Textual Notes
- 24.19-23 I have rejected the author's plan for moving this passage
to p. 157 (see list of revisions in Fitzgerald's copy) because the revision
seems based on Fitzgerald's desire to get a good description of Dick near
the front of "The Author's Final Version."
- 24.30 As Cowley notes, Campion's first name, Luis, is
Spanish.
- 61.10 "I wouldn't miss it for words" is not idiomatic, but I have
retained words because it appears in every draft of the
passage,
and it is possible that Fitzgerald intended to characterize Campion by this
word choice.
- 119.10,12 Cowley notes that the name of the shop was Aux
Cent Mille Chemises.
- 119.30 I can discover no appropriate incident associated with
Ferrara. Henry Dan Piper has suggested to me that Fitzgerald may have
been thinking of the penance performed by the emperor Henry IV before
Pope Gregory at Canossa in 1077.
- 120.1-122.6 See list of revisions in Fitzgerald's copy and his
"Analysis of Tender." As noted below, this deletion requires
additional cuts at 399.24-25, 29-33.
- 128.17 As Cowley notes, at 139.11 the scene of the dispute is
given as Montparnasse. It is difficult to tell whether this contradiction
resulted from Abe's condition or Fitzgerald's carelessness.
- 128.18 As Cowley notes, at 139.2 Peterson's home is given as
Stockholm. Again, it is difficult to tell whether the error was Abe's or the
author's.
- 157.13-15 See note on 24.19-23.
- 157.16 I have rejected the author's insertion of Dick
said because it is unnecessary to identify the speaker if the change
at
157.13-15 is not made (see list of revisions in Fitzgerald's copy).
- 162.21 Since farcical is correctly spelled at 211.6
and
248.17 it is possible— but not very likely—that Fitzgerald
deliberately
mis-spelled it in Nicole's letter.
- 167.7 Nicole's mother could not have died when she was eleven
because at 72.19 Nicole mentions having been in Berlin with her mother
when she was thirteen.
- 193.17 The Swiss National Tourist Office informs me that there
is no Jugenhorn in Switzerland. Cowley emends to Dent Du
Midi, which Dick could have seen from Montreux.
- 197.19 Baby can't be twenty-five here because she is twenty-four
at 186.18.
- 212.9, 23-24 I have rejected the author's emendations at these
points because they seem designed to provide information for the reader of
"The Author's Final Version" (see list of revisions in Fitzgerald's
copy).
- 226.5 Baby must be more than thirty because this is 1925, and she
was twenty-four in 1918.
- 227.23 This is the only place Fitzgerald spells the name
Gregorovius. Cowley changes the spelling to
Gregorovius in all appearances on the ground that
Gregorovious "is highly improbable in German."
Nevertheless
I have retained Gregorovious—as I have resisted
changing
Chillicheff to Chillichev—because it is
a made-up
name.
- 230.11 The sense here requires Gregorovious to have examined
the books. Since have appears in the manuscripts and
typescripts
before the serial, it is probable that haven't was a typo
Fitzgerald missed.
- 238.1 Dick is thirty-seven because this is 1928, and Fitzgerald's
preliminary plan states that he was born in 1891.
- 238.15 Cowley emends to ego, but Fitzgerald wrote
ergo in the drafts, which is possible in the sense of
"activity-therapy."
- 239.30 Fitzgerald wrote instructed in his manuscript,
but the sense of the passage requires uninstructed.
- 246.22 The Divers have been married nine years. This is 1928,
and they were married in 1919.
- 259.11 McKibben speaks on p. 260, so he can't leave on p.
259.
- 271.14 It has been three years since Dick and Rosemary first met.
This is 1928, and they met in 1925.
- 271.16 Rosemary and Dick were eighteen and thirty-four in 1925;
they are twenty-one and thirty-seven in 1928.
- 291.12 Clay is a Georgian, but it is possible that his father's firm
was in Birmingham.
- 301.18 It is possible—but extremely unlikely—that
the Italian
words on p. 301 were mis-spelled to show Baby's
mispronunciations.
- 317.3 This is fall-winter 1928, so Dick—who was born in
1891—is not yet forty.
- 320.17 Charles Marquis Warren has written me (5 August 1959)
that Nicole's father was originally named Charles Warren
after
him, but that Fitzgerald changed his mind.
- 331.2-3 If another summer passes at this point, the novel will
occupy an extra year. See the discussion of the time-scheme
above.
- 331.11 Fitzgerald's preliminary plan states that Lanier was born
in August 1920 and Topsy in June 1922. This 1928, and they are eight and
six.
- 332.13 Topsy is six in 1928. See note on 331.11.
- 332.29-341.11 In his "Analysis of Tender"
Fitzgerald
indicated that he planned to delete the whole visit with Mary; but, as
explained below, I have retained this material because Fitzgerald provided
no substitute explanation for the bad feeling between Dick and
Mary.
- 337.11 El is Spanish masculine.
- 348.6 I have not found a Corps d'Afrique du Nord.
There was a Corps Franc d'Afrique, but it was a penal unit,
as
was the Bataillon d'Afrique. Since Tommy is apparently
referring to the film Beau Geste, the general term for the
French Foreign Legion seems best here.
- 352.3 Although lesion does not seem quite right
here,
it is the word Fitzgerald
wrote in his manuscript. Cowley's emendation to lessening
reverses the meaning of the sentence.
- 364.5,8,14 This is the summer of 1929. It has been four years or
five summers since Dick and Rosemary met in the summer of
1925.
- 391.28 Cowley changes the spelling to Sibley in all
appearances.
- 399.24-25,29-33 If Dick's earlier encounter with the news-vendor
is cut from 120.1-122.6, then these passages in which Dick recognizes him
must also be cut.
- 401.21 In 1936 when the novel was being considered for the
Modern Library, Fitzgerald wrote Bennett Cerf, "There is not more than
one complete sentence that I want to eliminate, one that has offended many
people and that I admit is out of Dick's character: 'I never did go in for
making love to dry loins.' It is a strong line but definitely offensive"
(Cowley, p. 356). The present editor cannot bring himself to kill this
sentence.
Special Note: One class of error has not been dealt with
in the Emendations list, and this is the repetition of phrases which resulted
from Fitzgerald's habit of inserting good phrases from his stories into his
novels. There are three instances of this repetition in Tender is the
Night: at pp. 33 and 89 the description of Nicole's hair; at pp. 35
and 69 the words "compromises of how many years"; and at pp. 138 and
204 the description of a kiss.
