Friday 28 December 2018

Retellings II.

See Retellings.

We can read:

history in conjunction with Poul Anderson's historical fiction;

Shakespeare in conjunction with his A Midsummer Tempest;

Sherlock Holmes in conjunction with his "Time Patrol";

Eddas, sagas or retellings of Norse myths in conjunction with his Viking novels;

scientific texts in conjunction with his hard sf;

Wells, Stapledon and Heinlein in conjunction with his time travel and future histories;

SM Stirling in conjunction with his alternative histories.

Walking home, I see a new retelling of Greek myths by Stephen Fry in a shop window and an ad for a new Holmes And Watson film on the side of a bus. The process continues. Anderson's contributions endure.

4 comments:

Nicholas D. Rosen said...

Kaor, Paul!

This evening, I’ve been reading from a book I bought a couple of weeks ago, the original edition of THE BROKEN SWORD; I bought a copy of the revised edition when I was in college in the early 1980s. I’ll see how the two editions compare.

Best Regards,
Nicholas

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Nicholas,
Would you be able to write an article comparing the two editions?
Paul.

Nicholas D. Rosen said...

Kaor, Paul!

When I can find the time. I’ll try to email you something for you to post, if you let me know your email address. Mine is (first initial) (middle initial) (last name) at sign erols dot com.

Best Regards,
Nicholas

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Nicholas and Paul!

I too have copies of both the original and revised versions of THE BROKEN SWORD. And I even read a long article years ago by a fan comparing both versions. I'm no longer sure whether he preferred the first or second version. I have a vague recollection of him thinking the original text was better. I would say, rather, both forms are good while conceding the raw vigor and headlong STORY of the first edition of THE BROKEN SWORD might be favored over the more streamlined and smoothed out second edition.

So I do hope you write this possible article!

Sean