# S. Morgenstern: Famous Florin Author or Anoying Literary Device? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 16, 2001, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/s-morgenstern-famous-florin-author-or-anoying-literary-device/72674 "2001-07-16T14:06:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/s-morgenstern-famous-florin-author-or-anoying-literary-device/72674/41 "2003-07-24T16:30:24Z")
Morgenstern’s literary friendship extends to several notable journalists, including Lois Lane (she and the old boy had a torrid affair), Ben Urich (he was a Morgenstern fanatic when he was 10), and that unfortunate Hitler-mustached muckracker who owns New York’s Daily Bugle. Oh, and let’s not forget all the unoptioned screen adaptations by Corwainer Bird. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/s-morgenstern-famous-florin-author-or-anoying-literary-device/72674/42 "2003-07-24T17:11:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Arien \* > So there’s no chance of Buttercup’s Baby coming out, is there? I didn’t think so. ☹ Sorry, nope, she’s perpetually pregnant. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/s-morgenstern-famous-florin-author-or-anoying-literary-device/72674/43 "2003-07-24T18:01:17Z")
So some people read the book and came away thinking S. Morgenstern was a real person, and Florin and Guilder were real countries? Yeesh! Still, I shouldn’t be surprised, knowing that there were people who came out of seeing _The Blair Witch Project_ and thought it was true. At first I was annoyed at the conceit of Goldman inventing a fictitious writer, producing a novel “written” by the fictitious writer, and then praising the novel as a work of genius. But eventually I had to admire his _chutzpah_. Even in his bad books (_Brothers_, for instance) Goldman has some great set-piece scenes, and always creates memorable characters. Do you think he deliberately made the two young lovers in _The Princess Bride_ less interesting than the other characters in the book? ---
**Author:** ![kneekettle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5e925/32.png) [@kneekettle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kneekettle)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/s-morgenstern-famous-florin-author-or-anoying-literary-device/72674/44 "2003-07-24T18:28:49Z")
I don’t have much to add here except that a very good friend of mine runs the best Princess Bride website on the web (IMO) and I suggest y’all check if out if you haven’t already. Here’s the link: [www.smorgenstern.com](http://www.smorgenstern.com) ---
**Author:** ![curwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@curwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curwin)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2003, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/s-morgenstern-famous-florin-author-or-anoying-literary-device/72674/45 "2003-07-25T10:39:15Z")
A few years ago, I wanted to buy my wife the Princess Bride book through Amazon for her birthday. I accidentaly ordered the screenplay. I later also bought her the book, but the screenplay is nice to have, and it comes with an introductory essay by Goldman. He explains in it why he used the Morgenstern device: He had a lot of good ideas for the plot, but was having trouble putting them together in a story. > [@](#): > > Then i got the diea that the whole thing was an abridgement of another longer book. That made The Princess Bride possible. My book would be an abridgement of an earlier book, written by S. Morgenstern. And Morgenstern’s book would be one my father had read to him by his father when he was sick (in the movie it’s the grandfather reading it to me), and my father only read me the good parts because he didn’t want to bore me. > > Which meant I could jump wherever I wanted. I was free. So I did the opening chapter which explains how I got sick and my father started reading to me to pass the time — > > – and then I started to fly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/s-morgenstern-famous-florin-author-or-anoying-literary-device/72674.md?page=2)