Luc Herman and John M. Krafft
The following list of small stylistic and substantive differences between the 1961 typescript draft of Pynchon’s V. (held by the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center in Austin) and the published novel (Philadelphia, Lippincott, 1963) was originally intended as an appendix to our Becoming Pynchon: Genetic Narratology and V. (Columbus: Ohio State UP, 2023). It is only a sample of Pynchon’s many revisions, but we hope it may satisfy the curiosity of some readers and pique that of others.
| TYPESCRIPT | NOVEL |
|---|---|
| a green coffee can for donations (Ts, 5) | an empty Sterno can for donations (V., 9) |
| vomiting (Ts, 7) | barfing (V., 10) |
| Daff the boatswain mate (Ts, 13) | Pappy Hod the boatswain mate (V., 14) |
| Outside were sirens (Ts, 16) | Outside came sirens (V., 17) |
| FUCK THE SUSANNA SQUADUCCI (Ts, 27) | SCREW THE SUSANNA SQUADUCCI (V., 33) |
| studying the want-ads (Ts, 32) | studying the classified (V., 36) |
| His body was still soft and fat (Ts, 33) | Still a great amoebalike boy, soft and fat (V., 36) |
| reestablish facts, certainties: property right, a falling season, a sense of dying (Ts, 37) | re-establish a kind of property right, and the coming on of a falling season (V., 38) |
| Down there were thousands of them (Ts, 44) | Down there, God knew how many there were (V., 43) |
| with uniformly orthodox septa (Ts, 47) | all with uniform septa (V., 45) |
| As Rachel watched she felt drawn into this mirror world, as if it were some known quantity fixed by an unknown clockmaker at the end of the last century for all the time that would pass in the next. She was looking (Ts, 48) | Rachel was looking (V., 46) |
| make … some girl a Saint Teresa (Ts, 51) | make … some girl an Eleanor Roosevelt (V., 48) |
| plantation foreman in Uganda (Ts, 61) | plantation foreman in East Africa (V., 54) |
| discover that sleep was more a liability than an asset; that it took up time (Ts, 62) | discover that sleep was taking up time (V., 55) |
| a silver and black plastic alto (Ts, 68) | a hand-carved ivory alto (V., 59) |
| oblivious (Ts, 71) | entirely disconnected from this evening and place (V., 96) |
| vegetable period (Ts, 78) | mineral period (V., 100) |
| conservatism’s worst symptom: laziness (Ts, 79) | a kind of conservative laziness (V., 101) |
| Stencil had lost young Godolphin six months after Schoenmaker had, parading naked, raving drunk, through the deer park of a Surrey estate, praying for death (Ts, 80) | Stencil, pursuing a different trail, happened for reasons of his own to be interested in Evan Godolphin’s history. He’d followed it as far as Meuse-Argonne (V., 101–02) |
| Collected for her in the anteroom that day, like rejected proposals for a new advertising campaign, were an especially malformed rogues-gallery (Ts, 80) | Collected for her in the anteroom that day were a rogues’ gallery of malformed (V., 102) |
| Yellow Fang, the cat (Ts, 116) | Fang the cat (V., 123) |
| cult who believed in her philosophy (Ts, 119) | fan club that sat around, read from her books and discussed her Theory (V., 125) |
| Wish fulfillment. You secretly want to kill your roommate. That is the subconscious speaking. We must trace your aggression to its source (Ts, 123) | this is what we call repressed hostility. You secretly want to kill your roommate. Or something (V., 128) |
| It occurred to him first that these might be revolutionaries (Ts, 128) | These looked like revolutionaries (V., 132 |
| Profane was guest of honor and guests of honor never have much to say anyway (Ts, 132) | Profane was only guest of honor (V., 135) |
| He went off (Ts, 133) | He limped off (V., 136) |
| High over all Mulberry Street that night were light bulbs (Ts, 137) | High over all Mulberry Street that night soared arches of light bulbs (V., 138) |
| this here is Playboy country. I shore [sic] hope they checked their hardware at the door too, like Wyatt used to make everybody do back in Dodge (Ts, 145) | Playboy country (V., 143) |
| Central Park West (Ts, 172) | Grand Central where Daddy’s office was (V., 22) |
| He was nearly run over by it. For years he had been dogged by an inability to make peace with inanimate objects (Ts, 174) | It nearly ran him over (V., 23) |
| the waiters (Ts, 177) | Orientals (V., 25) |
| Worcestershire (Ts, 183) | frozen strawberries (V., 27) |
| a covenant, marking out the vector between giver and receiver; but which way did it point if it was only going one way? He gave death, the alligators gave back a kind of peace (Ts, 188) | a covenant. Profane giving death, the alligators giving him employment (V., 146) |
| all Scandinavian Modern and tropical hothouse growths (Ts, 190–91) | full of tropical hothouse growths (V., 148) |
| Soon chalked on the sidewalk they saw a Calvary cross with a pair of closed eyes on either side, a hobo sign Profane remembered meant the cops weren’t looking, or didn’t care, or were friendly. An arrow next to the cross pointed in toward a brownstone (Ts, 201) | Soon they found PB and an arrow chalked on the sidewalk, the arrow pointing in toward a brownstone (V., 150–51) |
| After delivering the coffee, back at his lounging space, Aïeul out of restlessness succumbed to his favorite pastime and drifted off in an orgy of inference (Ts, 204) | Aïeul delivered the coffee and returned to his lounging space (V., 64) |
| Tonight, in defiance of the Prophet’s law, brandy; brandy. His acquaintance who sold sycamore-figs, whose name Gebrail didn’t know, would get drunk with him (Ts, 229) | Tonight, he would get drunk with an acquaintance who sold sycamore figs, whose name Gebrail didn’t know (V., 84–85) |
| Eigenvalue said (Ts, 248) | Eigenvalue, to see what he could see, inquired (V., 155) |
| I waste no time in idle amenities (Ts, 256) | signor, I’d rather not waste time (V., 161) |
| I feel they will release me (Ts, 290) | I think they will release me (V., 192) |
| poured olive oil into it and placed his squid carefully in the oil, like an offering. He poked the embers into flame; the oil began to sizzle (Ts, 296) | poured olive oil into it and poked the embers into flame. When the oil began to sizzle, he placed his squid carefully in it, like an offering (V., 198) |
| an Eastern sense of patience (Ts, 299) | an Eastern idea of patience (V., 200) |
| But for the hours after sundown a conviviality, a boisterousness was required (Ts, 301) | But the hours after sundown demanded a conviviality, a boisterousness (V., 203) |
| Evan looked over to where Victoria was standing…. Perhaps he did not want to disturb her enchantment (Ts, 310) | Evan looked over to where Victoria was standing enchanted…. Perhaps he didn’t want to disturb her (V., 211) |
| South America, Saudi Arabia, Canada. He wanted to stay in Manhattan. He thought about temporary work but this was always uncertain. Variety, sure, but no roots (Ts, 315) | Profane wanted to stay in Manhattan (V., 214) |
| more inanimate objects like those cluttering the house of Bob and Betty Marshall was an idiot (Ts, 319) | more inanimate objects was out of his head (V., 214) |
| just for the hell of it (Ts, 320) | just for the heck of it (V., 215) |
| results of their decision (Ts, 325) | functional implications of their decision (V., 218) |
| Rachel was Jewish, he guessed (Ts, 334) | Rachel was Jewish, he recalled (V., 222) |
| He hadn’t been too excited about being billeted at Winsome’s place, and had gathered Rachel wasn’t either. But the affluence of the Drive and a view of the Hudson were too good to pass up, too welcome a change from flophouses. Besides, Rachel told him, it would be only temporary. Till he got his first few paychecks. So yesterday he was led in by the hand (Ts, 337–38) | Yesterday Rachel had led him in by the hand (V., 224) |
| he was quite purely He Who Looks For V., and she was no more his own identity than Eigenvalue the soul-dentist or any other member of the Crew. He’d convinced himself that like Jesus she was a historical personage (Ts, 340) | he was quite purely He Who Looks for V. (and whatever impersonations that might involve), and she was no more his own identity than Eigenvalue the soul-dentist or any other member of the Crew (V., 226) |
| factories scattered careless up and down the east coast (Ts, 341) | factories scattered careless about the country (V., 226–27) |
| they were arguing (Ts, 342) | Mondaugen yarned (V., 228) |
| An hour later Mondaugen had dismantled the antennas and receiving equipment and was loading the four scraggly asses Jacobus had found (Ts, 363) | Working as quickly as he could, he dismantled the antennas and packed them and the receiving equipment in the Cape cart (V., 233) |
| [Mondaugen:] I remove every fourth letter (Ts, 385) | [Weissmann:] I remove every third letter (V., 278) |
| what he thought about other altos: Earl Bostic, Paul Desmond (Ts, 389) | what he thought about other altos (V., 280) |
| roared off uptown (Ts, 390) | took off uptown (V., 281) |
| cathouse (Ts, 390) | rooming (and in a sense cat) house (V., 281) |
| what’s coming out of the horn just (Ts, 391) | what you play (V., 281) |
| She was not the type to slam doors (Ts, 392) | Not being the type to slam doors (V., 283) |
| the holiday reigning in other capitals (Ts, 405) | the holiday one saw in other capitals (V., 457) |
| Borgo – renamed Vittoriosa after the siege (Ts, 414) | Borgo – today that’s Vittoriosa (V., 464) |
| It was none of his affair (Ts, 419) | It being none of his affair (V., 467) |
| The conservative … the liberals (Ts, 420) | The Right … the Left (V., 468) |
| The Left cannot live (Ts, 420) | And cannot live (V., 468) |
| a cistern, whose rim was adorned (Ts, 421) | a cistern, its rim adorned (V., 469) |
| Railway trains (Ts, 427) | Autos (V., 474) |
| truly apocalyptic rage (Ts, 432) | suddenly apocalyptic rage (V., 477) |
| had heard the same tactics from (Ts, 434) | was reminded of (V., 479) |
| The silk suturing was worthy of a fine surgeon (Ts, 441) | Silk suturing worthy of a fine surgeon (V., 484) |
| the Black Shirt group … “duce” (Ts, 441) | the fasci di combattimento … leader (V., 484) |
| Must I take a poetic attitude toward this? he asked his other half (Ts, 441) | What’s happened, he asked his other half. The Situation used to be a civilized affair (V., 484) |
| a lilac-liveried driver (Ts, 450) | a black-liveried driver (V., 492) |
| that warm summer day (Ts, 450) | that quiet June day (V., 492) |
| talking about Mafia, now their only subject (Ts, 468) | talking about Mafia and Paola (V., 296) |
| He was afraid of ending it. But staying in New York would also end it. Funking out would be no different from finding V. Both would send him back to sleep. He was more afraid of sleep than of V. (Ts, 472–73) | He could go to Malta and possibly end it. He had stayed off Malta. He was afraid of ending it; but, damn it all, staying here would end it too. Funking out; finding V.; he didn’t know which he was most afraid of, V. or sleep. Or whether they were two versions of the same thing (V., 345–46) |
| these have nothing at all to do with the room (Ts, 483) | what have these to do with the room? (V., 305) |
| unplanned for. But not despised (Ts, 484) | unplanned for and in a way resented (V., 306) |
| the monogamous generation … ascetic (Ts, 491) | the bachelorhood of the generation … celibate (V., 311) |
| his political theories (Ts, 498) | his engineer’s politics (V., 316) |
| time-scale (Ts, 515) | trajectory (V., 330) |
| put emphasis on the rim (Ts, 526) | taught only the rim (V., 338) |
| in any detail, only a reference to whether you should be taken to Mass now or wait until the time for your first communion (Ts, 529) | in any detail; only (V., 341) |
| Esther had indeed got her ass in a sling. Emotionally anyway (Ts, 540) | Esther had indeed got her ass in a sling. Her emotional ass, anyway (V., 352) |
| Because I can predict how it will be for Esther when she gets back (Ts, 548) | Because Esther is weak, Esther is a victim (V., 357) |
| like you love bums (Ts, 549) | like you love the dispossessed, the wayward (V., 358) |
| Rachel, eyes cleared by love’s tonic, grasped Everything outside (Ts, 552) | Rachel grasped everything outside (V., 359) |
| This is part of Nueva York in ‘56. Maybe America, too, maybe not. But anybody who continues to live in a society so demonstrably insane (Ts, 555) | And on it goes. Anybody who continues to live in a subculture so demonstrably sick (V., 361) |
| into the Latin American contingent (Ts, 558) | in among the Puerto Ricans (V., 363) |
| explicit dreams of intercourse (Ts, 567) | cheerful, brightly colored, explicit dreams about sexual intercourse (V., 370) |
| Of course I could have chosen the War, or Russia to investigate. But I am neither a historian nor a political analyst. I do not have that much time (Ts, 588) | Of course Stencil could have chosen the War, or Russia to investigate. But he doesn’t have that much time (V., 386) |
| then perhaps too she was there during the second (Ts, 589) | then perhaps too she was there during the first. There to meet old Sidney at its end (V., 387) |
| waited till it was about past Columbus Circle (Ts, 594) | waited till it was way downtown, out of earshot (V., 391) |
| driven slowly insane (Ts, 598) | driven slowly to frenzy (V., 393) |
| evening dress of tete de negre crepe georgette (Ts, 606) | evening dress of crepe Georgette the color of a Negro’s head (V., 399) |
| as if she were sexually aroused (Ts, 610) | as if sexually aroused (V., 402) |
| used to hold the lady’s cigarettes (Ts, 610) | held the lady’s cigarette (V., 402) |
| the dancers had arrived. Most of the girls seemed deep in a love-affair with Isadora Duncan (Ts, 614) | the dancers had arrived, most of the girls seemingly deep in a love affair with Isadora Duncan (V., 403) |
| punctuating the music with random syncopations (Ts, 619) | punctuating the music at random (V., 404) |
| Porcépic playing the piano, they sang revolutionary songs (Ts, 619) | Porcépic sat on the piano, and they sang revolutionary songs (V., 405) |
| Now what she said isn’t really important. Her identity, if we’ve not already guessed, is the lady V. (Ts, 622) | If we’ve not already guessed, “the woman” is, again, the lady V. (V., 406) |
| simultaneous sovereignty and a fusing-together of personalities into another, greater and complete (Ts, 628) | simultaneous sovereignty yet a fusing-together (V., 409) |
| Stencil even wondered about this, departing from his usual unimaginative ploddings to daydream (Ts, 630) | Stencil even departed from his usual ploddings to daydream (V., 411) |
| the object of a hunt (Ts, 630) | a beast of venery (V., 412) |
| Sgherraccio, the young Italian (Ts, 634) | one Sgherraccio, a mad Irredentist (V., 414) |
| I am at church (Ts, 635) | I am heading for the Whitney (V., 415) |
| to confront V. (Ts, 644) | to confront whatever of V. was still on Malta (V., 422) |
| UCNJ (Ts, 656) | the Book (V., 431) |
| Sanity, … in blues is sanity (Ts, 658) | Sort of quiet, … (V., 433) |
| It seemed Nasser had gone on the radio (Ts, 661) | Nasser, it seems, having gone on the radio (V., 436) |
| Then … you know I came into this world only because of one Stencil (Ts, 673) | Then you know … I only made it into this world through the good offices of one Stencil (V., 444) |
| Stencil brightened, changing course (Ts, 674) | Stencil brightened after a while and changed course (V., 445) |
| I don’t think he believes me (Ts, 679) | Stencil doesn’t think he believes him (V., 450) |
| Fairing … heard the confessions of Veronica Manganese (Ts, 681) | Fairing … preceded your Father Avalanche (V., 451) |
| a pregnancy scare (hers only, of course) (Ts, 682) | a pregnancy scare (hers only) (V., 452) |
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