The Bazaar and Other Stories Read Online Free PDF

different set of
problems. Although she has rounded, legible handwriting, Bowen’s
manuscripts occasionally defy decoding. From about 1935 onward,
she wrote directly on to the typewriter, which makes decipherment
easier. She edited typed copy either by using carets to insert text
with a pen or by typing words between lines. Her crossings-out
sometimes create confusion because parts of two formulations
contradict each other. Whenever significant variants occur that
might reveal something about the content of the story, I have noted
them.
    In Bowen’s complicated and sometimes inverted syntax, punc
tuation carries the burden of hesitation, silence, and emphasis.
Bowen applies colons and semi-colons, sometimes several per
sentence, where other writers would place a full stop. Writing
quickly in drafts, she leaves out quotation marks and commas around
quoted speech. When necessary, I have added missing punctuation
without drawing attention to these changes; they are oversights
rather than artistic decisions, as I surmise from Bowen’s regular
practice. Yet punctuation affects meaning. For instance, in the hand -
written version of “The Bazaar,” dashes accumulate wantonly: “With
a sense of delicious guilt she touched their petals – she knew now,
but could not explain, why women went wrong – ‘They’re so sweet,
they’re so dark,’ she said – no, they were pale too: it was not that.
She thought, ‘I should make quite a florist,’ dipping her face into the
sweet-pea.” The full stop after “that” is not clear in the manuscript
because the word “dipping” rises below as an insertion and may have
been written over the top of the full stop. No comma follows
“thought” in the manuscript either. Bowen might therefore have
meant to write “it was not that she thought” as a single clause, which
would create an unusual subsequent sentence. In such cases, I have
opted for plausible punctuation that renders syntax coherent.
    In manuscripts and typescripts, and occasionally in published
stories, dialogue bunches together in a single paragraph; two or
more speakers are quoted without any paragraph breaks. In almost
every instance that such bunching occurs, I have taken the liberty
of separating dialogue into paragraphs to distinguish one speaker
from another. In this regard, “The Last Bus” represents a particular
challenge, for the accumulation of diverse voices all talking at
once might deliberately create cacophony. Notwithstanding such a
possible authorial intention, Bowen distinguishes individuals on the
bus and their voices are, in my opinion, better served by being kept
distinct from each other with a view to producing a clear reading
text. In most cases, I signal paragraph breaks that have been added.
    In a related matter of textual layout, typesetters often introduce a
space break to distribute text across the page. In newspapers and
magazines, the text has to fit into so many inches of space. There
fore editors laying out the text insert space breaks to stretch out the
text. These space breaks sometimes fall in unlikely places and in all
probability do not coincide with Bowen’s intentions. Not having
access to typescripts or manuscripts of all of the published stories,
I can only deduce what Bowen’s intentions might have been. In
some cases, such as “Emergency in the Gothic Wing,” “So Much
Depends,” and “Happiness,” I omit typesetters’ space breaks to
prevent choppiness. Some breaks fall in the middle of dialogue and
interrupt the continuity of the story. Bowen typically uses a space
break to indicate a shift in space or time, but she does so sparingly.
As a general principle, the more polished a story, the fewer space
breaks that she inserts.
    In drafts and revisions, Bowen maintains a conscientious regard
for details. She tends not to repeat herself or forget the thread of the
story. None the less, she makes occasional spelling errors, the result
of hunting and pecking on the