Curious discrepancies between the Penguin UK/Putnam US editions of Autobiography

An anonymous person writes:

I picked up my copy of the American edition of Autobiography today and started reading through it, and when I reached the part of the book where Jake is introduced, I noticed that his picture was missing. I didn't really think anything of it, but then I realized that his section of the book is heavily edited, with certain paragraphs detailing the relationship truncated considerably and some lines and anecdotes omitted entirely. What's really strange is how trivial some of these changes are; for example, in the UK version of the book, Morrissey describes a night out with Jake and Chrissie Hynde at a Battersea pub, but in the American version it is only Morrissey with Chrissie.

This part of the book contains the only editorial differences between the UK/US editions I've noticed so far, though I haven't read through it all so there could be more. However, I find these changes very odd and they stymy the flow of Morrissey's prose somewhat, to the extent that it actually lessens the emotional intensity of what I consider to be one of the most moving sections of the book. I'm wondering if the press frenzy that followed the publication of the book made either Jake or Morrissey uncomfortable, which led to these revisions. Obviously, this is purely conjecture as there's no way I could possibly know for sure. I just can't really think of any other explanation.

Has anyone else noticed this?


UPDATE Dec. 4:

joe frady also adds:

The British Hard Version is similarly trimmed. No 'walked in and stayed for 2 years, or 'I becomes we'. No British Airways brothers/lovers anecdote, whole Dublin/Dr Anthony Clare/Sherborne episode excised, no tea in the bath, someone to answer the telephone, etc. No teenage pic neither. And he drinks only with Chrissie in the British Flag pub.



Media coverage:


 
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I think he genuinely has no idea whether he's bi or gay. He's never been able to interpret his feelings in (what we might call) the 'conventional' way. I don't think it's right to say he's in denial, he probably never left adolescence emotionally, and can only really be said to be permanently 'confused'.
 
Yeah we kind of knew.

But nobody knew he'd flat out reveal it in his autobiography.
But it was something people thought he might if he was going to reveal relationships, i mean that was the talk, how much was he actually going to reveal considering he is so private and doesn't say this stuff.
 
The sadness of this is that only these passages were deleted. A more thoughtful American edition would have reduced the book to it's title and a blank page. It's not an Autobiography. It's just nonsense. And if it's a Penguin Classic: I have a bridge to sell you.

Why do you come here...and why do you hang around?:straightface:
 
I think he genuinely has no idea whether he's bi or gay. He's never been able to interpret his feelings in (what we might call) the 'conventional' way. I don't think it's right to say he's in denial, he probably never left adolescence emotionally, and can only really be said to be permanently 'confused'.

Absolutely correct.
 
Absolutely correct.

Absolutely useful. He could go on teasing and pleasing everyone thinking about women as a bunch of deluded hoping for his attention. I'm just waiting for other editions, what will he edit? Maybe he got no idea and he's confused, but I know who he is: a bastard maleist.
 
I wonder if Jake had any objection to what was written about him. Seems odd that Moz would be shocked that those sections were the focus in news reports so much that he got rid of them.
 
I wonder if Jake had any objection to what was written about him. Seems odd that Moz would be shocked that those sections were the focus in news reports so much that he got rid of them.

I don't think Jake gives a shit he is too busy enjoying being a new father.

(He really is fantastic photographer.)
 
I don't think Jake gives a shit he is too busy enjoying being a new father.

(He really is fantastic photographer.)

Is Jake a 'humasensual' or whatever it was that Morrissey describes himself as ?
 
Is Jake a 'humasensual' or whatever it was that Morrissey describes himself as ?

Who knows? I loved the phrase in the book where Moz says something along the lines of Jake finally letting someone "sap his vitality" which I kinda took as coda for having his first homosexual experience but exactly what Moz was prattling on about I guess we'll never really know. That and being 'dwelt in' haha.

That 'relationship' certainly is/was a curious one.

As for the 'humasexual' thing, I really do think that has been really over analyzed on these boards. Not saying you are, but I have seen folks here really dissect it, take umbrage to it etc. It must be hard being Moz at times; I simply took it for what it was, a sort of throwaway quip meant meant to raise a few chuckles yet I have read paragraphs here about how it is absolutely outrageous that he refuses to be labelled yet is now trying to invent his own label. I suspect it was meant as a joke, nothing more, nothing less.

I do occasionally drop by Jake's Twitter page and check out his Instagram, his professional photos are excellent and his running commentary on daily life is genuinely funny. Plus as I have already mentioned he really really doesn't appear to give a flying shit about what anyone thinks about his history with Moz. (Personally I'd prefer he dish the dirt about his time in Eighth Wonder, haw haw.)

The root of all Morrissey's problems appears to be 'pounder drummers.'
 
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As for the 'humasexual' thing, I really do think that has been really over analyzed on these boards. Not saying you are, but I have seen folks here really dissect it, take umbrage to it etc. It must be hard being Moz at times; I simply took it for what it was, a sort of throwaway quip meant meant to raise a few chuckles yet I have read paragraphs here about how it is absolutely outrageous that he refuses to be labelled yet is now trying to invent his own label. I suspect it was meant as a joke, nothing more, nothing less.

I personally don't get how some people have difficulties to comprehend that Morrissey likes somebody giving him a head (an expression I learned from the lyrics of another band by the way and the musician wasn't shy to actually explain what it meant), no matter if it is a woman or a man, and who likes to receive a f*** in the rear, no matter if it is a woman or a man. That makes him humasexual without him having to get into that dreadful in his head burmuda triangle. And I can see anybody whom he associates with most avidly do exactly that. Because they are just the kind who'd do anything in those circles.
 
Who knows? I loved the phrase in the book whereMoz says something along the lines of Jake finally letting someone "sap his vitality" which I kinda took as coda for having his first homosexual experience but exactly what Moz was prattling on about I guess we'll never really know. That and being 'dwelt in' haha.

Here's the full line from the book: "Life’s sharpest corners are turned, and Jake finally allows someone to sap his vitality. ‘You’ve met your match for the first time,’ his close friend Josie tells him."

This bit is preceded by Morrissey's description of Jake as macho troublemaker just beginning to settle down. In context, the "vitality" remark reads like an acknowledgment of what happens when someone falls in love and makes themselves vulnerable to another person. That's what I took away from it, anyway.
 
I personally don't get how some people have difficulties to comprehend that Morrissey likes somebody giving him a head (an expression I learned from the lyrics of another band by the way and the musician wasn't shy to actually explain what it meant), no matter if it is a woman or a man, and who likes to receive a f*** in the rear, no matter if it is a woman or a man. That makes him humasexual without him having to get into that dreadful in his head burmuda triangle. And I can see anybody whom he associates with most avidly do exactly that. Because they are just the kind who'd do anything in those circles.

:squiffy:
 
I think he genuinely has no idea whether he's bi or gay. He's never been able to interpret his feelings in (what we might call) the 'conventional' way. I don't think it's right to say he's in denial, he probably never left adolescence emotionally, and can only really be said to be permanently 'confused'.

Should we have a whip round and buy him a dictionary for his birthday?
 
I don't think Jake gives a shit he is too busy enjoying being a new father.

That's extraordinary. I thought he just viewed kids as props for singers...Not actual individuals...Wonder how he got that baby ;)
I find it weird that his being exposed in Morrissey's book coincides with fatherhood... Isn't life something?

Here's hoping Mr Walters doesn't feel like me: a bit confused. ...I sincerely hope for everyone, offspring included, that the confusion ended where the baby began :) And congratulations.
 
Okay, so at this point, could anyone please have the kindness to scan the missing and altered passages of the book? At this point that would be the only useful thing to do for those of us who have access only to the chopped-up edition,
 

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