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Rewriting the Classics


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  • 2 weeks later...
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Kell, please shut this down if it considered sacriligious?

I am just about to start reading this (I have had a sneak peek) and it looks to be a bit of a phenomenon., with a film coming up too. Wondered what diehard Austen fans thought about it, outraged or happy?

 

Diehard fans of anything will defend the original, not matter what, even if the target of their wrath complements and brings out more detail in the original. They don't want to see, even to the extent of seeing nothing outside there narrow world view.

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I just finished P&P&Z a couple of days ago. I DID enjoy it very much, it gently takes the micky out of its source material a couple of times, you need to know the original story well first to truly get the injokes.

Because, apart from that the book is essentially a one-joke incongruity. Zombies in late 18th England.

It is only because it is hung on such a marvelous story, essentially unchanged that it sustains itself to the end.

It will be a film next year with Natalie Portman in the lead role. If it is done well it should be worth watching.

 

I am with Frankie, I wouldn't want to read another mash -up. One is enough. But I have no shortage of people who saw me reading it and want to borrow it.

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Diehard fans of anything will defend the original, not matter what, even if the target of their wrath complements and brings out more detail in the original. They don't want to see, even to the extent of seeing nothing outside there narrow world view.

 

Have you read it Rob? If not, any plans to? Or is life too short for mash-ups?

Edited by vodkafan
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  • 4 months later...

There's lately a trend in book writting. Lately authors have chosen to take classics novels and add them supernatural elements. The best example of this is Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. I thought this would be it but after a quick look I also found this titles:

 

1.Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters

2.Jane Slayre

3.Little Vampire Women

4.Mansfield Park and Mummies

5.Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim

6.Android Karenina

7.The Undead World of Oz

8.Little Women and Werewolves

9.Alice in Zombieland

10.Emma and the Werevolves

 

And many, many others in the similar nature (not counting of course Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter and Queen Victoria Demon Hunter which are more historic character based).

 

So my question is are there really that many people reading this books. I bought Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and I really liked it mainly because I thought it was an original idea. However I don't feel like reading every single version in the list because after a while it just feels like someone's fan fiction. Like I mention I haven't read more than the one I mention so maybe the other ones are good and witty.

 

So what are your thoughts on this new trend of taking a classic and throwing in zombies, werewolves and mayhem?

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I've read P&P&Z (which I've previously mentioned) and also Mr Darcy; Vampire (which I rather liked), I Am Scrooge; A Zombie Story For Christmas (which was OK), and Queen Victoria; Demon Hunter (which was excellent!). I definitely plan on reading more of the classic/supes mash-ups as on the whole they've been pretty decent. I also read Murder at Mansfield Park, which was very cleverly done and despite completely subverting all the characters we know and love from Austen's classic, it actually worked very well.

 

I've not read any of Gregory Maguire's books (yet), but he pretty much does the same thing - looking at classic, well-loved tales from another perspective, and they've been highly popular.

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I've read Wicked and I loved it. I always thought it made the character of Elphaba a very tragic figure. Definitly nothing like the original Wicked Witch from the West. I don't know if it's just me being picky but I liked Wicked better than any of the other books because I feel it is a well-thought novel, while the other books feel a bit more rushed and amateur.

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  • 9 months later...

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