Literary novelizations?

[valancy_s]

You're all well-read people. Can you think of any examples of what one might call "literary novelization"? I've been reading a lot of adaptation theory and it's often mentioned that novelization - the writing of a book based on a film - gets little scholarly attention. Since intellectual types tend to say "the book is better," this is interesting,

Comments

[litlover12]

Monica Dickens (great-granddaughter of Charles) did a novelization of "My Fair Lady." Monica was a talented and popular novelist in her own right -- though of course she wasn't quite on the same level as her illustrious ancestor! -- and her novel, despite the occasional flaw, read like a good, fleshed-out novel, not a novelization at all.

Here's a little review I did of it.

http://dickensblog.typepad.com/dickensblog/2011/01/from-the-book-pile-great-granddaughter-edition-part-two.html

I tend to agree with what you say about "Parts" and "Never Let Me Go" -- other than the basic, much-used premise, they have exceedingly little in common. (I can't quite picture "Mystery Science Theater 3000" taking on "Never Let Me Go," for one thing. :-) )

[valancy_s]

Thanks, that's really interesting! I'd like to read that, if I'm ever able to read for fun again.

Your point about MST3K is funny but also sort of my point... if Hollywood can make an atrocious movie out of a great book (as they have often), shouldn't someone theoretically be able to make a great book out of an atrocious movie? Especially in a case like this, where the execution and not the concept's at fault?

[breathingbooks]

If done well, isn't that just legally sanctioned fanfic?

[valancy_s]

Hmm, interesting question. I wasn't thinking of it that way because usually the motive of fanfic is to continue, spin off, or otherwise go beyond the "original" story. An adaptation, in my mind, is more of an attempt to do the same story through the medium of a different form. I mean, we don't generally consider film adaptations as "sanctioned fanvids"...

[breathingbooks]

I think fanfic often changes or goes beyond the plot of the original, but there is some fanfic that mostly just does a different pov or a different focus on the same plot - and since few movies have narrators that let you know what a character is thinking and a book does that all the time, a certain type of fanfic to me can be considered an adaptation.