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Post by Nalkarj on Jun 20, 2017 20:04:45 GMT
A bit of a Gedankenexperiment for everybody...
What if one author wrote another author's book?
I was discussing F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby elsewhere, when someone mentioned what it would be like if, say, Raymond Chandler had written it. So, what do you think? I suppose the general plot and characterizations would have to be relatively unchanged, but what do you think?
You're more than welcome to use any two authors you'd like.
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Post by theravenking on Jun 20, 2017 20:26:52 GMT
That's interesting there was a discussion on some blog, that Gatsby could be rewritten as a mystery with only a few changes to the structure of the plot.
I wonder what it would be like if someone like Donna Tartt had written And Then There Were None. In fact I would be curious to see all kind of different writers take on ATTWN. Would the story still work if there was a stronger focus on character and more introspection? Or would it destroy the tension?
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Post by koskiewicz on Jun 20, 2017 20:27:10 GMT
...It seems apparent that The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester (Hugo award winner) is a retelling of the Count of Monte Cristo...though I could be wrong...
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Post by Nalkarj on Jun 20, 2017 20:31:58 GMT
That's interesting there was a discussion on some blog, that Gatsby could be rewritten as a mystery with only a few changes to the structure of the plot. Yes, indeed; I was the commenter ("Yet Another Mystery Blog") who caused Brad to write that! (I think you "liked" my post there.) Then, a few days later, I see a reference to Chandler's writing Gatsby, and... Well, this!
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Post by Nalkarj on Jun 20, 2017 20:33:45 GMT
...It seems apparent that The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester (Hugo award winner) is a retelling of the Count of Monte Cristo...though I could be wrong... Interesting. Stephen Fry's The Stars' Tennis Balls was also a retelling of Monte Cristo (one of my favorite books, by the way), if I'm not mistaken...
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Post by Nalkarj on Jun 20, 2017 20:40:56 GMT
I wonder what it would be like if someone like Donna Tartt had written And Then There Were None. In fact I would be curious to see all kind of different writers take on ATTWN. Would the story still work if there was a stronger focus on character and more introspection? Or would it destroy the tension? ATTWN is a fine book to use for this kind of thought experiment. In fact, at the former John Dickson Carr forum (now sadly gone, but not forgotten!), the user "PatienceKiller" wrote this hilarious piece: We could start with that and add some more writers to the mix, then go on to some non-mystery works.
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Post by Nalkarj on Jul 1, 2017 3:46:07 GMT
theravenking, koskiewicz , et al. You still interested in doing this? Anyone want to throw around ideas about alternate solutions to ATTN?
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Post by Nalkarj on Jul 1, 2017 3:49:19 GMT
Let me add that modern mystery writer Anthony Horowitz picked up on an alternate solution--a variation on PatienceKiller's "if John Dickson Carr wrote it..." solution, to be exact--for ATTN in his hilarious parody, "I Know What You Did Last Wednesday."
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Post by theravenking on Jul 3, 2017 17:56:57 GMT
Let me add that modern mystery writer Anthony Horowitz picked up on an alternate solution--a variation on PatienceKiller's "if John Dickson Carr wrote it..." solution, to be exact--for ATTN in his hilarious parody, "I Know What You Did Last Wednesday." I read that one recently, it was fun but far too short.
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Post by Nalkarj on Jul 4, 2017 2:25:09 GMT
Let me add that modern mystery writer Anthony Horowitz picked up on an alternate solution--a variation on PatienceKiller's "if John Dickson Carr wrote it..." solution, to be exact--for ATTN in his hilarious parody, "I Know What You Did Last Wednesday." I read that one recently, it was fun but far too short. I think it's a great little story, but "far too short" indeed. It's ridiculous, to be sure--it was a parody--but the plotting is really very clever.
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Post by theravenking on Jul 4, 2017 18:10:21 GMT
The Frankenstein Factory by Edward D. Hoch is another different take on ATTWN, one of the characters is even called Dr. Armstrong like in the Christie novel (although this time he was named after astronaut Neil Armstrong). Hoch's short stories are often a bit too workmanlike for my taste, but I really enjoyed this novel.
And then there is Philip K. Dick's hilarious and strangely heartbreaking A Maze Of Death written as an homage to the Christie novel.
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Post by Nalkarj on Jul 4, 2017 23:00:39 GMT
theravenking Interesting! Thanks for letting me know. I knew Hoch had written two (or three, maybe?) novels, but I've never read either of them--and I had no idea The Frankenstein Factory was based on ATTWN! As for his short stories, have you read some of the Sam Hawthorne tales? They tend to be some of my favorites of Hoch's stories, though I can agree with you that some of them are "workmanlike." I've read a few of Dick's stories, but I hadn't even heard of A Maze of Death. Again, thanks for letting me know!
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Post by bonerxmas on Jul 4, 2017 23:15:59 GMT
well gatsby itself was kind of an attempt to write a henry james novel as if joseph conrad had written it, he modeled the structure on the heart of darkness, where the whole thing is told by a narrator that has an imperfect view of the main character and kind of stands outside commenting on him, chandler would have made the satire more grotesque and the narrator more cynical
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Post by Nalkarj on Jul 5, 2017 19:59:44 GMT
That's interesting there was a discussion on some blog, that Gatsby could be rewritten as a mystery with only a few changes to the structure of the plot. I wonder what it would be like if someone like Donna Tartt had written And Then There Were None. In fact I would be curious to see all kind of different writers take on ATTWN. Would the story still work if there was a stronger focus on character and more introspection? Or would it destroy the tension? theravenking, koskiewicz, bonerxmas, et al. How about for Christie's Cards on the Table as well? As a book with only four suspects, I think it works well for this kind of thought experiment: If JOHN DICKSON CARR wrote CotT, I think the murderer would be... Colonel Race, who somehow managed to murder Shaitana despite being locked out of the murder room.
If ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE wrote CotT, I think the murderer would be... Major Despard, for Doyle often uses bold, brash, impetuous, young, wealthy rascals as villains, and Despard could conceivably fit this type.
If ELLERY QUEEN wrote CotT, I think the murderer would be... Dr. Roberts--of the professional type (doctors, lawyers, etc.) that Queen often makes the murderer. Note that Queen would have had Shaitana utter a dying message, and that the four suspects would fit some hidden pattern of Shaitana's (possibly of which Roberts was unaware--shades of The Last of Sheila, perhaps?). The red-herring suspect would be Mrs. Lorrimer.
If G.K. CHESTERTON wrote CotT, I think the murderer would be... Dr. Roberts again, as he is so much the respectable type, and Father Brown would expose that type's "inner immorality," as Patience Killer put it.
If RAYMOND CHANDLER wrote CotT, I think the murderer would be... Anne Meredith, who told Marlowe she loved him but then double-crosses him. No worries for Marlowe's love life, though: he ends up with Anne's flatmate Rhoda Dawes.
If DOROTHY L. SAYERS wrote CotT, I think the murderer would be... (once again) Dr. Roberts, as he would use some advanced medical method. Furthermore, his identity would be revealed halfway through the book, and the detection for the rest would involve the how.
If NGAIO MARSH wrote CotT, I think the murderer would be... Mrs. Lorrimer, whose guilt would be revealed after an alibi discrepancy (after hours of interviewing by Insp. Alleyn and "Brer Fox").
If GLADYS MITCHELL wrote CotT, I think the murderer would be... Anne Meredith and Mrs. Bradley, or Mrs. Lorrimer and Mrs. Bradley. Either way, the second murder would have been committed by the detective, Mrs. B., herself, as she considers her deed to be the "...logical elimination of unnecessary, and, in fact, dangerous matter."
...and one more... If CHRISTIANNA BRAND wrote CotT, I think the murderer would be... after many, many twists and false solutions (including an ingenious false one blaming Anne and an equally ingenious one blaming Dr. Roberts), Anne Meredith (yes, despite the earlier incorrect false solution). She fits Brand's "type" for murderess, judging from Green for Danger, Death of Jezebel, and Tour de Force. Agree, disagree, etc.?
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