6/24/2010

15+ Literary Mashups: What happens when you mash together works of classic literature?


Inspired by the latest trend in fiction, mashing together characters and plots from different genres,  I've tried my hand at mashing together works of classic literature.  I would definitely read some of these!
  1. Crime & Prejudice (Crime and Punishment + Pride and Prejudice).  Raskolnikov struggles mightily with guilt over the terrible things he has said about Elizabeth Bennett, but she forgives him after finding out he owns a really big estate in Siberia.
  2. Love in the Time of Oedipus the King (Love in the Time of Cholera + Oedipus the King).  In the end you find out Oedipus dreamed the whole thing.
  3. The Old Man and Moby Dick (The Old Man and the Sea + Moby Dick).  After 84 days of nothing, Santiago catches a really, really big fish.
  4. Gone With The Karazamovs (Gone with the Wind + Brothers Karazamov).  Rhett and Scarlett debate such weighty issues as God, free will, and morality, eventually resolving that in a world without God, everything - to include stealing your sister's beau, seducing your best friend's husband, and dancing with handsome strangers days after the death of your husband - is permitted.
  5. The Grapes of Wuthering Heights (Grapes of Wrath + Wuthering Heights).  Two classic tales of great depression in one.
  6. The Scarlet Letter of Courage. (The Scarlet Letter + The Red Badge of Courage).  Whether the A stands for Adultery or Ashamed, the ending remains just as unsatisfactory.
  7. A Farewell to Lolita (A Farewell to Arms + Lolita).  Suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, Humbert Humbert makes some bad choices and ends up being carted off to jail for statutory rape.
  8. Call of the Mockingbird (Call of the Wild + To Kill A Mockingbird). In which two great literary themes - "you shouldn't kill defenseless things" and "only the strong survive" - finally come together, culminating in an unforgettable final scene in which Boo Radley and his pet wolf lope off into the sunset.
  9. A Connecticut Yankee in 1984 (A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court + 1984).  After a blow to the head, Hank Morgan (industrialist extraordinaire) time-travels to 1984 and finds himself right at home, establishing a power-sharing sharing agreement with Big Brother wherein they agree to use technology to inspire fear and obedience in the superstitious masses.
  10. Hamlet the Obscure (Hamlet + Jude the Obscure).  Poor Hamlet just wants to be left alone to become a scholar, but his scheming family has other plans.  (Ophelia comes to a bad end in this version too.)
  11. The Decline and Fall of Walden (The Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire + Walden Pond).  Walden slips irrevocably into ruin as a result of Thoreau's lethargy towards current affairs brought on by his adoption of Enlightenment as the official state religion.
  12. On the Road with Faust (On the Road + Faust).  It's all fun and games until the devil shows up demanding his due. 
  13. Gulliver's Odyssey (Gulliver's Travels + The Odyssey).  This one's a natural!
  14. Thus Spoke Huckleberry Finn (Thus Spoke Zarathustra + The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn).  In which Mark Twain's eponymous hero shares such gems of Buddhist wisdom as: "What's the use you learning to do right, when it's troublesome to do right and ain't no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same?" 
  15.  Waiting for Gatsby (Waiting for Godot + The Great Gatsby).  Everyone keeps partying but nothing ever actually happens.
  16. Portrait of the Artist as Frankenstein (Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man + Frankenstein).  The novel traces the intellectual and religio-philosophical awakening of young Frankenstein as he begins to question and rebel against the Catholic conventions in which he has been raised. Eventually he leaves for abroad to pursue his calling as an artist.
  17. Tess of Animal Farm (Tess of the D'Urbervilles + Animal Farm).  Pretty much the same plot as Tess of the D'Urbervilles, except all the major characters are represented by animals.  All of the male characters are pigs.
  18. Are You There, God? It's Me, Dracula. (Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret + Dracula).  As if being a teen wasn't hard enough.

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