Since I published The Last Samurai Reread in 2022, I have been keeping a running list of errors in the book.
Various readers, including Helen DeWitt, have discovered various mistakes. Indeed, Helen was kind enough to offer extremely detailed feedback, for which I am very grateful. It took a long time for me to compile a definitive list of revisions I would want to make.
I’ve decided to publish them on my personal website. As I learn of more errors, I will keep this list updated.
Last Revisions: October 29, 2024
| Page(s) | Original Reads | Change To |
| xi | He reads Greek in the original at age nine | He reads Greek in the original at age four |
| xii-xiii | After its publisher, Talk Miramax Books, was dissolved in 2005, the book went out of print. | After its publisher, Talk Miramax Books, was dissolved, the book eventually went out of print. |
| xiii | DeWitt was associated with authors such as David Foster Wallace and Jonathan Franzen, and she has suggested that her book belongs alongside these generational peers. | DeWitt was associated with authors such as David Foster Wallace and Jonathan Franzen, and some critics might suggest she shares much with these generational peers. |
| xiii | After a brief time out of print, the book was republished by New Directions in 2016 and has subsequently been hailed by New York magazine as the best book of the twenty-first century. | Ultimately, the book was republished by New Directions in 2016 and has subsequently been hailed by New York magazine as the best book of the twenty-first century. |
| xvii | fight DeWitt had with her copyeditor | fight DeWitt had over the copyediting process |
| 1 | alone in her flat. | alone in the room she was renting. |
| 1 | six years out of a classics doctoral program | eight years out of a classics doctoral program |
| 1 | she was living in London and working for a temp agency as a legal secretary | she was living in London and had been working as a legal secretary in a corporate law firm |
| 2 | sitting on the floor of her flat | sitting on the floor of her bedsit |
| 2 | and Kurosawa’s masterpiece would offer imaginative resources for the novel DeWitt now very much wanted to write. | and Kurosawa’s masterpiece would offer imaginative resources for the novel. |
| 2 | Each would embody a different conception of excellence or masculine virtue, and the narrative would run through each model before settling on a final father who could meet the boy’s exacting standards | Each would embody a different conception of excellence or masculine virtue, and the narrative would run through different ideas of what a good father would look like |
| 3 | she lies her way into Oxford and briefly studies classics there | she lies her way into Oxford and studies classics there |
| 3 | She quits Oxford and starts working for an academic press in London. | She quits Oxford and starts working for a small press in London in order to secure a work permit. |
| 3 | confronting DeWitt with just as many structural problems as the novel she had abandoned | confronting DeWitt with more structural problems than she initially anticipated |
| 3 | Attic Greek | Greek |
| 5 | άποθανεΐν θέλω | ἀποθανεῖν θέλω |
| 6 | In October 1995, DeWitt ran out of money, | In October 1995, DeWitt was about to run out of money, |
| 6 | Instead of going back to a temp agency, | Instead of using a temp agency, |
| 7 | She would live cheaply, write one novel a month for a year | She would live cheaply, write ten novels simultaneously in a year |
| 7 | Schmidt and Chilton wanted to help DeWitt find a publisher, so they connected her to a friend, the newly minted literary agent Stephanie Cabot. | Chilton wanted to option the film rights, based only on two chapters, but advised DeWitt to negotiate the deal with an agent. Chilton connected Dewitt to an acquaintance, the newly minted literary agent Stephanie Cabot. |
| 8 | DeWitt’s friendship with Schmidt and Chilton proved decisive. Chilton, who was a filmmaker, optioned the rights for Lightning Rods. | DeWitt’s connection to Schmidt and Chilton proved decisive. Chilton, who was a filmmaker, optioned the rights for The Last Samurai. |
| 8 | The inaugural editor of Talk Miramax, Jonathan Burnham, read the manuscript of Lightning Rods but passed on it. Then he read “The Seventh Samurai” and fell in love. | Chilton’s business partner, Steve Hutensky, gave the manuscripts of Lightning Rods and the first hundred pages of “The Seventh Samurai” to the inaugural editor of Talk Miramax, Jonathan Burnham. Burnham passed on Lightning Rods. Then he read “The Seventh Samurai” and fell in love. |
| 8 | Burnham initially offered a $70,000 advance. DeWitt negotiated the contract with Talk Miramax without an agent, though she had a lawyer look over the terms of the deal | Burnham initially offered a $70,000 advance. DeWitt negotiated the contract with Talk Miramax not with an agent, but with a lawyer that Hutensky had recommended to her. |
| 9 | Though a hundred thousand copies of the first edition of The Last Samurai were sold, DeWitt struggled to publish subsequent books. She was contracted to write a design- intensive nonfiction book on poker for Talk Miramax but was unable to complete the manuscript. | Though a hundred thousand copies of the first edition of The Last Samurai were sold, DeWitt struggled to publish subsequent books. She was contracted to write a design-intensive novel on poker for Talk Miramax but was unable to complete the manuscript, she recalls, when Miramax did not give her the technical support they were contractually obligated to provide. |
| 9 | the rights to The Last Samurai became available again | DeWitt reclaimed the rights to The Last Samurai |
| 9 | Daniel Mendelson | Daniel Mendelsohn |
| 9-10 | some of which are dramatized in the stories | some of which informed the stories |
| 10 | DeWitt has, by her own admission, expected these institutions to conform to a fantasy of how she thinks they should work, not how they actually work | DeWitt has arguably expected these institutions to conform to a fantasy of how she thinks they should work, not how they actually work |
| 11 | in their unheated London flat | in their unheated London house |
| 11 | the floor of her London flat | the floor of her London room |
| 14 | Attic Greek | ancient Greek |
| 15 | should small children be taught Attic Greek? | should small children be taught ancient Greek? |
| 15 | Sibylla conducts a “straw poll of Circle Line opinion on the subject of small children & Greek.” | Sibylla encounters a range of “Circle Line opinion on the subject of small children & Greek.” |
| 16 | DeWitt is not indifferent to the worldly circumstances of education, and she does not mean to oppose art and commerce but to critique the current arrangement of education and commerce and to suggest what a rational set of institutional supports for art and learning might look like. | The novel is not indifferent to the worldly circumstances of education, and it does not mean to oppose art and commerce but to critique the current arrangement of education and commerce and to suggest what a better set of institutional supports for art and learning might look like. |
| 16 | Autotelic education requires, in her view, a radical transformation of our cultural institutions, social expectations, and economic lives. | Autotelic education requires, on this view, a radical transformation of our cultural institutions, social expectations, and economic lives. |
| 16 | DeWitt knows perfectly well—though she may not always admit it in interviews and essays—that such a vision of literature is, under current institutional arrangements, improbable | DeWitt seems to know perfectly well—though she may not always say it in interviews and essays—that such a vision of literature is, under current institutional arrangements, improbable |
| 17 | Her parents worked for the Foreign Service, and though she was born in the United States, she was raised abroad, moving from Mexico to Brazil to Columbia to Ecuador, before returning as a teenager. Back in the States, she attended various boarding schools and Smith College. | Her father worked for the Foreign Service, and though she was born in the United States, she was raised largely abroad, living in Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, and Ecuador. Back in the States, she attended boarding school and then Smith College for two years. |
| 18 | before deciding not to turn in his paper | before deciding to turn in his paper |
| 18 | Sibylla lies her way into Oxford but like DeWitt quickly discovers that her hopes were mis- placed. | Sibylla lies her way into Oxford but discovers that her hopes were misplaced. |
| 21 | our trusty narrator exposes the badness of the institution by ultimately affirming their own, higher rationality | our trusty narrator exposes the badness of the institution by ultimately affirming their own, higher standards |
| 23 | and honing a critical sensibility | and honing an aesthetic sensibility |
| 30 | but other significant barriers are the commonplace cultural assumptions | but another significant barrier is the commonplace cultural assumption |
| 39 | Edward Mendelson | Daniel Mendelsohn |
| 39 | Yet in 1998, when she finally sold the manuscript | Yet in 1999, when she finally sold the manuscript |
| 43 | And in a world that increasingly asks authors to think of themselves as | And in a world that increasingly asks the author to think of herself as |
| 46 | here a figure for your own novel | here a figure for the novel |
| 54 | but actively shapes the conditions | but that she actively shape |
| 59 | She drafted a long and detailed letter explaining her position, but in the end did not need to send it. Burnham had, DeWitt learned, spoken to his boyfriend, Joe Dolce, | She drafted a long and detailed letter explaining her position. However, what ultimately convinced Burnham was a conversation he had with his boyfriend, Joe Dolce, |
| 59 | Victory in hand, DeWitt returned to the United Kingdom. But in January 2000, she received galley proofs of the novel and discovered that the copyeditor’s changes remained unreversed. | Victory in hand, DeWitt returned to the United Kingdom. But in February or early March 2000, she received galley proofs of the novel and discovered that the copyeditor had reinstated her changes, tippexing out the author’s corrections |
| 59 | DeWitt’s struggle with her copyeditor has received considerable journalistic attention. | DeWitt’s struggle over the copyediting process has received considerable journalistic attention. |
| 68 | to produce new a text | To produce a new text |
| 71 | But reading these questions against the grain, I’d emphasize that one cannot be committed to rationality without also being committed to the possibility that one might be on the wrong side of any particular question. | Perhaps reading these questions against the grain, I’d emphasize that critics cannot know in advance which party is on the wrong side of the any particular question. |
| 72 | To be sure, DeWitt prob- ably sees herself as the hero of her own story, and she has little to say in praise of editors, agents, and publishers. | DELETE SENTENCE |
| 74 | fight with her copyeditor | fight over the copyediting process |
| 74 | DeWitt attended the party in New York without incident and left the city again, going to Philadelphia, missing a meeting with her new agent Andrew Wylie, and reading alone in the library until her next obligation | DeWitt attended the party in New York without incident and left the city again, going to Philadelphia, and reading alone in the library until her next obligation |
| 76 | If but for a slightly different set of initial conditions | But for a slightly different set of initial conditions |
| 78 | to offer readers a window onto the ease with which they too, like Ludo, can learn Greek and Japanese. | to offer readers a window onto the relative ease with which they too, like Ludo, might learn Greek and Japanese. |
| 81 | Attic Greek | ancient Greek |
| 93 | efforts to assimilate the novel to a contemporary anticapitalist politics runs | efforts to assimilate the novel to a contemporary anticapitalist politics run |
| 94 | one’s belief about reality | one’s beliefs about reality |
| 94 | DeWitt cannot both invoke rationality, cannot demand that her actions or the actions of others that she’s worked with be judged in terms of their rationality, and guarantee in advance that her own views are, or will be judged, correct. | One cannot both invoke rationality, cannot demand that one’s actions or the actions of others be judged in terms of their rationality, and guarantee in advance that those views are, or will be judged, correct. |
| 113 | Attic Greek | Ancient Greek |
| 115 | Attic Greek | Ancient Greek |
| 116 | Attic Greek read by | Ancient Greek read by |