So it starts with this:
And then I get this:
So I send this:
As I think about the many conversations happening around YA literature, youth literacy, and reading efforts in our schools, it’s more and more obvious that the people that matter most in these discussions are not being included. I couldn’t be more thrilled to get someone as knowledgeable in the Twilight series to add such an astute addition to the current discourse. If you’re wondering, Sam’s a natural writer and voracious reader. Already with a few completed drafts of novels under her belt, she will be helping me co-teach a unit to her fellow seniors in a week in conjunction with National Novel Writing Month (NANOWRIMO).
I know my email said this would be a conversation, but I’ve written enough and want to yield the proverbial mic to Ms. Diego for the duration of this post (your comments are encouraged to further this discussion with a true expert).
Defaced of Embraced?
Everyone has had to read them. Many have been asked to analyze the writing. Some of us even read them for the sole purpose of a good book. But, have our classic novels become a victim of this Twilight epidemic?
Sure, many girls are going crazy for this newly famous Edward Cullen character. Yet, you have to wonder what Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth Benett, Cathy, Heathcliff, even Romeo & Juliet have to do with Twilight. Although these classic stories have been mentioned in the series, it leads me to believe that what was once a nice reference has become an act of violation.
Recently, our classic novels have been reprinted with different book covers; those which resemble that of the Twilight series. While they may look new and shiny, the same story remains. However, I can’t help but realize that that feel of the authenticity of the book has been defaced. And yes, Pride and Prejudice may not have had the best cover to begin with, but the story itself was so different than anything read before. Which is what made it that much lovelier.
Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight Saga, was inspired by five different books throughout her skyrocketing writing career. Classics such as Romeo & Juliet, Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, The Merchant of Venice and even A Midsummers Night’s Dream. These are all wonderful classics that, let’s face it, have inspired many other writers, but to take that inspiration to a new level is to be questioned.
By now it is obvious that Meyer is a big fan of our wonderful classics. We welcome her to our club with open arms. Does that mean that what she does afterwards will affect us? Of course.
Everyone is different, everyone likes things and appreciates them differently. Meyer’s reprinting process is an act of embracing those wonderful novels that once inspired her. To others, like myself, it has become an act of defacing such wonderful novels that will remain fresh and great for years to come. I do not wish them to become sellouts.
There’s just one more question: Do we want our spectacular novels to be known as the books that inspired Stephenie Meyer? Or do we want them to be known for the writer’s who did anything and everything to put a good book in our bookshelves?
Think about that next time you hit your local Barnes and Noble and see Pride and Prejudice with a flowery cover.
Seriously, when is Sam going to set up her own blog? Awesome! I’d love to see her explore this further.
-daye.
Another vote from me for another thought-provoking blog. There are too many gossip/TMZ esque blogs out in the world. We need to take the internet back!
My two cents on this topic. I feel there are two topics.
1- Good “Art” (lit included) is a connection to Universal Truth. I HAVE read Wuthering Heights along with students, and before the Twilight frenzy even. We noticed together the effects passion have on people, the way people do “stupid” things for love, even the universal theme that people should not always get what they think they need to have. And guess what, we read it in El Lay in the 21st century!
2- Just because something is popular, makes money, is appreciated by millions of people instead of just a few hundred “arbiters of taste” doesn’t make a book, music, film, fashion, etc., a sell-out. It would be nice if everyone could support themselves by remaining unnoticed by the masses, and some people can, yet not everyone is happy riding their bike around town, staying at a Motel 6, or eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches three or four times a month.
So, if a new cover, remix, digital re-master, Dolby 5.0 Blu-ray version opens humanity to our oneness I say it is generally a good thing. Out.
i am going to weigh in with another example of what Ms. Diego may be talking about:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/078513915X/ref=dp_image_z_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books
as a teacher i clicked on this link to explore the possibility of using this in an english class, sharing with colleagues and such… but when i looked at the cover i soon remembered this post and i had to look at a little more critically…
the fact that i already don’t like the aesthetic of teen magazines had me skeptical from the start yet the ideas that Ms. Diego expressed here aided me to question a little deeper. i have questions about the intended demographic this “modernized” or “POPularized” version of P&P is aimed at? graphic novel adaptations usually catch my educator eye, but then i have to seriously examine the reasons why that is… have i lowered my expectations of students’ ability to enjoy certain “classical” or pivotal literary works? or do i think that the art form of the graphic novel adds another dimension to an already wonderful story?
either way it is becoming a little more clear that these examples and more possess qualities of both embracing AND defacing… publishing houses and marketing firms are embracing this new movement, while certain aspects of the original intent of these wonderful stories are being defaced in the process…
thanks Ms. D!!!
i apologize that my link was not effective in the last comment… here it is again:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/078513915X/ref=dp_image_z_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books
This was a great article – I was so excited to read about this subject and someone who had the same stance on it as I do.
I completely agree with you!
– Josephine
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