ABSTRACT
The revisions James made for his New York Edition continue to spark critical debate, principally over which versions to prefer, to read, and to canonize. For James, only the rigorously connected "artistically counted"; only such material contributed to his goal of complete "pictorial fusion"; only such work evinced an "organic form." James could accomplish his purpose with a minimal number of words. James drew the distinction between prior intentions and intentions in action a dozen or so times in his early prefaces, always separating his plans from the actual words, the prior intention from the intentions in action. It is both interesting and important that James could remember his prior intentions but not his intentions in action. James could make his comparisons serve two purposes at once: to offer the conditions to which the idea was subject and to tighten the connection between characters in the immediate context.
