Vatican Library

The Vatican Library is a site of textual uncertainty in Oedipa Maas’s search for the origins of Trystero. It is associated with a pornographic version of The Courier’s Tragedy, but Emory Bortz’s account sharply distinguishes that book from Randolph Driblette’s production, leaving the library less as a source of settled answers than as one more contested layer in the evidence.

The Vatican Text

When Oedipa recites the couplet naming Trystero, Bortz asks how she got into the Vatican Library. She shows him the paperback containing the line. Examining it, he recognizes an edition that has been altered without his authorization: its publisher is listed as K. da Chingado and Company of New York, and he calls its printing offset, misprinted, and corrupt. His immediate reaction is not to authenticate its contents but to condemn the edition and wonder how its makers gained access to the Vatican.

Bortz says he did not see the Vatican version until 1961, too late to include a note about it in his earlier edition. He identifies it as a pornographic The Courier’s Tragedy, then clarifies that the book is only an obscene parody. The library’s association with the text therefore does not make the text a reliable witness to the play’s original form.

Disputed Lines and Driblette’s Production

Bortz contrasts the Vatican book with the version of the play he personally accepts. In his text, the second couplet’s final line is suppressed; the line “Who once has crossed the lusts of Angelo” was, he says, inserted by the printer of the 1687 Quarto. He considers the “Whitechapel” version corrupt as well. On that reasoning, Driblette acted properly by leaving the doubtful passage out of his production.

Oedipa counters that she heard Driblette use the Vatican lines at the Tank Theatre, including the word Trystero. Bortz does not resolve the discrepancy. He observes that Driblette was both director and actor, and thus could choose what to say. The distinction matters: the stage performance establishes what Driblette performed, not which printed version is authoritative.

The Library’s Significance

The Vatican Library marks a point where textual authority breaks into competing editions, editorial judgments, and performance choices. Bortz’s expertise supplies a history for the disputed lines, but it cannot explain why Driblette included them or determine which version Oedipa should trust. The library consequently enlarges rather than closes the mystery: its pornographic parody offers an apparent source for the Trystero reference, while its acknowledged corruption makes that source uncertain.