This is sort of a rescue project that Stoddard started around 1990: a rewriting, paragraph by paragraph, of Hodgson’s novel. Stoddard wanted the genius of Hodgson’s vision uncoupled from what Lin Carter, who oversaw the reprint of the novel in 1972 for his line of fantasy classics, called “dreadfully overwritten, overlong, and verbose and repetitive to the point of shameful self-indulgence.”

Stoddard condensed the novel by about half while preserving almost all of its plot. To do that, gone is the day by day account of the unnamed narrator’s journey. (In fact, Stoddard gives him a name, Andros, and the narrator of the opening section is named Andrew Eddins.) Gone is Hodgson’s prose cadenced like the King James Bible. Gone also are the archaic words.

But there are additions. Hodgson’s novel famously had no dialogue. Stoddard provides several conversations, mostly between Naani and Andros. He interpolates some scenes from Hodgson’s work, discussions of the world Naani and Andros know from dreams. We also learn that the dreaded House of Silence may have originally been built by men but warped by Evil Forces. We hear how Andros’ parents died and something about the family of Naani in the Lesser Redoubt.

Does it work to preserve Hodgson’s vision and present it more palatable to modern audiences?

Largely, yes.

I rather missed the stately, if slow, prose of Hodgson’s original. On the other hand, the romance between Naani and Andros is livelier and more realistic here as, in their journey back to the Last Redoubt, they get to know each other not just as two telepathically communing spirits but in the flesh. I’m sure modern readers will probably be pleased that the infamous scene where Andros flogs a recalcitrant Naani to tame her wild impulses is not here.

Stoddard’s version also makes clear the similarities between the willful Midrath and her reincarnated self in Naani.
So, would I advise reading Stoddard’s rewrite first as a primer, a map for those worried about getting lost in a thicket of Hodgson’s prose.

No. In Hodgson, we’re not talking about, for modern English speakers, a foreign language, just a foreign style. Read the original first. The Stoddard version, while worthy, is no substitute though it is worth reading after you read the original.

The genesis of Stoddard’s project seems to have been to do an audio book, and there is one for this work. I can’t speak to its quality since I’m not an audio book devotee. ( )

I'm opposed to this sort of work in principle. I didn't like the idea of abridged classics even as a child, and I'm still not keen on living writers taking liberties with the works of dead ones. Make no mistake, this is not a matter of the completion of an unfinished work, or new adventures for old characters. It's effectively a rewrite. Which ought to be the most diabolical of liberties.

However, The Night Land is the most special of cases. William Hope Hodgson was a visionary writer of cosmic horror, and his work influenced Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Jack Vance and many, many others. This is his longest and last-published work. Scholars have since suggested that it was has first written novel. This would figure. It bears all the hallmarks of a cherished journeyman piece. It is too long, digressive and the prose is utterly tortuous. Yet the vision of humanity struggling to survive in a sunless world, besieged by monsters is utterly compelling.

Stoddard has taken the original, moderated the faux-archaic prose, broken up the chapters and added dialogue and some linking scenes. He's also cut some of the digressions, notably some unforgivable ruminations on domestic violence. Most of this is only what a good editor would have done or advised. It all works because it is done with respect for Hodgson's underlying vision. If you've struggled with the original, as I have, this is a way into Hodgson's nightmare world. Think of it as a treatment for a graphic novel yet to be drawn or a film almost certainly never to be made. ( )