# Are novels ever remade? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 11, 2017, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-novels-ever-remade/784253 "2017-04-11T17:51:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-novels-ever-remade/784253/21 "2017-04-11T18:39:35Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Already got those. 🙂 My apologies… ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-novels-ever-remade/784253/22 "2017-04-11T18:39:48Z")
The one that immediately pops to mind is much-reviled-these-days-for-extremely-good-reason Marion Zimmer’s Bradley’s 1962 novel [The Sword of Aldones](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sword_of_Aldones), which she completely rewrote as _Sharra’s Exile_ in 1981. It was obvious why it was rewritten - the difference in quality is quite substantial. The first one flat-out sucked IMHO ( Hugo nomination or not ), the second was actually decent. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-novels-ever-remade/784253/23 "2017-04-11T18:51:19Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > The one that immediately pops to mind is much-reviled-these-days-for-extremely-good-reason Marion Zimmer’s Bradley’s 1962 novel [The Sword of Aldones](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sword_of_Aldones), which she completely rewrote as _Sharra’s Exile_ in 1981. It was obvious why it was rewritten - the difference in quality is quite substantial. The first one flat-out sucked IMHO ( Hugo nomination or not ), the second was actually decent. I think sf/f as genre is going to dominate this question, because so many novellas were rewritten into books and books revised at later, more fruitful dates. Clarke rewrote\* The City and the Stars\* from _Against the Fall of Night_, and IIRC there was at least one other book he rewrote late in his career. Heinlein significantly rewrote some of the prewar novellas into novels in the 1950s. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-novels-ever-remade/784253/24 "2017-04-11T19:07:15Z")
Will Self’s \*Dorian, an Imitation \* is an update of Wilde’s _The Picture of Dorian Gray_ to modern times. Gesendet von meinem SM-A510F mit Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-novels-ever-remade/784253/25 "2017-04-11T19:16:19Z")
Incidentally, if you compare T.H. White’s original version of the free-standing novel **The Sword in the Stone** with the first “book” of his novel **The Once and Future King** , you’ll see that, while basically the same novel, the one incorporated into the larger novel has been substantially altered, with much of the wit, asides, and entire sections and characters removed. ---
**Author:** ![Yodalicious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yodalicious/32/8195_2.png) [@Yodalicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yodalicious)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-novels-ever-remade/784253/26 "2017-04-11T19:17:41Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > The Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys novels were repeatedly updated, each time to address changes in the surrounding culture, so a version of Nancy Drew and the Secret of the Old Clock from 1930, will be different than the 1959 version. I would consider this a remake more than some of the other examples. Sent from my SPH-L720T using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-novels-ever-remade/784253/27 "2017-04-11T19:23:27Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > I think sf/f as genre is going to dominate this question, because so many novellas were rewritten into books and books revised at later, more fruitful dates. > > Clarke rewrote\* The City and the Stars\* from _Against the Fall of Night_, and IIRC there was at least one other book he rewrote late in his career. > > . See post #7 > [@](#): > > Heinlein significantly rewrote some of the prewar novellas into novels in the 1950s. No he didn’t, unless you’re using different definitions than I am. Which ones? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-novels-ever-remade/784253/28 "2017-04-11T19:52:43Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > There have been many novels retold from the point of view of a different character Add to that list Jean Rhys’s _Wide Sargasso Sea_, which tells the story of _Jane Eyre_’s Mr. Rochester from the viewpoint of his first wife. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-novels-ever-remade/784253/29 "2017-04-11T20:06:46Z")
Also, this happens a lot with scriptural and epic narrative, though I don’t know that that exactly counts as “novels”. Compare the so-called “synoptic Gospels” of the life of Jesus in the New Testament, or the narratives of the prophets in the Bible and the Qur’an, or the different versions of the “lingodbhava” story in the Hindu Puranas, etc. For actual novels, consider the case of the [Elsie Dinsmore books](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Dinsmore), a set of conservative Christian didactic novels for young people originally published in the 19th century and recently abridged and adapted for modern conservative Christian audiences. Then there are parody/porn versions of well-known novels, a few of which are mentioned [here](http://mentalfloss.com/article/27575/10-parody-novels-get-last-laugh). But if what you’re looking for is genuine remakes sincerely attempting to “reboot” a beloved original, you’re probably best off looking at novels several decades old being given a modern dress. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-novels-ever-remade/784253/30 "2017-04-11T20:08:47Z")
Not sure whether this is what you’re looking for, but one of the central stories of Doctorow’s \*Ragtime \*(the tale of Coalhouse Walker and his car and the escalation of hostilities over what seemed a rather small incident) was essentially a rewrite/reworking of German writer Heinrich von Kleist’s 1811 novella _Michael Kohlhaas_. Updated for early twentieth century America rather than longer-ago Europe. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-novels-ever-remade/784253/31 "2017-04-11T20:13:35Z")
Hmm, there are apparently [quite a few of these](http://time.com/4291325/classic-novel-rewrites-austen-bronte/). > [@](#): > > [The 2016 novel _Eligible_] […] transposes the Bennet family to contemporary Cincinnati, where all five grown siblings are home after their father’s heart attack. Liz is a women’s mag writer; Jane is a yogi; Kitty and Lydia are CrossFit junkies with no real jobs and Mary is working on the latest in a string of online degrees. Darcy and Bingley are both doctors, and Bingley is an alum of a _The Bachelor-esque_ TV show, _Eligible_, which figures in the novel’s denouement. […] > > In this _Jane Eyre_ rewrite, the heroine breaks the fourth wall with a different confession: “Reader, I murdered him.” Jane Steele’s life runs in parallel to the other, more famous Jane, but this 19th-century governess is mad as hell and looking for vengeance. As she fights to win back the family home that was promised to her, she leaves a string of corpses in her wake. […] > > The narrator of Emily Brontë’s novel returns, this time to tell her own story. The housekeeper of Wuthering Heights writes to Mr. Lockwood to expand on the details she previously shared with him about Cathy, Heathcliff and the gang. As her own life progresses, she becomes further entangled with the family and faces her own personal letdowns and tragedies. […] > > Jane Austen’s _Emma_ moves to a Midwestern college campus where our protagonist, Harriet, uses a pseudonym to write an advice column in the school paper. But like her namesake, it turns out she could use some advice herself. As Harriet finds herself in the middle of a love tangle (à la Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax in the original), she has to decide whether or not to leverage the power of her column in her own favor. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-novels-ever-remade/784253/32 "2017-04-11T21:34:30Z")
I came to also say _the Magus_, but will add Neil Gaiman’s _American Gods_, which he updated in 2011 for a 10th anniversary with 12,000 additional words. I’ve now read both versions of this, but it was far enough apart that I have no concept about what exactly was changed. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-novels-ever-remade/784253/33 "2017-04-11T21:37:18Z")
William Peter Blatty (The Exorcist) rewrote “Twinkle, Twinkle, Killer Kane” as “The Ninth Configuration”. I liked the first version better. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-novels-ever-remade/784253/34 "2017-04-11T21:57:04Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > See post #7 The biter bit. Missed your post. 🙂 > [@](#): > > No he didn’t, unless you’re using different definitions than I am. Which ones? Um, “If This Goes On–” was considerably rewritten and expanded from the 1940 serial to the 1953 book collection. “Methuselah’s Children” is notably changed between original serial and book collection as well. A considerable number of the prewar stories were significantly rewritten for later book collection as well, although I realize we’re talking about novels here. I’d have to review my notes to list more, but this is hardly obscure information. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-novels-ever-remade/784253/35 "2017-04-11T22:11:41Z")
George MacDonald Fraser’s _Royal Flash_ is essentially _The Prisoner of Zenda_ as Hope ought to have written it. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-novels-ever-remade/784253/36 "2017-04-11T22:15:45Z")
Occasionally authors who get greater fame will re-do earlier works that they didn’t care for the earlier editing on but which, at the time, they didn’t have enough weight to fight. But I can’t come up with an example now But I do know that F. Paul Wilson rereleased “The Tomb” in a “definitive author’s edition”, basically updating reference, say, to Johnny Carson with Jay Leno instead. He also revised and expanded “Nightworld” so that it capped two ongoing series rather than just one. > **[Nightworld (novel)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightworld_(novel))** > > Nightworld is the seventh and final volume in a series of novels known as The Adversary Cycle written by American author F. Paul Wilson. First published in 1992 by New English Library in England (May) and Dark Harvest in US (August). Nightworld completes The Adversary Cycle, which consists of seven books: The Keep, The Tomb, The Touch, Reborn, Reprisal, Signalz, and Nightworld. > Nightworld was heavily revised for its reprinting in 2012 to include the events that happened in the subsequently writt... ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-novels-ever-remade/784253/37 "2017-04-11T22:24:35Z")
**Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot** is a blatant remake of **Bram Stoker’s Dracula** albeit setting it in America and the present day (as of when it was written.) TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-novels-ever-remade/784253/38 "2017-04-11T22:40:52Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > David Gerrold has rewritten several of his books, most notably _When HARLIE Was One_. (I have a great story about that book, me and The David.) I came into this thread to mention that book, so cough up the anecdote! ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-novels-ever-remade/784253/39 "2017-04-11T22:41:46Z")
> [@TCMF-2L](#): > > **Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot** is a blatant remake of **Bram Stoker’s Dracula** albeit setting it in America and the present day (as of when it was written.) Stephen King has two different-ish versions of his own book “The Stand”. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-novels-ever-remade/784253/40 "2017-04-11T22:50:27Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > Stephen King has two different-ish versions of his own book “The Stand”. I think this is a category that doesn’t count - books first published in a drastically edited firm and then in uncut form. Not really “remade.” Ditto for the two versions of _Stranger in a Strange Land._ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-novels-ever-remade/784253.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-novels-ever-remade/784253.md?page=3)