Publishing ‘Rough Drafts’ vs. ‘Original Work’

Tess Gallagher, widow of Raymond Carver, considered by many to be “the American Chekhov,” wants to publish “original versions” of 17 stories in his 1981 collection, “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.” But this op-ed by David L. Ulin notes “Carver’s early drafts–as well as his work before and after ‘What We Talk About’–are hardly the spare, poetic efforts with which he is identified but more discursive slices of working-class life.”

The question has been raised whether Carver’s “original” work should be published, given that his most famous work may have been influenced greatly by his editor, Gordon Lish. By publishing the “original” versions, Gallagher is reportedly trying to remove Lish’s influence.

“What’s at issue here is authorship, and the question of who ‘owns’ literature,” Ulin writes. “If Lish shaped Carver’s stories, the logic goes, then what part did Carver really play? And if the stories were, in fact, some kind of collaboration, what does that mean for Carver’s legacy?”

Although I think most writers would prefer the public not see their unedited work–here Nabakov is quoted, comparing it with “passing around samples of one’s sputum”–I can understand the fascination some people might have with seeing a writer’s efforts unadulterated by an editor’s hand and the various revisions preceding a final published story.

Ulin concludes: “In the end, it doesn’t matter how the stories came to reach their published form. At the same time, I don’t think we should hide the early drafts. After all, if Carver’s stories belong to him, they also belong to the rest of us, and we should be able to decide for ourselves what we think about the process by which they came to be.”

So writers–if you don’t want those early drafts to come out, I suggest you start shredding.