Jennifer Juniper
asked:
Has anyone here read the original version and the revised edition? I have heard the original version is superior but I only heard that after buying the later edition and I decided to sally forth with it. I have a little less than 200 pages left. Without spoiling it, can anyone give opinions on which version you feel is better and why? What is the difference between the two?
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John King
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Steve
There are several analyses out there (you can Google to find them). I have only read the "revised" version--just finished re-reading it today (first read it shortly after it was released). The book still haunts me, but I will say that I think Fowles understands the existential male better than he understands the existential female.
David N.
I have read both. To be honest, unless you are a dedicated literary critic you won't be able to tell much of a difference, in my humble opinion. I recall that the revised version's ending is a bit more explicit about what has been going on throughout the book, but I could be wrong. I love this book, BOTH versions.
Svetlana
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Paula
Not an answer, but I'm glad you asked the question because I'm reading the book (revised ed) for the first time, and I was wondering, too. I'm definitely psyched to read the original ending after I finish reading this version, though!
Tony Colatruglio
I've read only the revised edition, although I have an old paperback of the original.
Lisa Foster
They are both good - the book impacted on me more than my Jesuit education. Personally, I would not bother to seek out the 'original' if youv'e read the released book as the difference is not exponentially better.
KonaKeoki
I read the original back in 1969, shortly after the movie came out. While I don't remember all the differences, it seemed to me that he did expand a bit on the ending, making it ever so slightly clearer as to his predicted/preferred outcome. What was a bit amusing was that in his 1977 or so preface, he talked about being more sexually explicit in the revision, which today would be seen as really quite tame by any yardstick of explicitness used today.
RoDanCapital
In his introductory note to the second edition, Fowles describes the reasons for this revised version, so I assume you already know about some of the differences. And at least one scholarly analysis has been published on the (stylistic) differences between the two (http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/corpus-s...). Most people read the second edition, which is more recent, and depending how "obsessed" they become with the 'oeuvre' and the author, and their available time, continue reading, moving to the first edition, to exegetic work, to comparative analyses, etc ...
Nigel Carroll
Keep thinking about this now I find out that there is a revised edition...
Yakov Pyatnitskov
Michelle gives a fantastic overview of both versions along with her commentary here: https://michellepodsiedlik.wordpress....
Just reading her introduction will give you a good idea about the differences.
Just reading her introduction will give you a good idea about the differences.
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