I’m just curious what you think about this….a lot of classic literature is now in the public domain and there is a trend to rewrite these pieces of history. The idea is to update them to current time periods, spice them up more, or just make them better. Do you think this is a good idea?
I have my own opinion but it’s simply mine. I don’t want to discredit the talent of writers that do this because there are really talented and accomplished writers that have taken on the task and the end result may be very very good. I’m just a little concerned that if the original author knew, would that author approve? Of course, they’re deceased so can’t speak for themselves but still…there’s just something about it that makes me…uncomfortable.
What d’ya think?
i’m aganst this practice of “improving” on other authors’ works. i believe it is disrespectul to the original author. if they’d wanted to write a steamier novel, they probably would’ve done so. it feels like potentially sullying the classics for a few extra bucks because it’s easier than writing your own novel.
i’m also not in favour of fan-fiction as the author who created characters should be the owners of said characters. rewriting twilight into 50 shades, altho lucrative, totally obscures stephanie meyers’ original (if oddly stated) pro-chastity message.
and altho they remake movies all the time, it doesn’t seem the same as taking an original and mucking around with it. i’m against colourizing movies because there again you are tampering with the original.
write fresh, people!
but, just my over-wrought opinion…
Nora, thanks for the response! Good points! I think a lot of people have the same opinion.
I agree with Nora. I am not in favor of this practice. Not only does it dilute a classic, I think while it might benefit the publishers making it possible to for them to promote a story that everyone knows with a ‘modern’ twist, it makes it all the harder for writers to compete in sales with new stories. People will gravitate to the familiar before going exploring.
I hadn’t thought of it as competing against new releases by using a familiar product. Wow. Great point!
I agree with Nora – I strongly dislike the fan-fiction as “literature” trend. I’m of a mixed opinion on the rewriting classics. I enjoyed Pride and Prejudice and Zombies because it was original and didn’t significantly tinker with the emotional and character arc of the original work. I read Death comes to Pemberly and was outraged and the poor quality and bastardization of characters.
I am a huge fan of Jasper Fforde author of the Nursery Crimes and Thursday Next series. Nursery crimes combine hard boiled detective stories with familiar characters from nursery rhymes. Thursday Next is a “literary detective” who tracks down crimes within fiction. Although Thursday hops into (to keep with the theme) Pride and Prejudice, she enters the books between the scenes and finds the characters doing things like scurring to hide their iPods before they next time the are called into reading action. It honors the originals, but allows Fforde to be a unique literary voice at the same time. Established literary characters are mostly tertiary players in his books who function as actors in a role. A few authors can make it work, but when poorly done, it’s more fan fiction gone awry.