would be particularly pleased with it.

Exactly! I'm sure he'd be pissed!