The Pragmatics of Revision: George Moore’s Acts of Rewriting

254 Pages·2020·2.393 MB·English

by  Siobhan Chapman

The Pragmatics
of Revision
George Moore’s Acts of Rewriting
Siobhan Chapman
The Pragmatics of Revision
Siobhan Chapman
The Pragmatics of
Revision
George Moore’s Acts of Rewriting
Siobhan Chapman
Department of English
University of Liverpool
Liverpool, UK
ISBN 978-3-030-41267-8 ISBN 978-3-030-41268-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41268-5
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2020
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Cover illustration: Portrait of George Moore (detail), by John Butler Yeats, 1905
National Gallery of Ireland Collection. Photo © National Gallery of Ireland
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Acknowledgements
This book has been a long time in the writing. While this was never the
plan, it has meant that I have had the benefit of a number of years in
which to think and talk about pragmatics, about rewriting, and about
George Moore. Many people have contributed to my ideas about these
topics and I can mention only a few of them by name here.
My first thanks must go to my late uncle, Frank McCarthy, who intro-
duced me to the works of George Moore in the first place. His parting
gift to me when I set off for undergraduate study all those years ago was
a battered copy of Vale with the pithy inscription: ‘In spite of his defects
as a man, George wrote the King’s English like an angel. None better’. I
guess this book is my attempt to expand on that summary.
I am grateful to the following for invaluable discussions, suggestions,
comments and corrections: Matthew Bradley, Billy Clark, Graham
Ethelston, Alexandra Harris, Dan McIntyre, Sandeep Parmar, Deryn
Rees- Jones, Chris Routledge and Paul Simpson. Needless to say, none of
them can be held to account for any of the errors or faults that remain,
which are all my own. Audiences at the Universities of Huddersfield,
Kent, Tuebingen and Edge Hill, and at conferences of the Poetics and
Linguistics Association and the International Pragmatics Association
have listened patiently while I enthused about Moore’s rewritings, and
have asked many helpful questions and made many insightful
v
vi Acknowledgements
observations. Several cohorts of students on my second year Pragmatics
module at the University of Liverpool have gamely analysed and com-
mented on extracts from various editions of Esther Waters.
My immediate family, Chris and Caitlin, have shown remarkable resil-
ience in the face of my long obsession and my tendency to drag them on
Moore-related pilgrimages around Mayo, Dublin and London. Love and
thanks to you both.
References to Works by Moore
Where a reprinted text has been used, this is indicated in square brackets.
Main Works by Moore Discussed in This Book
Drama
Moore, G. (1886). A Drama in Muslin. London: Walter Scott.
Esther
Moore, G. (1894). Esther Waters. London: Walter Scott.
Moore, G. (1899). Esther Waters. London: Walter Scott [Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2012].
Moore, G. (1926). Esther Waters. London: William Heinemann Ltd.
[Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999].
vii
viii References to Works by Moore
Holiday
Moore, G. (1918). A Story-Teller’s Holiday. London: Cumann Sean-eolais
na h-Eireann.
Lives
Moore, G. (1927). Celibate Lives. London: William Heinemann Ltd.
Muslin
Moore, G. (1915). Muslin. London: William Heinemann Ltd.
Lake
Moore, G. (1905). The Lake, London: William Heinemann Ltd.
Moore, G (1921). The Lake, London: William Heinemann Ltd. [Gerrards
Cross: Colin Smythe Ltd., 1980].
Other Works by Moore Discussed in This Book
Moore, G. (1878). Flowers of Passion. London: Provost and Co.
Moore, G. (1881). Pagan Poems. London: Newman and Co.
Moore, G. (1883). A Modern Lover. London: Tinsley Brothers [Create
Space Independent Publishing Platform, 2016].
Moore, G. (1885a). A Mummer’s Wife. London: Vizetelly and Co.
[London: Water Scott, 1893].
Moore, G. (1885b). Literature at Nurse or Circulating Morals. London:
Vizetelly and Co. [New York and London: Galand Publishing Inc., 1978].
Moore, G. (1887a). A Mere Accident. London: Vizetelly and Co.
Moore, G. (1887b). Parnell and his Island. London: Swan Sonnenschein,
Lowrey and Co. [Dublin: University College Dublin Press, 2004].
References to Works by Moore ix
Moore, G. (1888a). Confessions of a Young Man. London: Swan
Sonnenschein, Lowrey, and Co. [Harmondsworth: Penguin
Books, 1939].
Moore, G. (1888b). Spring Days. London: Vizetelly and Co.
Moore, G. (1889). Mike Fletcher. Lonon: Ward and Downey.
Moore, G. (1891). Vain Fortune. London: Henry and Co.
Moore, G. (1893). Modern Painting. London: Walter Scott.
Moore, G. (1895). Celibates. London: Walter Scott.
Moore, G. (1897, July). A Tragic Novel. Cosmopolis.
Moore, G. (1898). Evelyn Innes. London: T. Fisher Unwin.
Moore, G. (1901). Sister Teresa. London: T. Fisher Unwin.
Moore, G. (1903). The Untilled Field. London, T. Fisher Unwin [Gerrards
Cross: Colin Smythe Ltd., 1976].
Moore, G. (1906). Memoirs of My Dead Life. London: William
Heinemann Ltd. [Heinemann, 1936].
Moore, G. (1911). Ave. London: William Heinemann Ltd.
[Heinemann, 1947].
Moore, G. (1912). Salve. London: William Heinemann Ltd.
[Heinemann, 1947].
Moore, G. (1914). Vale. London: William Heinemann Ltd.
[Heinemann, 1933].
Moore, G. (1916). The Brook Kerith. London: T. Werner Laurie, Ltd.
Moore, G. (1917). Lewis Seymour and Some Women. London: William
Heinemann Ltd.
Moore, G. (1919). Avowals. London: Cumann Sean-eolais na h-Eireann
[Heinemann, 1924].
Moore, G. (1921). Héloïse and Abélard. London: Cumann Sean-eolais na
h-Eireann.
Moore, G. (1922). In Single Strictness. London: William Heinemann Ltd.
Moore, G. (1926). Ulick and Soracha. London: Nonesuch Press.
Moore, G. (1929). Letters from George Moore to Edouard Dujardin.
New York: Crosby Gaige.
Moore, G. (1930). Aphrodite in Aulis. London: William Heinemann Ltd.
Moore, G. (1933). A Communication to My Friends. London: The
Nonesuch Press.
Contents
1 Introduction 1
2 L iterary Rewriting 15
3 Implicature 31
4 Writers, Texts, Readers and Implicatures 59
5 G eorge Moore 83
6 A Drama in Muslin (1886) and Muslin (1915) 103
7 E sther Waters (1894, 1899 and 1926) 131
8 Th e Lake (1905 and 1921) 163
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