What do Winnie The Pooh, Arthur Dent, James Bond and Dracula have in common? They've all recently been reprised by other authors and Alison Flood in The Guardian takes a look at the trend of appropriating other authors' characters for sequels. she says :
Such continuations of the work of popular authors, who have inconveniently interrupted their output by dying, are big business for the literary world these days. Authors are being roped in left, right and centre to continue or complete legacies.I've blogged about Eoin Colfer writing a further installment of The Hichhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Sebastian Faulks continuing the James Bond legacy with in Devil May Care.
Dracula is revived from the dead by Dacre Stoker who just happens to be the great grand-nephew of Bram. Dracula: The Un-Dead is published later this month.
There's David Benedictus' Winnie The Pooh revival Return to the Hundred Acre Wood which is released next month.
And then of course there's Tilly Bagshawe Mistress of The Game follow-up to Sidney Sheldon's Master of the Game.Not surprisingly all those picking up the baton from great writers now deceased admit to a sense of trepidation : reputations are on the line, and no-one wants to follow the original novels with a dud.
Which characters created by a deceased author would you like to see revived in print ... and which modern day author would you choose to do the job?
Postscript :
I twittered the question and got some great replies :
- jerng - "Frankenstein 2100 by Chuck Pahlaniuk, Wuthuring Heights 2100 by Irvine Welsh".
- Umapagan - "Gatsby. By Michael Chabon."
- yrakab - "Ulysses. By me. But very short one." (Suspect this one a bit tongue in cheek lah)
