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Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
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Austen makes monster makeover
Source: Agencies |
August 13, 2009, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
IT is a truth universally acknowledged that a Jane Austen novel in possession of added gore will be a surefire hit.
That's the conclusion reached by publishers since the success of "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," an unlikely literary sensation created by adding dollops of "ultraviolent zombie mayhem" to Austen's classic love story.
"Zombies" - billed as 85 percent Austen's original text and 15 percent brand-new blood and guts - has become a best-seller since it was published earlier this year, with 750,000 copies in print. There's a movie in the works. And it has spawned a monster - or, more accurately, a slew of literary monster mash-ups.
Next month, "Zombies" publisher Quirk Books is releasing "Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters," which adds giant lobsters and rampaging octopi to Austen's love story. Out this week from another publisher is "Mr Darcy, Vampyre," a supernatural sequel which portrays the aloof hero of "Pride and Prejudice" as an undead bloodsucker. Later this year comes "Jane Bites Back," in which the author herself develops a taste for blood.
Even Austen purists admit a grudging admiration for the "Zombies" concept.
"In publishing terms, it's brilliant," said Claire Harman, a Columbia University professor and author of "Jane's Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World." "Why did I spend three years writing a critical book on Austen? Why didn't I just think of that?"
Quirk Books editorial director Jason Rekulak said he was inspired by the Internet-unleashed wave of "creative copyright infringement" - musical and video mash-ups that mangle styles and genres for comic or dramatic effect.
He made a list of classic books whose copyrights have lapsed and were ripe for pillage, from "Moby Dick" to "Great Expectations."
"Then I made a list of things that might enhance these novels - robots, ninjas, zombies," he said. "As soon as I drew a line between 'Pride and Prejudice' and zombies, I knew I had a great title."
The irresistible title is key to the success of "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies." The book itself keeps most of Austen's story - girl meets boy, girl hates boy, girl is won over by boy's good looks and large fortune - with added chunks of zombie violence by US writer Seth Grahame-Smith.
"Zombies" and its successors are the latest mutant offshoots of the unstoppable Austen industry.
That's the conclusion reached by publishers since the success of "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," an unlikely literary sensation created by adding dollops of "ultraviolent zombie mayhem" to Austen's classic love story.
"Zombies" - billed as 85 percent Austen's original text and 15 percent brand-new blood and guts - has become a best-seller since it was published earlier this year, with 750,000 copies in print. There's a movie in the works. And it has spawned a monster - or, more accurately, a slew of literary monster mash-ups.
Next month, "Zombies" publisher Quirk Books is releasing "Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters," which adds giant lobsters and rampaging octopi to Austen's love story. Out this week from another publisher is "Mr Darcy, Vampyre," a supernatural sequel which portrays the aloof hero of "Pride and Prejudice" as an undead bloodsucker. Later this year comes "Jane Bites Back," in which the author herself develops a taste for blood.
Even Austen purists admit a grudging admiration for the "Zombies" concept.
"In publishing terms, it's brilliant," said Claire Harman, a Columbia University professor and author of "Jane's Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World." "Why did I spend three years writing a critical book on Austen? Why didn't I just think of that?"
Quirk Books editorial director Jason Rekulak said he was inspired by the Internet-unleashed wave of "creative copyright infringement" - musical and video mash-ups that mangle styles and genres for comic or dramatic effect.
He made a list of classic books whose copyrights have lapsed and were ripe for pillage, from "Moby Dick" to "Great Expectations."
"Then I made a list of things that might enhance these novels - robots, ninjas, zombies," he said. "As soon as I drew a line between 'Pride and Prejudice' and zombies, I knew I had a great title."
The irresistible title is key to the success of "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies." The book itself keeps most of Austen's story - girl meets boy, girl hates boy, girl is won over by boy's good looks and large fortune - with added chunks of zombie violence by US writer Seth Grahame-Smith.
"Zombies" and its successors are the latest mutant offshoots of the unstoppable Austen industry.
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