What is simultaneously one of the most beautiful chapters in any novel and also a hot mess? Chapter 6 of The House of Mirth, that’s what. It’s the chapter where Lily and Selden walk in the woods at Bellomont, and Edith Wharton was obviously determined to get it just right. But did she have to number pages things like 89A, which comes after 99 but before 98, which appears 8 pages later after 102? And how about all those random passages on the verso pages, sometimes just a word or two, that also need to be put into place? It’s a good thing I like jigsaw puzzles.

This is my second pass through the manuscript working on collating & recording variants, and it’s still taking me hours. Is it worth it? You bet. 

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