The Republic of Heaven

US edited versions?

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US edited versions?

Postby dgraysn » Thu Nov 29, 2007 5:13 pm

can someone tell me if the US version of the trilogy is edited and different than the UK version? i was disturbed to read about lines being changed in an article in the Atlantic Monthly

id like to by the UK version if this is true.

thanks

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Postby Will » Thu Nov 29, 2007 6:16 pm

The US and UK editions are slightly different in some places.

The main difference is a passage from The Amber Spyglass. Mary is telling Lyra about her first kiss and how thrilling it was. A section describing Lyra's reaction to this is excised from the US version - we presume they felt describing a young girl's physical excitement at hearing a visceral story of love was too much.

A chapter title is also changed. In the UK edition, the bear-fight chapter is A Outrance, whereas in the US, it's Mortal Combat.
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The Temptation; British and American versions

Postby Grumman » Fri Nov 30, 2007 7:19 am

In the Marzipan chapter, there are different versions of the temptation in the British and the American editions:

The British version:

As Mary said that, Lyra felt something strange happen to her body. She felt a stirring at the roots of her hair: she found herself breathing faster. She had never been on a roller-coaster, or anything like one, but if she had, she would have recognized the sensations in her breast: they were exciting and frightening at the same time, and she had not the slightest idea why. The sensation continued, and deepened, and changed, as more parts of her body found themselves affected too. She felt as if she had been handed the key to a great house she hadn't known was there, a house that was somehow inside her, and as she turned the key, deep in the darkness of the building she felt other doors opening too, and lights coming on. She sat trembling, hugging her knees, hardly daring to breathe...


The American version:

As Mary said that, Lyra felt something strange happen to her body. She felt as if she had been handed the key to a great house she hadn’t known was there. A house that was somehow inside her, and as she turned the key, she felt other doors opening deep in the darkness, and lights coming on. She sat trembling as Mary went on:...


It's still poetic, but the original version certainly adds substance to the temptation. No wonder many people reading the American version can't understand where the temptation lies. In any case, the censorship is pointless, since reading it in context, what Lyra feels is what Mary had felt, and it was NOT an orgasm, as some people have claimed. Pity!

Edit: I wasn't aware that there's a recent similar post to this on in the Amber Spyglass discussion. Still, I didn't delete it because it answers the original question.
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Postby dgraysn » Mon Dec 03, 2007 11:29 pm

i was curious because im planning to read the trilogy for a second time and am curious if i should order the UK editions of each title.
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Postby Pausert » Tue Dec 04, 2007 2:42 am

Thanks for posting the cut paragraph. I had been looking for it, having read the US version. I had thought the "key to the house" on its own was a little short on detail and the fact that this where the paragraph was removed from now explains this.
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Postby Kyrillion » Tue Dec 04, 2007 7:36 pm

There a several small differences in NL/TGC and TSK as well. In the latter it's mostly replacing 'trainers' with 'sneakers' and so on. But because the Americans went with a slightly earlier draft than the ones English the end is very slgihtly different. The American edition has the line 'we got it wrong, though, Pan. We got it all wrong about Roger. We thought we were helping him.' Which does not appear in the UK edition. I love that line :)

I think more mistakes were corrected in America too, like the accidental change of Ma Costa's daemon from hawk to dog.
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Re: US edited versions?

Postby iku » Sat Mar 22, 2008 9:31 pm

i love that quote, im so glad they gave the english that, cos that whole tempting bit was my favourite bit and that awakening of lyra's to love was fantastic
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Re: US edited versions?

Postby eggnostic » Mon Mar 24, 2008 8:55 pm

What?

I can't believe they censored that.
I feel like I was robbed of a tiny, juicy morsel of the story.
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Re: US edited versions?

Postby shruikan_shade » Mon Mar 31, 2008 9:06 pm

If you take a quarter of a second and think about it, you were :P

I fail to see what the reasoning behind this editing was; the passage is far from the most outrageous in the book, and if indeed it was removed because it seemed to sexual, the possible connotation to an orgasm is so vague and layered by the metaphor, that anyone deemed too young to read such material would have it fly over their heads anyway...
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Re: US edited versions?

Postby ihatethis99in » Tue Apr 01, 2008 8:19 am

As Mary said that, Lyra felt something strange happen to her body. She felt a stirring at the roots of her hair: she found herself breathing faster. She had never been on a roller-coaster, or anything like one, but if she had, she would have recognized the sensations in her breast: they were exciting and frightening at the same time, and she had not the slightest idea why. The sensation continued, and deepened, and changed, as more parts of her body found themselves affected too. She felt as if she had been handed the key to a great house she hadn't known was there, a house that was somehow inside her, and as she turned the key, deep in the darkness of the building she felt other doors opening too, and lights coming on. She sat trembling, hugging her knees, hardly daring to breathe...


Having read the US version and having read this now, I too can say, yeah, I was really robbed of something in TAS.

I fail to see what the reasoning behind this editing was; the passage is far from the most outrageous in the book, and if indeed it was removed because it seemed to sexual, the possible connotation to an orgasm is so vague and layered by the metaphor, that anyone deemed too young to read such material would have it fly over their heads anyway...


[sarcasm]I think it's because "some" feel that girls on the cusp of puberty cannot possibly (and most certainly should not) have feelings like the ones described in the extract from TAS above.[/sarcasm]
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Re: US edited versions?

Postby shruikan_shade » Tue Apr 01, 2008 12:25 pm

But as i said, the reference to that "feeling" is so vague, that it would have flown right over the head of the majority of those who ppl are concerned about.
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Re: US edited versions?

Postby ihatethis99in » Wed Apr 02, 2008 10:39 am

But as i said, the reference to that "feeling" is so vague, that it would have flown right over the head of the majority of those who ppl are concerned about.


I agree. But here's to good old fashioned censorship. Te editor who removed - no, censored would be a better word - that passage, clearly got it and may have felt that some might be offended, so requested that the passage be edited, this being a kids book and all. :roll: I can't think of any other reason why that passage was left out.
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Re: US edited versions?

Postby Acchon » Wed Apr 02, 2008 12:32 pm

Nothing in the UK version needed to be censured, this is so typical! When it is blood and gore, why take that away? But then it is love and a girl growing up, it suddenly turns to horrible it needs to be censored! Agh! :evil:
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Re: US edited versions?

Postby sfsraffie » Sun Apr 06, 2008 6:09 pm

I'll put this info on the HDM Wikipedia article soon... anyone know of any reputable sources that have info on this (besides the fact, noted in a Newsweek article about the TGC movie, that the censorshpip occurred)? Has PP commented on it?

I also loved the bit at the end of TGC in my US version (but not a UK I just read) where Lyra kisses the dead Roger "clumsily". Any sources on these changes also?
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Re: US edited versions?

Postby Australis » Thu Apr 10, 2008 1:38 pm

Almost at the end of my US version of TAS and thought something was missing (apart from the above passage) so went and checked the UK (sorry if this has been raised before - haven't seen it anywhere).

UK: ...Father Gomez found himself praising God for his mission, because it was clearer than ever that the boy and the girl were walking into mortal sin.

And there it was: the dark-blonde movement that was the girl's hair. He moved a little closer, and took out the rifle. There was a telescopic sight: low-powered, but beautifully made, so that looking through it was to feel your vision clarified as well as enlarged. Yes, there she was, and she paused and looked back so that he saw the expression on her face, and he could not understand how anyone so steeped in evil could look so radiant with hope and happiness.

His bewilderment at that made him hesitate, and then the moment was gone, and both children had walked in among the trees and out of sight. Well, they wouldn't go far. He followed them down the stream, moving at a crouch, holding the rifle in one hand, balancing with the other.

He was so close to success...

US: ...walking in to mortal sin.

He watched them go in among the trees. They hadn't looked back once since coming over the top of the ridge, but he still kept low, moving down the stream at a crouch, holding the rifle in one hand, balancing with the other.

He was so close to success...

Anyone have an explanation for that? The UK is the 2001 paperback, but I'm sure our later hardback is the same. The US is the Deluxe Edition hardback, 2007.

It is a poignant, beautiful little passage, and its absence from the US version is mystifying. The sequence is poorer for its absence.
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Re: US edited versions?

Postby Riali » Thu Apr 10, 2008 2:24 pm

Urg! Indignation! What a great little paragraph of which I was previously unaware...
I've the 2000 US Knopf Hardback, and it's definitely not there. :(
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Re: US edited versions?

Postby MojaveByrd » Thu Apr 17, 2008 3:49 am

Thanks for posting these changes. When I see one I copy it and print it out so I can add it to my US version.
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Re: US edited versions?

Postby Quantum Reality » Mon May 12, 2008 8:39 pm

Does anyone know if all the Canadian versions are from the US galleys or from the UK galleys? I have the impression Harry Potter is actually a bit of an unusual thing, unfortunately (HP was printed by Raincoast in Canada, and they used unexpurgated UK galleys), and that the majority of books printed here are done off US galleys (John Christopher's Tripods, for example, used old 1960s-era US galleys right up until the reprints in 2004 or 2005).

If there is a UK galley version that was printed in Canada, can someone let me know? :) I'll have to hunt for that one.
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Re: US edited versions?

Postby Riali » Tue May 13, 2008 2:23 am

All of the Canadian ones I've seen are the American versions. Sadly.
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Re: US edited versions?

Postby onehumaneye » Tue May 13, 2008 4:22 am

Australis wrote:Anyone have an explanation for that?

I don't except that it is just how things are here. How did they manage to remove the story from the movie? They just did. The good news is that it was very easy to buy a UK version on line.
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