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Regarding "The Exiles"
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Greetings, all!
I have a question regarding one of my favorite Bradbury short stories, "The Exiles".

Some years ago, I happened across an anthology of short stories which had all been edited by Anthony Boucher (IIRC). One of them was "The Exiles". The odd part was, this version of the story included a paragraph in which the two main characters (Poe and Bierce?), on their way through the castle, visit Lovecraft as he sits eating ice cream before a raging fire.

This was odd because in every subsequent anthologized version of this story, that paragraph is omitted. Given Bradbury's famous resistance to having well-meaning but ultimately misguided editors deleting things from his work, my suspicion is that this paragraph was added _at the request of_ the editor - Boucher, in this case - and removed later, when Bradbury regained control over the text.

Fond as I am of Lovecraft, and amusing as the paragraph was, I think the story works better without it.

Does anyone know anything more about this (admittedly obscure) detail?

Sincerely,
Robert Walker-Smith


"There's a magic in the distance, where the sea-line meets the sky."
Forty Singing Seamen, by Alfred Noyes
 
Posts: 1 | Location: Oakland CA USA | Registered: 05 March 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Two ways you could find out would be:

Look at the original magazine version (from Maclean's (Canada), September 15, 1949) and see if it's there. If you can't acquire a copy, ask a collector who has one to look for you.

Check the date of the Boucher anthology vs. the others. Perhaps it was merely a case of a paragraph from the magazine story duplicated in the first anthology in which it appeared, and then being removed--you are correct, probably by Bradbury himself.
 
Posts: 7299 | Location: Dayton, Washington, USA | Registered: 03 December 2001Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Posts: 49 | Location: Where the Streets Have No Name | Registered: 19 April 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I went through the link and read the whole story...It was quite amazing and interesting..

This message has been edited. Last edited by: philnic,
 
Posts: 1 | Location: Glen Oaks Blvd Apt 10 Sioux City, IA | Registered: 22 October 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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And the deputy sheriff strikes!


"Live Forever!"
 
Posts: 6909 | Location: 11 South Saint James Street, Green Town, Illinois | Registered: 02 October 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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...protecting you from New Zealand spam!


- Phil

Deputy Moderator | Visit my Bradbury website: www.bradburymedia.co.uk | Visit the Center for RB Studies: www.tinyurl.com/RBCenter
 
Posts: 5029 | Location: UK | Registered: 07 April 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Slam that spam. Blam.
 
Posts: 7299 | Location: Dayton, Washington, USA | Registered: 03 December 2001Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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