I would call it ethical, and the primary reason I would say so is that you are not eliding the original in any meaningful way. You aren't erasing the author by claiming that the work is wholly your own, and you aren't erasing the original text, which is still freely available to those who want to seek it out. (It's on Gutenberg, so essentially anyone who could find your version could also find the original; indeed, it wouldn't surprise me if a project of this nature increased curiosity about the original.)
I think it's ethically comparable to adaptation, or to fanfiction, or--for that matter--to extensive annotation and commentary, all of which I find unproblematic. (Well, unproblematic as genres; obviously any given adaptation/fanfic/commentary might be problematic for other reasons. But you know what I mean.)
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2011-05-12 10:47 pm (UTC)I think it's ethically comparable to adaptation, or to fanfiction, or--for that matter--to extensive annotation and commentary, all of which I find unproblematic. (Well, unproblematic as genres; obviously any given adaptation/fanfic/commentary might be problematic for other reasons. But you know what I mean.)