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Publisher patching up
By Stephanie Kendrick
errors in ‘Hula’
Assistant features editor
Star-BulletinAllan Seiden's "The Art of the Hula," published shortly before Christmas, was meant to be a celebration of Hawaii's most sacred dance.
Right now, no one is celebrating.
Kumu hula Vicky Holt Takamine is livid that the book is being sold.
Dale Madden, president of publishing house Island Heritage, is working on saving a project that has already cost him more than $75,000.
And author Seiden is deeply embarrassed.
At issue are typographical errors and mistakes in the presentation of chants in the 119-page book. Errors no one involved denies.
"We feel terrible about it," said Madden. "It'll get fixed."
He is in the process of having it reviewed by a series of Hawaiian language and culture experts and plans to release an errata sheet as soon as that process is completed. "We made a big mistake and I don't want to miss anything," said Madden. After the reviews are completed, a corrected edition of the book will go into production.
Takamine, organizer of Aloha Aina and kumu hula of Pua Ali'i 'Ilima, is not satisfied.
Anyone who has already purchased a copy
of "The Art of the Hula" can call Island Heritage
for an errata sheet at 487-7299.
A further issue for her is whether a book she sees as being purely commercial in its motivation is appropriate at all, given hula's significance in the Hawaiian culture. "I don't find any value in the book," she said. "It's not contributing anything new from the body of knowledge on hula out there."
However, others in the native Hawaiian community have found value in the book.
"It's a good looking book" that addresses the survival of hula and its appeal, said Rubellite Johnson, an expert in Hawaiian language and literature that has completed a review of "The Art of the Hula."
"My general impression is that it's a good book. There are small errors in it" in terms of language and more serious mistakes in the combination and naming of dance chants, she said.
Kumu hula Edith McKinzie read through the book at the request of a friend and said that although she wouldn't buy it, she could see value in it for non-practitioners interested in hula. "I can find things wrong with it, and yet I think he did some good things with it," she said. "Most of the mele are good mele," she added.
McKinzie's greatest criticism was the book's title, "The Art of the Hula," which she said might mislead people into believing it is a comprehensive text .
Seiden said he never intended to write the definitive book on hula. His goal was to publish a book reflecting hula's importance. "I see (hula) as a paradigm for Hawaiian cultural survival," said Seiden. "I love the dance."
So what went wrong? The book did not go through a final copy editing process. "What we needed was one more level of corroboration for Hawaiian usage," said Seiden.
Unfortunately, Seiden thought the publisher would take care of that and the publisher thought Seiden was handling it.
Madden admits expecting an author to take care of final edits was unusual. "It was a deviation from the process," he said, and not one he plans to repeat. "It was a tough lesson," said Madden.
About half of the 5,000 copies of "The Art of the Hula" have been distributed, said Madden. At Takamine's request, Borders Waikele and Bishop Museum have returned copies to Island Heritage pending corrections. Other stores, including Hilo Hattie, have pulled the books until the errata sheets are ready. And some, including Waldenbooks, have continued to sell the book, according to Island Heritage.
As soon as the errata sheet is completed, which Madden expects to happen by the end of this month, copies with the sheets will be swapped out for any stock still in the stores. The sheets will offer customers the opportunity to exchange the books for corrected copies when they are completed.
There has been no demand from retailers to destroy the books. "If book stores demanded publishers take books off the shelf because of Hawaiian language errors or spelling errors there would be a lot of books involved," said Madden.
Johnson agreed. "It's unfortunate that that happened, but I've put out things that had typographical errors and it's shame faced, but it happens," she said. "On the whole, those are treatable errors that can be accomplished with an errata sheet."
But Takamine remains concerned about copies already sold and still being sold without the errata sheet. "Five thousand copies are out there. Five thousand copies of misinformation 100 years from now is going to become fact."
Seiden defended his work, while acknowledging Takamine's argument. "She has made hula her life," he said. But he maintains the book does have value. "If it's totally off then it shouldn't be out there, I agree with her. If it's got a few spelling mistakes, a few terminology mistakes, then let's correct it," he said.
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