Another Version ?
In any case, those best qualified to judge seem pretty well agreed that the Hayward-Hingley ver- sion. is the better. Gollancz have issued a mani- festo countering this by saying that the author speaks good English and heartily approves their version, but one can hardly believe that he knows it well enough to distinguish the nuances of underworld colloquialism of which the book is largely composed. Gollancz have also announced that theirs will be the only edition published in this country, though I am not clear what their locus standi is in claiming this: the law is obscure on the point, but on one view anyone can bring out the other, or a third. version if they want to.
In fact, 1 understand that there is talk of Hay- ward and Hineles, producing an Anglicised variant 01 their US-accented translation—at any rate, I would recommend everyone to read even Parker's translation. It may not reproduce the valuable work of literature which critics here have found in the original, but at the least it is an astonishing and sincere account of that por- tion of the Stalinist horrors which Mr. Khrush- chev at present finds it convenient to reveal.
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