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Oct132010
All Hallows Eve – Guest Author: Are Mashups Dead – or Undead? by Wayne Josephson, author of "Emma and the Vampires" (+ Giveaway!)
by Carolyn • Posted in Uncategorized
Wayne Josephson is the author of Emma and the Vampires, released last August and is a retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma.
You have the chance to win a copy of this book at the end of Wayne’s post, so don’t forget to enter!
Are Mashups Dead–or Undead?
by
Wayne Josephson
Do mashups serve any real purpose other than to annoy the literary purists? My mashup does. Emma and the Vampires makes Jane Austen’s classic readable for young adults–and maybe for grown-up readers as well.
Up until now, mashups have merely injected zombies, werewolves, and vampires into the original prose of the classics. But read the comments on Amazon: “I loved the zombie part, but I couldn’t understand the Pride and Prejudice part.”
The fact is, most people can’t comprehend the classics without an MA in Literature. That is regrettable. There is a reason these books have been continuously published for two hundred years–they have something important to say.
The original Emma is an absolute delight, with a valuable life lesson about treating people kindly. But all this is obscured in five hundred pages of murky frustration for the modern reader.
So I rewrote Emma to make it more readable.
I gently edited the original text, word by word, sentence by sentence, and page by page. I replaced arcane words with more updated ones–approbation became approval. I streamlined the prose and rearranged passages to flow more smoothly, removing the stumbling blocks that cause a reader to stop dead in her tracks and slam the book shut in frustration.
But I retained Jane Austen’s original voice. So my Emma feels like Austen’s book–because it still is Austen’s book. I just made it more readable.
Then I turned the gentlemen of Highbury into vampires, at the suggestion of my teenage daughter, an avid fan of the Twilight series. The result is a mashup that, quite literally, invites young adults to enjoy the classics and, more importantly, not to fear them.
In high school, I feared the classics. I glazed over the pages of Moby Dick and The Scarlet Letter, read the Cliff Notes instead, and got C’s on the exams.
Recently, my high school son was assigned The Scarlet Letter. But he got an A. Why? Because I rewrote it for him. Chapter by chapter, he read my version, then the original.
I asked him how he liked it. “Pretty sick,” he replied. That means cool among today’s teenagers—another arcane word that has been replaced.
I was on a roll. I had a bone to pick with my past. So I rewrote Moby Dick—all eight hundred pages. With the brooding obsession of Captain Ahab, I conquered my nemesis, the White Whale.
Then I rewrote Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice. And now I’m halfway through The Odyssey.
Am I insane? No, because my life and world view have been broadened immeasurably. And now I can feel comfortable peppering my conversation with phrases like “to my great horror and mortification” and I can think of sunrise as “rosy-fingered Dawn, the child of morning.”
My books have been published as Readable Classics. The reviews on Amazon are glowing–even the literary purists like them. And students can use them as study aids to help them understand the originals.
So, back to my original question. Are mashups dead? No, not if they open the door to the fabulous world of literature that is just waiting to be discovered.
What is the next big trend? Perhaps the mashup of a classic with another classic. And to get the ball rolling, I have just completed Pride, Prejudice and Moby Dick. Just picture Mr. Darcy sharing a hammock and a tomahawk pipe with the savage cannibal Queequeg. Isn’t that enticing enough to make you want to read the originals?
You can read more about Wayne and his books here:
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GIVEAWAY!
I have ONE copy of “Emma and the Vampires” to give away courtesy of Sourcebooks.
All you have to do to enter is the following:
1. Read BCC’s Giveaway Policy
2. Fill out this form
3. Leave a comment for the author
4. One entry per person please
This giveaway is INTERNATIONAL and ends 31st Oct!
GOOD LUCK!
40 Comments
Emma is my favorite Austen novel. I'll definitely have to add this to my TBR pile
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This definitely sounds fascinating. I am curious about the book now.
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Another parody! Lol. It may get a bit old, but the stories still entertain me!
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Can't wait to read another version of Jane Austen classics.
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Well, I have a thing for classics – and I specially love Jane Austen. I've always liked mashups. My friends have tried to read Pride & Prejudice, and never got through it, tagging it as 'boring'. I wonder if this kind of book will appeal to them? Hm.
I am curious about this book and is definitely a must-read for me!
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I think it depends. However, staying true to the "voice" of the author is one way to make me want to read it. I am very interested in this version.
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Hi I have never read any of Austens novels but this sounds like a good book.
-Brandy
brandyzbooks@yahoo.com
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What a really interesting post, thank you for sharing.
Although I may have to disagree with you a little.
I’ve only ever read one mash-up. But the one I did read was well and carefully rewritten, which is obviously an art-form in itself, so I take my hat off to you.
I also love the fact that it’s got your son thinking that The Scarlet Letter is sick lol.
But, I really don’t think you have to have an MA to read the classics, I began reading them when I was fourteen because I wanted to not because it was forced on me. I think perhaps I’m too much of a purist, but there are ways of making the classics approachable without adding in zombies and vampires.
Surely to a certain extent classics should also be about stretching and broadening your reading horizons?
Not that I don’t think there is a place in the market for mash-ups or they shouldn’t be written, what I love about books is that there are so many different genres for lots of different tastes. If people love to read mash ups then great!
I’m not sure what to make of a classic / classic mash up! I guess I’ll just have to wait and see!
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I've never read a mash up so it should be interesting to read one.
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I can hardly wait.
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Emma is my favorite Austen novel
I think I will kike this mashup!
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Sounds like an interesting read
Rach
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I have read a few of the Jane Austen mash-ups and found them a fun read.
Great literature they are not but I quite enjoyed them.
Carol T
buddytho {at} gmail DOT com
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I love Emma and I'm really curious to know how you changed it.
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HI Wayne, thanks for the interesting post!
I ahve to say, I'm a big JA fan and so far I haven't read any mash ups, but since I LOVE Emma, I'm really curious how you rewrote it and how is the story with some vampires woven in
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+JMJ+
I like these creative approaches to the classics. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies wasn't too great, in my opinion, but it was the pioneer and was going mainly for novelty. I think Emma Woodhouse and vampires make a more sensible combination. I'd like to read this one. =)
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Well actually revising the original text to make it more modern sounds better than just throwing in some zombies/vampires/etc… I would be interested to try this one out and see how it is.
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sounds really interesting..I loved Emma so I just have to add it to my TBR pile!!!
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I love Emma and I'm very curious to read this book. Thank you for posting!
Giada M.
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I love that you made it more readable, but still with the odd words it remains one of my favourite book!
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This book certainly sounds like a twist…looking forward to reading this
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A mash-up sounds interesting to me.
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Can't wait to read this – Emma is my favourite book so I can't wait to see what you have done with it
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I think mashups are a really cool idea.
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I'm so excited to find out about Readable Classics. I'm one of those that gets so frustrated with the language & all the wandering descriptions. The only one I was ever able to get through was Jane Eyre. Maybe now I can finally read the rest. :0) I'm off to Amazon….
Thanks!
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Now I want to read it! Sounds interesting! I'm all about mashups if they're done well
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Thanks for the comp!
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Interesting concept, be interesting to see what Wayne makes of Emma – is it available on Kindle?
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I've never read a mashup before but I never really thought of them this way.I love classics but yes, they are hard to read. Believe me! English is my second language.
So in my opinion making classics more readable is a great idea. I think it will help get people reading and more importantly, they will enjoy it!
Oh and I'd love to read your version of the Odessey because, as much as I appreciated the literary value of the book, I hated it! It was long and repetitive and exhausting to read!
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Thank you for your very interesting post.
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I just love this cover. Way cool.
lizzi0915 at aol dot com
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I love this type of parody writing of the classics! It's absolutely hilarious!
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Thanks so much for a brilliant giveaway!!
I love mashups! Great post
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i've been loving the mash-ups! anything to expose people to the classics!
k_sunshine1977 at yahoo dot com
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The idea of these are so interesting!! Thanks for the contest
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It sounds really interesting i want to read
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I read Pride, Predjudice & Zombies, this is next on my list
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I like these paradies of classics, interesting takes on the story
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I do think opening up the classics to a wider public is a good thing, although I do not agree with the idea of "readable classics" since I believe classics are quite readable in themselves.
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I'm loving vamping up the classics!
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