So maybe it’s still sort of rumory, but there are reports coming out that the publisher Harper-Collins plans to release new Narnia books/paraphernalia that will specifically avoid any Christian thought or mention thereof. One supposes they’re hoping to appeal to a broader market and simultaneously make C.S.Lewis spin in his wardrobe.
This isn’t a debate, this is an invitation – what would it be like if they start gutting other authors & their works in order to appeal to a broader audience? Pilgrim’s Magical Journey by John, no, let’s change it to “Paul” Bunyan. Pilgrim takes a fun and easy trip through Happy Fairy-land. Along the way, he meets friends Happiness & Contentment. Finally he arrives well-rested in the land of Ignorance-Is. (To be published by Conde Nast.)
Kids, Don’t Pester the Poor Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Playful Jem & Scout spend a carefree summer in the South, catching fireflies, goin’ swimmin’, and just plain being kids. They also make friends with lovable circus clown Boo Radley. Rumor has it in this sequel that Scout might be about to discover … boys!
Robots Don’t Have I’s by Isaac Asimov. The issues of artificial intelligence are scary to some people. Nobody wants to think about what it means to be intelligent, and whether machines are allowed to do that – of course they aren’t! In this rewritten collection of stories, the robots will be small, cute, trash cans on wheels. Their movements and speaking will be controlled with a radio remote. The publishers think these stories will be better able to focus on the strong human scientist-type role models who build the little things.
er… “repackaging” usually means just that: changing the package not the contents. for example:
Taking “to Kill a Mockingbird” and packaging it ala “The Firm” with a lookalike cover (green marble etc) & a quote that calls it “this century’s most important legal thriller!”
“Little Women” becomes “Five Women - Alone!” Dust jacket to read: “See what happens when five lonely women are caged up in the same house. See the passion, the loneliness, the romance, the men trying to free them!”
“Great Gatsby” becomes “Daisy Does Long Island”. Dust jacket to read: “The party never stops and Daisy is at the center, taking and giving, taking and giving. How long can one woman last?”
“Gone with the Wind” becomes “That Scarlett Woman”. Dust jacket to read: “One woman - five men! Even the Tarlton Twins got a chance at her. Finally pregnancy - Did the Butler do it?”
Plato’s “Republic” becomes “Chained in the Dark”. Dust jacket to read: “Chained in a cave, barely able to distinguish shapes, at the mercy of anyone, who knows what can happen? Who knows what can be seen?”
“The New Testament” becomes “Rabel with a Cause”. Dust jacket to read: “Everyone knew he wasn’t Joseph’s son…And he was around when wine ‘suddenly appeared’…he even had his own gang…The word was he assaulted people in church…Finally, who could forget the time he spent with prostitutes…What chance did he have?”
Yeah, I think I screwed up the subject there – couldn’t think of one and filled one in just to preview, then forgot to change it … but this is pretty funny, too. I really liked the New Testament one.
According to one author who was asked to contribute a Narnia book, the estate made no such request of her and was quite consciously trying to avoid anything that would trash Lewis’s philosophy. That was a couple of years ago, but her assessment was that the news reports got things wrong.
What the report looks like, is a combination of both points of view: The creation of a derivative “Narnia Lite” series (similar to how they still publish James Bond books), where the Cristianity would be de-emphasized, AND a hope that giving it an image of a plain old fantasy would entice readers to buy more of the real thing.
Even if nothing comes of it, I’m sure someone will go to his grave thinking it was a good idea…
So both you and TVtime did very well – I liked “Daisy Does Long Island”
I have to say that when I read the Narnia books as a kid, I had no idea they were Christian allegory (I was about 10 or so), I just thought they were cool fantasy books. I was And when I’ve seen them in stores, it’s always in the children’s section, not the religious section, so I’m not sure how radical the repackaging would have to be.
Wasn’t there something like this at the beginning of The Seven Year Itch? I remember the main character indicating how the girls on the dust jacket should be showing more cleavage.
“Of Mice and Men” becomes “Big Brutish Men and Women’s Soft Hair”. Dust jacket to read: “Will Lennie’s passion for soft things lead to a woman’s undoing? What will George do?”
