A book by any other name: why does the US change so many titles?

Stuart Turtons new novel The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle has been supersized to Seven and a Half and not because Americans die more often

There was widespread reaction when the Philosophers Stone in the title of the first Harry Potter book became the Sorcerers Stone after its US publisher, Scholastic, decided that children might confuse wizards for Plato.

But hordes of books have had their titles changed in America. Disproportionately, they are mysteries. Twenty-five Agatha Christie titles have been localised but unfortunately, their new names do not add to their allure. Instead, they merely baffle Brits who, when buying Murder in Three Acts or Poirot Loses a Clienton vacation, discover they are Three Act Tragedy or Dumb Witness in disguise.

Naturally, book titles change from country to country. Altering the first Potter adventure to Harry Potter a lEcole des Sorciers in French is far less baffling than what was done to its American counterpart. Some localisation is to be expected: if youre translating the text, why not change the title to match? But, with the UK and US sharing a language, why change titles?

Sometimes publishers themselves dont know. For example, Hitlers Scapegoatby Stephen Koch will be released by Counterpoint Press in the US next year as Hitlers Pawn. I asked their publicity manager why, but she wasnt sure and said the editor didnt know either. Ask the Brits, she suggested.

Then theres The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, a Stuart Turton novel renamed The 7 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle in the States because, apparently, Americans die more frequently. When asked about the change, US publisher Sourcebooks initially joked: Our editorial team decided to supersize it. Were lucky Christies Three Actswasnt upgraded to 3 or horror of horrors Tragedy 3.0. After all, this is the country that slapped the title Little Women II on Louisa May Alcotts Good Wives.

Agatha Christies Dumb Witness became Poirot Loses a Client in the US

Sourcebooks senior marketing manager Liz Kelsch said the change was strategic. There was a title clash in the US and we were worried about confusion, she said, referring to Taylor Jenkins Reids The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Sometimes, she said, a small change can make all the difference.

With more than 3m books published in the US each year, titles have to yell: Read me! Take Martha Conways The Floating Theatre, renamed The Underground River in the US. The novel is about two female abolitionists smuggling slaves to freedom. To someone who grew up in the American south like me, The Floating Theatre feels overly Victorian, but The Underground River screams this is about the underground railroad. The Floating Theatre does not interest me, but The Underground River does.

Authors dont necessarily hate the name changes. Diana Gabaldon has said that her novel Cross Stitch benefited from being renamed Outlander for America: Overall, [Cross Stitch is] not really a good title. As for PG Wodehouse, they say He Rather Enjoyed It the title US publishers gave Ukridge. Over the course of literary history, characters such as Romeo, Dracula and Peppa Pig all managed to preserve their titular roles. So why axe poor Ukridge? The world may never know, but fortunately Jeeves was saved: The Inimitable Jeeves became simply Jeeves.

Wodehouse was also often localised for US readers: Lord Emsworth and Othersbecame Crime Wave at Blandings. And there have been valid, non-marketing reasons for changing titles: the Christie novel that included the N-word in its title, for example, became And Then There Were Nonein the US. Ted Hughess The Iron Man would have landed him in the American courts, since Marvel had trademarked the name. There, its The Iron Giant.

A work of literature gets its name as a result of a creative collaboration between writer, editor and publicist. And over time, titles are what they are: a book by any other name would read as sweet. But then again, what would Shakespeare know? His titles were never localised.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2018/sep/13/us-uk-book-titles-changed


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