See the Classics in a Whole New Light with These Literary Mashups
If you’re a book nerd, you know there’s nothing like revisiting classic novels to gain new perspective. While we’re certainly fans of rereading, sometimes the same old stories can get a little tired over time. So we thought we’d introduce a new twist on some of our favorite books, in the form of classic-lit mashups. Here’s hoping someone will be inspired enough to write them for us:
A Tale of Two Little Women
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times for the two most combative March sisters, who are heading out on an ill-advised holiday to London and Paris. This spinoff novel follows Amy and Jo March to the Continent, where, absent the tempering influence of their spouses, they struggle with sibling rivalries they nearly forgot they’d had. Will Jo rescue Amy from the ice a second time around, or leave her to fend for herself?
The Giving Tree Grows in Brooklyn
There once was a tree who loved a little boy, but then the boy grew up to become a hipster, residing in a factory-turned-loft in Williamsburg and spending his days manning the counter of a fair trade coffee bar while simultaneously working on his first, second, and third novels. Evening poetry slams, secondhand clothing shopping, and night-long political debates keep the boy so close yet so far from his humble roots, where his formerly beloved tree longingly awaits his company.
One Flew Over the Cat in the Hat
With the help of an anthropomorphic cat, a mental patient helps stage a revolt against the tyrannical nurse who runs the institution in which he resides. Together with his comrades, Patient One and Patient Two, he manages to turn the otherwise rigid, tightly run hospital into a place where perpetual silliness reigns.
Dr. Jekyll and Huckleberry Finn
A distinguished London physician helps an uncivilized teen journey down the Mississippi River to escape his troubled father. The two form a bond as they explore a life of freedom, uninhibited by the social constraints by which the good doctor was formerly bound. When he returns to London, Dr. Jekyll realizes his secret passion for going rogue and soon becomes a noted outlaw. He is eventually captured and sentenced to a life in the Deep South, where he must live out his days whitewashing fences for the locals.
Eat, Pray, Love in the Time of Cholera
Tired of her physician husband’s obsession with curing cholera, a woman escapes to Europe and Asia in the hopes of finding peace, clarity, and a few good meals. She eventually reconnects with a former paramour—arguably the love of her life—who professes his undying affection and promises to look past the fact that her culinary explorations haven’t exactly worked wonders for her waistline.
Wuthering Frankenstein
Against a backdrop of moonlit moors, a love story unfolds between a passionate young lady and a lonely monster conceived in a laboratory. Catherine, our story’s heroine, has a hard time seeing past the monster’s unfortunate appearance at first, claiming him to be too tall, too gothic, too uncouth for her taste. But once she gets to know him, she much prefers him to her foster brother, Heathcliff, whose darkly handsome appearance and inner insanity are the reverse of her big-hearted monster.
What literary mashups would you get a kick out of reading?