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Blindness

Chapter 13: Transcriber’s Note
By Henry Green
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About This Book

A diaristic narrator records day-to-day life as a school secretary, sketching friendships, rivalries, amusements, and small humiliations while observing his social circle. The work is organized into three metaphorical stages—caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly—that trace a movement from youthful complacency through self-conscious introspection to tentative maturity. Episodes blend social satire, domestic scenes, lessons, and romantic tensions, and the prose shifts between lively anecdote and reflective passage. Recurring concerns include status, performance, the pull of desire, and the awkward navigation of adult expectations, all delivered in a keenly observed, psychologically attentive voice.

Transcriber’s Note

This transcription is based on images made available by the University of California and Google:

books.google.com/books?id=0gMFAQAAIAAJ

These scans are also available through the HathiTrust Digital Library:

hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.b4095579

The following changes were made to the printed text:

  • p. 7: The Vounteers’ Camp and all its attendant horrors—Changed “Vounteers” to “Volunteers”.
  • p. 46: oh, well, we musn’t argue.—Changed “musn’t” to “mustn’t”.
  • p. 48: “Dear boy, we must be practical. It may take a—a very long time indeed.—Added a closing double quotation mark after “indeed.”
  • p. 61: the miracle that anything could be so beautiful never to see a bird again—Added a comma after “beautiful”.
  • p. 79: Were there any blind boys in Norbury of his own, nice boys whom—Added “age” after “of his own”.
  • p. 87: Mrs. Crayshaw would not be be able to do any visiting—Deleted the second “be”.
  • p. 102: “Thanks, Nan, I’m sure I do.”—Added a paragraph break before this sentence.
  • p. 113: All over at the contact her hands he trembled—Added “of” after “contact”.
  • p. 123: he ought to take a a pride in the hatred of the world.—Deleted the second “a”.
  • p. 125: “It’s the cancer, Joan, that what I am so terrified about.—Changed “that” to “that’s”.
  • p. 129: and the blue bottles seethed with anger at being disturbed by someone—Changed “blue bottles” to “bluebottles” for consistency.
  • p. 133: Three blue bottles, fanning themselves angrily—Changed “blue bottles” to “bluebottles” for consistency.
  • p. 155: “Run along, Joan and play.”—Inserted a comma after “Joan”.
  • p. 189: You will be coming to-morrow to have your hand looked to, wont you?—Changed “wont” to “won’t”.
  • p. 217: “John,” he said, pulling his arm, “how silent you are.”—Changed “he” to “she”.
  • p. 223: but we could have a a gay time there—Deleted the second “a”.
  • p. 226: I won’t have you say thinks like that about him.—Changed “thinks” to “things”.
  • p. 226: Anyway I shouldn’t have been here if it wasn’t for him?”—Changed the question mark after “him” to a period.
  • p. 226: “Why had he made a compliment like that?—Deleted the opening double quotation mark before “Why”.
  • p. 227: He was brought to it, and by your lot too.—Added a closing double quotation mark after “too.”
  • p. 227: them saying that he didn’ do his duty—Changed “didn’” to “didn’t”.
  • p. 235: The cock was quiet and dignified this morning rather sleepy.—Inserted a comma after “morning”.
  • p. 236: “I wont.”—Changed “wont” to “won’t”.
  • p. 249: “But Emily, painters always go to the counry for inspiration.—Changed “counry” to “country”.
  • p. 254: through vilages where Barwood was repeated—Changed “vilages” to “villages”.
  • p. 256: What was this—Added a question mark after “this”.
  • p. 262: “No that would only have made a rush at the station.”—Added a comma after “No”.
  • p. 265: “Only five minutes now.’—Changed the closing single quotation mark at the end of the sentence to a closing double quotation mark.
  • p. 283: so much or her was there, in the village—Changed “or” to “of”.
  • p. 285: the bells sudden broke out again from along the street—Changed “sudden” to “suddenly”.