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What are your thoughts about authors revising their older works to make them more modern? (alien.top)

submitted 9 months ago by Melenduwir@alien.top to c/books@metacritics.zone

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Probably the best example I can think of is Diane Duane reworking her Wizards series to make it modern-day, but there are others, including owners of a literary estate altering books left to them to make them compatible with current standards.

What do you think? Does it matter if it's the original author or an inheritor?

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[–] stella3books@alien.top 1 points 9 months ago

I guess the counter argument is that not all art needs to be static. It can be multiple snapshots over time, as part of a continuous process of engagement.

One of the things I like about classical lit, for instance, is that the same text can have different meanings, and be understood or consumed in different ways, throughout history. I don’t HAVE to listen to The Iliad in fragmented ancient poetry, I can read it in English (and compare translations!) or enjoy one of many adaptations it. I don’t HAVE to take the ancient view of Hektor as a second rate hero, maybe I prefer the more modern reading where he fits out current standards of “honor”. Half the fun is seeing how the snapshots differ over the ages.