Step by Step in Esperanto

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On the appearance of this book I received various suggestions for its improvement. I was advised to omit, among other things, all stories about mothers-in-law (as giving a wrong outlook on life, and treating a serious subject with levity); the story of the cannibal who ate his wife (as immoral — perhaps the reader might go and do likewise); all puns (as confusing); all jokes of any kind whatsoever (as undignified); all English verse (as doggerel); all Esperanto verse (as waste of space); all translation exercises (as inadvisable for beginners); all proverbs (as obscure); every word exemplifying the vowel-sounds in which the vowel is not followed by the letter “r” (as misleading); and every word in which it is so followed (for the same reason). One friend regretted the inclusion of illustrative sentences from the Ekzercaro (as hackneyed); another advised the omission of all sentences not in the Ekzercaro (as not authoritative). A Scottish correspondent urged the publication of an expurgated edition, labelled “For Sale in Scotland”, which should omit all reference to a certain insect apparently unknown in that country, though otherwise sufficiently international. Some complained that there were not enough exercises; others, that there were too many. The exercises given were condemned by one as too simple (because they leave nothing to the learner’s intelligence); by another as too difficult (because they call for thought, and the average learner does not think). One said “Make more use of varied type, to help the eye”; another: “Your use of varied type is excessive, and offends the eye.” I was told by one that the book was pedantically Zamenhofan; by another, that no one could accuse it of making any attempt to follow Zamenhof.

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