Questions of censorship

I noticed something very strange in a recording I downloaded from UbuWeb the other day. A friend of mine recommended I give a Henry Miller reading of an excerpt from "Black Spring" a listen so I promptly downloaded and listened to it; several times. As soon as I could I went out and bought a copy of the book. It's total madness and genius and quite possibly a perfect rendering of beauty and "esctasy" in the manner Miller intended. I haven't finished it yet, but it's an amazing work of art. Check it out.

Anyway, to get to the point. There is a discrepancy between the book and the recording on UbuWeb. I noticed something missing from the recording because the line in the book which happens to be missing from the recording is a total bombshell and beautifully poised for maximum impact :) So I posted some feedback on their feedback web form:-

*Quick note about possible censorship?*

Hi guys,

I've been reading Henry Miller's "Black Spring" lately. Your link to Miller reading an excerpt from it inspired me to get my hands on the book and read it for myself. One thing has come to my attention during my reading of it though. There is a discrepancy between the recording you have hosted on your site and the book.

The book (ISBN 0-8021-3182-4) has (bottom of p24-25):-

"Something better than a Christ, something bigger than a heart, something beyond God Almighty I think of--MYSELF. I am a man. That seems to me sufficient.

I am a man of God and a man of the Devil. To each his due. Nothing eternal, nothing absolute. Before me always the image of the body, our triune god of penis and testicles. On the right, God the Father, on the left and hanging a little lower, God the Son; and between and above them the Holy Ghost. I can never forget that this holy trinity is man-made, that it will undergo infinite changes--"

But your recording cuts out "the Devil. To each his due." and also leaves out "Before me always the image of the body, our triune god of penis and testicles."

It's obvious in the first instance that the recording has been doctored. The second sentence is neatly censored in its entirety.

Are you aware of this? I'm intrigued and somewhat dissapointed as it's one of the more powerful images/lines in the beginning of the book. Who would deliberately censor such things?

I look forward to your reply and thank you in advance for your investigation,

P.S. ubuweb.com is an amazing resource. Thank you so much for making all of this freely available.

I'll keep at them on this point. I guess I just don't have better things to do. I should probably find something. Still - quite shocking don't you think?

For those of you that care (and there might be one) - I'll keep you posted :D