Tolkien is often labelled the “father of fantasy”. His Middle Earth prompted later other-world fiction, each of which created an abundance of fantasy lands of which readers never tire. His work is often recreated in modern literature; the influence can even be seen in works like Harry Potter, with school children replacing the hobbits and the Dark Lord Voldemort replacing the Dark Lord Sauron. Critics believe modern fantasy writers are trying to reconstruct Tolkien’s world and continue the story they never want to end. These magical worlds may recreate Tolkien’s original fantasy epic, but literature is constantly recycling stories, or rewriting and adapting older works for modern day consumers who are hungry for more.
Bookshelves are flooded with updates of Perrault, Anderson, and Grimm’s fairy-tales, the movie world is not the only one addicted to adaptation. Gregory Maguire, a prolific writer, only achieved real fame with his series The Wicked Years which continued, and retold, Baum’s Oz stories. The first book, Wicked, spawned a musical, and the sophomore novel Son of a Witch came ten years later, quickly followed by A Lion Among Men, and now a fourth novel – Out of Oz – is scheduled for an Autumn release. Maguire’s rewriting success led him to recreate other stories such as Cinderella and Snow White.
Do we need rewritings or textual adaptations of famous, beloved novels? Film adaptations are logical, since watching a film in a few hours is easier than reading it over a few days, and the economic advantages are undeniable for production companies and publishers alike. Adapting one novel into another, though, doesn’t make as much sense.
If a reader likes a work, do they really need another’s re-imagining of the tale? The story is already written and told, so can extra elements make it better? Foreign works are constantly subjected to new translations, but here the adaptations are understandable due to wanting more accurate, poetic, descriptive, versions of the text, to bridge the gap for national, and non-national, readers. Translations are understandable, but the motivation behind rewriting a classic already written in English is less clear.
Maguire does focus on one of Baum’s minor characters – the wicked witch that dies near the beginning, that readers may want to know more about – but is knowledge of these characters, or someone else’s interpretation, completely necessary? The plethora of fairy-tale adaptations appears to lack true grounding. Red Riding Hood, Beauty and the Beast, and Sleeping Beauty are all well-known, people can relate the plots by heart, but still rewritings are frequent. Publishers see the marketplace space for them, and not just as bed-time stories for children but leisure reading for adults as well.
Admittedly, I myself own a few of Maguire’s works, but I never asked myself why. Maybe people just don’t want the end to be the end – they desire more. Having the story modernised, with characters more closely resembling either ourselves, or people we encounter, may make the experience of that story last just a little bit longer. We may not experience anything new, but that could be comforting. We already know how the story ends, there are no shocks, scares, or unwanted surprises.
There is something comforting in knowing the formula, characters, and imminent happy ending. In an ever-changing world constantly rocked with natural and man-made disasters, maybe reliving a comforting tale in ulterior textual forms is good. It provides stability and security in an escape medium, contrasting with the real world’s uncertainty. As children we had comfort blankets, and as adults we have adaptations of familiar stories, adding a touch of constancy to a world, and life, constantly evolving.