Paid Assassins At Human & Rousseau

Checked the long-awaited book on my hero
Dr Serfontein, even more macho and tough than
James Bond himself, more handsome also, with
high moral principles, full of integrity

Excitedly looking for my favourite passage –
Oh NO! - a moron, a complete and utter idiot
has removed it; the pivot of the book, left all the
stupid, non-essential bits

Deleted the most important bit of philosophy
that became my lodestar ideal: “Beauty is not an
inherent feature of anything, beautiful interpret-
tation takes place in the observer’s mind”

I bought the book for this one sentence; now the
book is useless, meaningless, the most wonderful
insight destroyed by an over-zealous editor –
I always knew that editing was an evil deed!

I HATE the paid assassins at Human & Rousseau
who destroyed my storybook!

******************************************
Theunis Krogh [Stella Blakemore] "Jong Doktor Serfontein"
Keurboslaan-series Human & Rousseau 2009 - NB Uitgewers
Kaapstad– Abridged, maimed, killed. Dead.

Mr Schoonbee explained to the protagonist’s brother who
quoted Kipling on a woman being only some skin and hair
over bones, that Dr Serfontein’s love for opera singer
Wanda Svoboda originated in the his own beautiful mind:

“Beauty is not an inherent feature of anything, beautiful
interpretation takes place in the observer’s mind.”

Without this sentence, the book loses its essential value that
made me return to it for inspiration and encouragement.

An older edition still contains my favourite passage:
JL van Schaik Beperk, Pretoria 1973, p.17

Martin sê: ‘...’n Lap, ‘n stuk been,en ‘n string hare,’
soos ou Kipling dit min of meer beskryf het. Maar
vir daardie twee lummels was dit soos die gedig
lui: ‘But the fool he called her his Lady Fair.’

Mnr Schoobee antwoord: ‘Sulke gevoel kom uit
die man self, nie uit wat hy voor hom sien nie,
my seun...’