I bought a set of Nancy Drew books a few years ago. I started reading them, but they weren’t as exciting as I had remembered. I got bored after the first few and moved on to other things.
It wasn’t until I read the first book of the series (The Secret of the Old Clock) again that I realized something was off. I was reading it for research purposes. I needed a list of words to describe Nancy and her life, and accuracy was important. When I saw her car described in the book as a “convertible,” I was surprised, because I remember it being a “roadster.”
I guess I knew in the back of my mind that the stories had been altered in recent editions, but silly me, I had assumed only minor changes (to remove any elements that might seem elitist, racist, or confusingly outdated to modern audiences). I didn’t realized how massive the changes were until I compared a copyright-1930 edition of my favorite Nancy Drew mystery (#2, The Hidden Staircase) to the text from a 2001 printing. It’s not just a little update. It’s a total rewrite.
Here are the stats for the two versions.
Copyright: 1930
Page count: 206
Chapter count: 25
First paragraph: “I DECLARE, I don’t know what makes me so nervous this afternoon! I have the strangest feeling—just as though something were about to happen.”
Copyright: 1987, 1959, 1930 (2001 printing)
Page count: 182
Chapter count: 20
First paragraph: NANCY DREW began peeling off her garden gloves as she ran up the porch steps and into the hall to answer the ringing telephone. She picked it up and said, “Hello!”
I decided to read both books so that I could properly compare them. I finished the original and am now working on the new version. What I’m finding is that some details have been inexplicably changed. For example, in the original version the house is called The Mansion and it is described this way:
With its two large turrets at the front, the Turnbull residence was not unlike a ruined castle.
It was a large, massive structure, built of white stone which, with the passing of the decades, had blackened and crumbled. Undoubtedly, in years gone by it had deserved the title of “mansion,” but now it could boast little of its old glory. With the ebb of the Turnbull fortune, the house had fallen into decay.
As Nancy drove up the winding driveway she could not help but notice the ghostlike shadows which the trees, swaying in the breeze, cast on the stone walls. A feeling of uneasiness came over her, a sensation which she was at a loss to explain.
“There’s something creepy about the place,” she thought.
In the new version it is called Twin Elms and described this way:
Presently the old Colonial home come into view. Helen said it has been built in 1785 and had been given its name because of the two elm trees which stood at opposite ends of the long building. They had grown to be giants and their foliage was beautiful. The mansion was of red brick and nearly all the walls were covered with ivy. There was a ten-foot porch with tall white pillars at the huge front door.
It’s charming!” Nancy commented as she pulled up to the porch. . . .
“The mansion certainly doesn’t look spooky from the outside,” Nancy commented.
These changes make no sense to me. The story is a mystery set in a haunted house. We’re supposed to be apprehensive. We need to feel that Nancy is in danger. In the old version, we do (or, at least, I do). In the new version, the opening paragraph is not nearly as interesting. In the approach to the “haunted” house, it feels like Nancy is merely going on a vacation.
So I’m disappointed by the 2001 editions that I bought. I’m not even sure I’ll keep them. I am far more interested in reading the original versions. It looks like, in the case of the Nancy Drew stories, older is better.