March Books 2) The Princess Bride, by William Goldman

[nwhyte]

Well, this is very entertaining! While The Princess Bride is at its core a rollicking fairy tale that does nothing at all to challenge racial or sexual stereotypes, what saves it is the witty and occasionally self-mocking tone of the text, the framing narrative of an author reclaiming a story he loved in childhood for his grandson, and also the sub

Comments

[emmzzi]

is indeed a most awesome read

[beamjockey]

The film, adapted by a crack screenwriter, namely William Goldman himself, heaves overboard some wonderful business from the book, as you note.

Most useful is the delicious concept of "The Good Parts Version," which has been wrested from the sometimes-turgid prose and excitement-free digressions of S. Morgenstern-- first by the narrator's father, then again by the narrator himself.

(This was before the Internet, but after Europe.)

[nmg]

The 25th anniversary edition takes the joke further, with reminiscences of the difficulties of filming at the Cliffs of Insanity, and the less than complementary reaction to the film by many Florinian intellectuals (who were upset at the wholesale jettisoning of some of Morganstern's more adroit satire).