Making New Wine from Old Vintages: Creating New Works from Pre-existing Literature

[AuntShecky]

Making New Wine from Old Vintages: Creating New Works from Pre-existing Literature


A couple of recent threads on the Short Story Forum has got me thinking about a sub-genre of fiction and poetry which is often associated with, but not limited to, post-modernism. I'm thinking about works which owe their inspiration to already existing well-known works of literature.

The Bible, of course, is the Number One source for creative works. For centuries biblical characters and events have been subjects for the world's works of art. There have been innumerable works of literature with Biblical themes as well, far too many to list here. Literature abounds with works whose impetus came from Scripture: Dante, Chaucer, Milton, the metaphysical poets. Among modern writers GBS, Steinbeck, O'Neill, and Faulkner are merely a handful who immediately come to mind. Even Mark Twain came up with his own irreverent treatment of the Adam and Eve story.

Shakespeare's plays and characters seem an inexhaustible supply of source material. Dryden wrote his own version of Anthony and Cleopatra. Along with plays and films of Shakespeare's actual works,the past and present centuries saw many original "takes" on his characters. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1968) is a brilliantly conceived absurdist drama by Tom Stoppardabout two minor characters in Hamlet. There are several "mainstream" Broadway musicals based on Shakespearean works: Cole Porter's Kiss Me Kate , as well as the beloved West Side Story(Laurents/Bernstein/Sondheim) are the two best-known.

There are hundreds of famous poems inspired by as little as one Shakespearean line by poets ranging from Robert Frost to Anne Sexton, and "Peter Quince at the Clavier," based on a character from A Midsummer Night's Dream -- said to represent Shakespeare himself -- is one of the more "accessible" poems by Wallace Stevens.

Beyond the Bible and Shakespeare, there are other writers and well-known works which form the basis for new material, but the number diminishes when the original writer is less well-known. Greek mythology provides a wealth of material, with the most famous of course James Joyce's Ulysses The most recent work which acknowledges inspiration from a previous writer is the award-winning and delightful film The Grand Budapest Hotel which echoes ideas and themes from the previously obscure, recently re-discovered writer Stephan Zweig.

The excellence of a new "reimagined" work is directly proportionate to its ability to stand on its own, yet at the same time, an overall understanding of the original work that inspired it -- not mere "appreciation"-- contributes to the quality. Significantly, there usually is some chronological distance between the original and the new work. For these reasons, this creative process sharply differs from "fan fiction."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_fiction

://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fanfiction

With all this prefatory material in mind ^^^, I have a question for my fellow NitLetters:

Name an existing character about whom you would like to create a new work about.

[stlukesguild]

I have no interest in writing stories... but I have made paintings, drawings, and prints employing characters ranging from Ophelia, Eve, Mary Magdalene, Christ, Salome, Venus, and Flora and Fauna, on through Cinderella, Alice (from Wonderland), Snow White, Wonderwoman, Hermann Munster, and Catwoman.

[AuntShecky]

I have no interest in writing stories... but I have made paintings, drawings, and prints employing characters ranging from Ophelia, Eve, Mary Magdalene, Christ, Salome, Venus, and Flora and Fauna, on through Cinderella, Alice (from Wonderland), Snow White, Wonderwoman, Hermann Munster, and Catwoman.

Yes, and that's a highly eclectic array of topics from the classics to pop culture.

And if I'm not mistaken, you're the NitLet's musicphile, so you're undoubtedly more knowledgeable than I about the many operas based on Biblical and Shakespearean themes, for instance Salome by Richard Strauss and Verdi's Otello along with Mendelssohn"s A Midsummer Night's Dream. Tchaikovsky (please forgive the spelling) composed an orchestral version of Romeo and Juliet.

I don't know of any operas about Herman Munster, but on one of the ice skating championship shows I saw a couple do a routine to an orchestral suite of the theme of "The Addams Family" TV show. So I wouldn't be surprised if there is a Herman Munster opera out there. There is an opera about Jerry Springer, you never know!

Thanks for responding to my thread.

Auntie

[stlukesguild]

Hopefully this doesn't come out too bad as I've had far too much tequila tonight... but your post called to mind some of the ideas I've been mulling over recently. T.S. Eliot's Wasteland has long been a favorite work of mine. In many ways it was an elegy to what Eliot saw as the collapse of the collective or shared narratives of Western civilization. Greco-Roman and Christian narratives had become "a heap of broken images." I agree with Eliot... to an extent. What Eliot may or may not have recognized... and likely would have rejected... was the fact that with the great cultural upheavals that resulted in the shattering of long-held collective narratives, new narratives arose. With the developments in technology, individuals who in the past were not afforded the ability to preserve and/or disseminate were now able to do so. The poor, Black jazz musician who could not read and write music could now record his musical performances and share these via recordings and the radio. Film, radio, television, magazines, comics books... Popular Culture... began to establish a new body of collective or shared narratives. Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Superman, Batman, Wonderwoman, the Munsters, etc... may seem crude and vulgar in comparison with the narratives of "High" culture... but one suspects that the Christian narratives must have appeared equally crude when they first began to replace the Greco-Roman narratives. Weren't the first novels panned as vulgar low-class literature best left to women? I exhibited a painting entitled Tyger, Tyger... that portrayed two women in Catwoman masks. Everyone "got" the Catwoman reference... but almost no one "got" the allusion to William Blake's most famous poem. I had several viewers assume that I had simple spelled "Tiger" wrong.

[AuntShecky]

Hopefully this doesn't come out too bad as I've had far too much tequila tonight... but your post called to mind some of the ideas I've been mulling over recently. T.S. Eliot's Wasteland has long been a favorite work of mine. In many ways it was an elegy to what Eliot saw as the collapse of the collective or shared narratives of Western civilization. Greco-Roman and Christian narratives had become "a heap of broken images." I agree with Eliot... to an extent. What Eliot may or may not have recognized... and likely would have rejected... was the fact that with the great cultural upheavals that resulted in the shattering of long-held collective narratives, new narratives arose. With the developments in technology, individuals who in the past were not afforded the ability to preserve and/or disseminate were now able to do so. The poor, Black jazz musician who could not read and write music could now record his musical performances and share these via recordings and the radio. Film, radio, television, magazines, comics books... Popular Culture... began to establish a new body of collective or shared narratives. Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Superman, Batman, Wonderwoman, the Munsters, etc... may seem crude and vulgar in comparison with the narratives of "High" culture... but one suspects that the Christian narratives must have appeared equally crude when they first began to replace the Greco-Roman narratives. Weren't the first novels panned as vulgar low-class literature best left to women? I exhibited a painting entitled Tyger, Tyger... that portrayed two women in Catwoman masks. Everyone "got" the Catwoman reference... but almost no one "got" the allusion to William Blake's most famous poem. I had several viewers assume that I had simple spelled "Tiger" wrong.

Yes, we have the references to collapsed civilization in "The Waste Land", but in his literary criticism Eliot was very much the conservative. In "Tradition and the Individual Talent," he stressed the fact that it was necessary for young poets to be well-versed in the entire canon of literature of the past, in order that the works the beginning poet created would in fact be "new."

Yet I somewhat agree wtih you that references to pop culture can provide an impetus to art. Look at Andy Warhol. What an influence! Anything out there can be grist for the mill, if you'll pardon the cliche. References to other works of art -- no matter how high-brow or low-brow: that's a element of "post-modernism" which I'm all for.

Dwight Macdonald deplored "mass" culture -- the commercial schlock manufactured -- and that's the word-- by Hollywood and cynical corporate types with dollar signs in their eyes.That's why I'm a little wary of the franchised superheroes. But what DM thought was even worse than mass cult was "mid-cult" plays, movies, and books-- the self-important stuff putting on airs-- like Our Town, and Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea: really earnest, deadly "serious" "cultural events" touted as being "good for you." When I see drivel like the musical version of Les Miserables, or The Phantom of the Opera, or even faux-"intellectual " novels as cranked out by Dan Brown-- stuff designed to make folks believe that they're "smart"-- I can imagine old Dwight rolling in his casket.

It's really late here, St. L's G. Talk to you soon.

Auntie

[stlukesguild]

Yes, we have the references to collapsed civilization in "The Waste Land", but in his literary criticism Eliot was very much the conservative. In "Tradition and the Individual Talent," he stressed the fact that it was necessary for young poets to be well-versed in the entire canon of literature of the past, in order that the works the beginning poet created would in fact be "new."

To a great extent, I agree with Eliot... but I am more in agreement with Picasso who suggested (to paraphrase) that the strongest art is created in the same manner in which the Renaissance aristocrats produced their heirs: through a merger of the "High" and the "Low". Art wholly limited to the "High" frequently ossifies... becomes academic and lacking in any relevance to the larger audience. The "low" on the other hand, often panders to the lowest common denominator (and the almighty dollar) and wallows in vulgarity.

Yet I somewhat agree wtih you that references to pop culture can provide an impetus to art. Look at Andy Warhol. What an influence! Anything out there can be grist for the mill, if you'll pardon the cliche. References to other works of art -- no matter how high-brow or low-brow: that's a element of "post-modernism" which I'm all for.

But this merger of high-art and popular culture existed long before Post-Modernism.

Think of Degas. He had a profound love of the old masters and made extensive studies of Raphael, Veronese and other Renaissance painters, Greek and Roman sculpture, and the work of Ingres. His youthful goal was establish himself as the next great history painter... but with time he felt the need to draw inspiration from the world around him. He became known for his paintings of contemporary Parisian scenes...

the cabaret:



women shopping in the Parisian shops:



ballerinas:



and women bathing:



Degas stated that these scenes of modern life captured the same elements that he admired in the works of the masters. His paintings of ballerinas and horse races were about the movement of the human and animals... no different than:





The bathers were not far removed from the classical a Renaissance nude goddesses (Venus, etc...) and he would often "quote" a pose from well-known paintings or sculpture in his intimate scenes of contemporary women bathing.

As we move into the 20th century, we find any number of artists building upon imagery of popular culture... while not ignoring the tradition of "High Art".



Max Beckmann is a fascinating figure. I find his triptychs remind me of the surrealistic blurring "high" and "low" and past and present which you find in many of Bob Dylan's songs from Highway 61:



One of the most interesting of the newer artists is Ron English who is generally categorized among the so-called Pop Surrealists of "Lowbrow" Artists. His take on Picasso's masterpiece, Guernica... run through Toy Story... is particularly fascinating:



Dwight Macdonald deplored "mass" culture -- the commercial schlock manufactured -- and that's the word-- by Hollywood and cynical corporate types with dollar signs in their eyes.

But isn't that was the theater in the time of Shakespeare... or the earliest novels (Cervantes, Richardson, Fielding, DeFoe, Pierre Choderlos de Laclos) were also accused of being? Entertainment for the lower, populist audience?

That's why I'm a little wary of the franchised superheroes.

And is there anything wrong with such "literature" as light entertainment? But certainly this doesn't undermine the possibility that these characters and narratives might be turned into real masterpieces in the right hands. Following the collapse of the Roman Empire, the early Christian literature and art was often quite primitive... crude. But with time artists absorbed elements of Greek and Roman art resulting in some of the most spectacular art of the West.

But what DM thought was even worse than mass cult was "mid-cult" plays, movies, and books-- the self-important stuff putting on airs-- like Our Town, and Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea: really earnest, deadly "serious" "cultural events" touted as being "good for you." When I see drivel like the musical version of Les Miserables, or The Phantom of the Opera, or even faux-"intellectual " novels as cranked out by Dan Brown-- stuff designed to make folks believe that they're "smart"-- I can imagine old Dwight rolling in his casket.

Again, it all boils down to the individual artist and how he or she undertakes such. Verdi was able to compose masterful operas based upon Shakespeare's plays (MacBeth, Falstaff, Otello) while Puccini took crappy popular novels (Madama Butterfly) as source material for some of his most exquisite work.