SOURCE: THE HINDU

Another fascinating article and another inspiration to post. This article is on reimagining characters in newer settings just like old wine in a new bottle. What made the writer of this article write about the winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and Women’s Prize for Fiction, it also made the writer go through the famous retellings. The writer starts by writing about Barbara Kingsolver’s latest novel ‘ Demon Copperfield’. The story draws inspiration from Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield. Have you heard of ‘ The Inheritors’ of Nadeem Zaman? Well, there Gatsby sets out for Dhaka. The rich, luxurious, powerful, pleasure-seeking flock to Junaid Gazi as Icarus to the sun. 

Now, what the writer is trying to convey through this article is that retellings are very much a part of our literary tradition. Writers from every century have had the desire to write something in the fashion of their revered authors or characters, something like fan fiction! 

While Kingsolver visited rural America( you can read the review of her work from The Hindu Magazine dated July 02, 2023), Margaret Atwood revisited The Tempest. Mahabharata has been retold by Ekta Kapoor in her daily soap ‘ Kyunki….’. Umpteen remakes of Shakespeare and Jane Austen’s novels- remember Gurinder Chadda’s movies? Well, retellings are not only limited to novels but have spread out to other forms of media too. 

Here, I must list out the details of other retellings: 

1. Margaret Atwood picked The Tempest for ‘ Hag-Seed’ 
2. Jo Nesbo redid ‘Macbeth’
3. Anne Tyler redid ‘ The Taming of the Shrew’ 
4. NoViolet Bulawayo ‘ Animal Farm’ for ‘ Glory’ 

UGC-NET had a question on retellings. I remember ‘Mad Woman in the Attic’. Go through the previous questions to mark the stories and add the fresher to the list. 

All the best! 

REFERENCE: 

1. MODERN MRS DARCY