Update on Pun or Typo to end "Today We Choose Faces"

A while back I had posted this message and speculation -

On Sep 6 2006, 11:00 pm, "ckovacs" wrote:
> I finished re-reading the novel Today We ChooseFaceslast evening
> ("Pull pin seven!!!"), and once again I was caught by surprise with the
> glaringtypoon the last page in which de Negri tells his new secretary
> to give Styler the message that the "debt of honer" is over between
> them. "Honor" would be the correct spelling, or "honour" in a UK
> edition.
>
> But...
>
> But then it struck me for the first time that maybe it's supposed to be
> a pun, a play on words. With the resolution of the novel, de Negri has
> realized that all along he was unwittingly being "used" by Styler to
> fashion the future course of humanity. Note: Styler = one who adjusts
> something to suit their fashion or taste. Honer = one who uses a
> whetstone for sharpening a tool, or the one who uses the tool itself to
> fashion something to more precise dimensions or shape.
>
> Thus "debt of honer" acknowledging to Styler that he (de Negri) has
> been used as the sharpening tool, and being a play on the expression
> "debt of honor."
>
> The trouble I have with being certain about this is that the editions
> of the book that I have were all from the same typset (the 1st edition
> Signet paperback, the UK 1st edition hardback, the reprint hardback
> from Gregg Press, and the Signet double with Bridge of Ashes -- the
> latter three are all photoreprints of the 1st edition Signet
> paperback). I don't have an edition that was retypset to see if the
> word persists as "honer." And it's possible it could have been changed
> to "honor" in other books by mistake if it was presumed to be atypo.
>
> The other thing that puzzled me is that there is an extensive
> essay/critique about the novel in the Gregg Press edition, in which the
> essayist writes about the literary allusions and the significance of
> names (de Negri / Black / Angel / Lange / Styler), but never mentions
> "debt of honer." Maybe the essayist overlooked it as atypo.
>
> But I think it was a pun. Not as obvious a pun as "the fit hit the
> Shan" but a Zelazny pun nonetheless.
>
> Comments, anyone? If not, don't forget it's nearly time to re-read A
> Night in the Lonesome October...
>
> Chris

It turns out that it was a typo after all. In an interview about the
novel, Zelazny said "I can only say that I am pleased with the
tightness of the plot, and if I had the whole thing to do over again I
would catch the typo in the second line on the last page." That's
"honer" instead of "honor." A typo, not a pun.

So if this novel is ever reprinted, it would be nice to fix that typo
at last. All of the paperback printings seemed to use the original
typesetting, as did the UK hardback and the Gregg Press reprinting.

Chris

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