What's in a name..... seriously?
I just finished writing a review of the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman and it really got me wondering.... why are the titles of books changed according to where they are published?
Why the differing titles? Is there really a sufficient enough cultural difference between the UK and the USA, or Australia and USA for cultural differences to be the cause?
I suppose you could say that titles were chosen by the publishers that they thought the people in that particular country could identify more with.... but really - The Messenger vs I am the Messenger? Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone vs Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone? Do they really think American's need a little bit of clarification in the title about who exectly the messenger is? Do they really think that American's can't figure out that an alchemist could also be considered a philospher? How is The Northern Lights just not going to work in America, but it can elsewhere in the world?
This isn't just directed at Americans or the American publishing indistry - I am sure there are example of changing titles elsewhere throughout the world. These are just the examples that came to mind first.
I hope that there is a good reason for changing the titles - because I for one tend to think that the integrity of the author's work should be maintained all around the world. If they called their book The Northern Lights, or the Philosopher's Stone or The Messenger, I think that there better be a really good excuse for changing it.
It's very likely that everyone but me knows the answer to this but can you please enlighten me? Why are the titles of books changed according to where they are published?
Originally posted 29 August 2011 Page Turners
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