H. Rider Haggard - Pearl-Maiden

Pros: NONE
Cons: Original text has been "thoroughly revised and edited."

An author's work has a certain integrity in terms of content and style. An editor can sustain that integrity with respect or presumptuously overrule and violate it. Judge which course editor Christopher D. Kou took on behalf of Christian Liberty Press, publisher of this centennial edition of H. Rider Haggard's "Pearl Maiden." In fact his Editor's Note testimony is self-incriminating: "I have thoroughly revised and edited the original text to make the story clearer and more enjoyable for modern readers. Grammar and word usage have been changed and updated, and much of the dialog has been rephrased. Some Latin terms have been restored in lieu of the contemporary Victorian English equivalents found in the original text....readers familiar with the 1903 edition will also note two new scenes near the final pages of this version." Kou's approach--which he regarded as benign--actually constitutes first-degree editorial text-slaughter and ought to be condemned. Avoid this ravaged edition of "Pearl Maiden" and seek another preserving Haggard's original story.