Classic Literature Retellings
#ReadingList: mostly genre fiction (historical, fantasy, YA, romance, etc.) with some literary fiction…
“‘Home is where?’
Razyé gave one of his mournful smiles.
‘I say “home” to speak like the rest of you. But I have no home. I was found in Guadeloupe as naked as the day I was born, on the barren heath and cliffs—the razyés—hence my name.’”
— from WINDWARD HEIGHTS by Maryse Condé
The way that I feel about the “original” fairy tales vs. fairy tale retellings is very similar to how I look at works of [most? some…] classic literature & their modern reimaginings. I have read or have on my TBR classic lit retellings for classic novels I’ve never read (Everett’s James: Twain’s ‘Huckleberry Finn’) nor really care to read (Jackson’s The Weight of Blood: King’s ‘Carrie’), as well as for old favorites (Condé’s Windward Heights: E. Brontë’s ‘Wuthering Heights’, & Greeley’s The Heiress: Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’).
I really prefer retellings / reimaginings that are subversive in some way (i.e. gender-swapped, queer themes, disability rep, &c.) because a) I feel like otherwise why even bother with a retelling? obviously, & b) the worlds in a lot of “classic literature” are fairly narrowly constructed, so when I can get my favorite older stories & characters in worlds that are closer to our own, or that at least feature more diversity, queerness, an Indigenous persepctive/worldview, disabled MCs, found family, &c., that is what is really going to draw me to a classic literature retelling.
Here is a list of highlights from my TBR as well as books I’ve read & loved that are retellings of so-called works of “classic literature.”
[See this post for a selection of “classic literature” fiction that I’ve read & loved or that is on my TBR.]
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Click on the star ratings beside the titles I’ve read to read my reviews/thoughts about the book.
—TBR—
FOR SHE IS WRATH by Emily Varga (Oct 2024)—“A sweeping, Pakistani romantic fantasy reimagining of The Count of Monte Cristo…”
LADY MACBETH by Ava Reid (Aug 2024)
JAMES by Percival Everett (Mar 2024)—a retelling of Huckleberry Finn, well “less a retelling than a re-imagining” according to Cree Myles in her interview with the author for ELLE magazine.
MOST ARDENTLY by Gabe Cole Novoa (Jan 2024)—“In the Remixed Classics series, authors from marginalized backgrounds reinterpret classic works through their own cultural lens to subvert the overwhelming cishet, white, and male canon. This bittersweet Pride & Prejudice remix follows a trans boy yearning for the freedom to live openly, centering queerness in a well-known story of longing and subverting society's patriarchal and cisheteronormative expectations.”
AN EDUCATION IN MALICE by ST Gibson (Feb 2024)—A retelling of Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu (1872).
OUR HIDEOUS PROGENY by CE McGill (2023) “…a brilliant literary revisiting of Mary Shelley's classic Frankenstein with a fresh, queer, provocative twist.”
EVERY EXQUISITE THING by Laura Steven (2023)—“A deliciously sly feminist YA horror-thriller-romance retelling of The Picture of Dorian Grey” by an author is apparently a “TikTok sensation” so… who knows! But I haven’t come across very many retellings of Dorian Grey surprisingly… This also fits under the #DarkAcademia subgenre.
THE WEIGHT OF BLOOD by Tiffany D Jackson (2022)—A retelling of Stephen King’s Carrie (1974).
FRANKENSTEIN IN BAGHDAD by Ahmed Saadawi (2013)—A contemporary horror re-imagination of Frankenstein that is a “challenging & unflinching” exploration of the human condition particularly as it is “related to the intersection of war, mortality, & the complexities of identity” set in modernday Iraq.
DRACULA IN ISTANBUL: The Unauthorized Version of the Gothic Classic, by Bram Stoker & Ali Rıza Seyfioğlu (1928); translated by Necip Ateş & edited by Ed Glaser for the 2017 English language edition—“For the first time in English comes a remarkable literary discovery. In 1928, Turkish author Ali Rıza Seyfioğlu pirated Bram Stoker's Dracula, completely rewriting it with new material, patriotic overtones, and Islam. A rare example of a "bootleg" novel, it's also the first adaptation to plainly identify Dracula as the historical warlord Vlad the Impaler.”
THE DEATH OF IVAN ILYCH by Leo Tolstoy (1886) a retelling of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. Probably the earliest classic literature retelling I have ever heard of! (Please lmk if you know of an earlier one!)
—Read & Loved—
OFF WITH THEIR HEADS by Zoe Hana Mikuta (2024)—★ ★ ★ ★ .5—“Once upon a time there was a young girl named Alice. She followed Rabbit into Wonderland, because I was in love. Very much so. Now I’m not. Now I’ve got to kill the Rabbit, and send the Saints up and over—don’t you see your dearest Red Queen is mad, having your shield so swollen with monsters?”
THE MANOR HOUSE GOVERNESS by CA Castle (2023)—★ ★ ★ ★ .75—a contemporary gothic novel featuring a genderfluid MC & a m/m romance that is simultaneously a retelling of &/or inspired by Jane Eyre, Northanger Abbey, & Pride & Prejudice. It is, *phenomenal.* I literally on took that .25 ★ off for a very petty (but VALID ok?) reason. 🤣
WHAT MOVES THE DEAD by T Kingfisher (2022)—★ ★ ★ ★ ★—A super grisly, chilling, but brilliant reimagining of Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher.
PRIDE by Ibi Zoboi (2018)—★ ★ ★ ★ ★—a YA contemporary romance retelling of Pride & Prejudice set in Bushwick. This was one of the earliest explicit classic literature retellings I read & its contemporary setting + YA romance themes is what made me start to think seriously about this subgenre as a whole & the potential it has.
THE HEIRESS: The Revelations of Anne de Bourgh, by Molly Greeley (2021)—★ ★ ★ ★ ★—a sapphic hist-fic romance retelling of one of the minor characters from Pride & Prejudice (CW: child abuse, opium addiction, chronic illness).
WITHIN THESE WICKED WALLS by Lauren Blackwood (2021)—★ ★ ★ ★—This one has super mixed reviews but I really enjoyed it. It’s a YA fantasy retelling of Jane Eyre set in Ethiopia. I actually liked Blackwood’s book more than Brontë’s… *eyes*
COMPANY OF LIARS: a novel of the plague, by Karen Maitland (2008)—★ ★ ★ ★ .5—A really dark but entertaining & engaging historical fiction reimagining of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales with an excellent cast of colorful characters.
THE HISTORIAN by Elizabeth Kostova (2005)—★ ★ ★ ★ ★—This book is more of a “sequel” than a retelling, taking place over a century after the action of the original Dracula, but I’m including it here because it is such a beautiful modern tribute to one of my favorite classics that I feel like it fits the spirit of this list. Also more folks just need to read it.
LOST by Gregory Maguire (2001)—★ ★ ★ ★ ★—A very loose re-imagining of the themes in Dickens’s A Christmas Carol.
WINDWARD HEIGHTS by Maryse Condé (1995)—★ ★ ★ ★ ★—A literary historical fiction retelling of Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (1847) set in Guadeloupe. “Read Windward Heights. Be struck in awe. Witness a god’s creation take giant strides through your sacred moor as it moves to create and inhabit new ground… If Wuthering Heights is the wind’s dull roar Windward Heights is the source.” — Akilah White (2019)
THE GRASS DANCER by Susan Powers (1994)—★ ★ ★ ★ ★—This is not a retelling of Wuthering Heights, but Brontë’s book is mentioned in the story in relation to the two central main ancestor characters—though I don’t think Brontë’s novel was in any way the “inspiration” for Powers’s book. But it did stand out to me & I did appreciate how Powers handles similar themes & presents a very interesting contrast to those treated in Wuthering Heights. I also thought Anna/Mercury Thunder’s character arc gives some strong Heathcliff vibes…
I, TITUBA, Black Witch of Salem, by Maryse Condé (1986)—★ ★ ★ ★ ★—As a mock-epic biography of Tituba, this book is not exactly a retelling of The Crucible but the reimagining of the life & centering of the actual historical figure of Tituba, who was chariacturized in Arthur Miller’s play in service to his white characters, makes Condé’s book an indispensable work to read in any context in which Miller’s play is read, studied, or discussed.
THE NAME OF THE ROSE by Umberto Eco (1980)—★ ★ ★ ★ ★—Surprisingly this book is actually inspired by the characters & some themes in A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle (the only Sherlock Holmes book I’ve ever read & I didn’t like it 😅—but I promised to give The Sign of Four a try…) & elements from the works of Jorge Luis Borges as well.
WIDE SARGASSO SEA by Jean Rhys (1966)—★ ★ ★ ★ .25—A speculative look at the potential backstory for Antoinette “Bertha” Rochester (née Mason) from Jane Eyre. I’m still waiting for a really redemptive & empowering take on Antoinette’s character though…
Let me know in the comments if you know of any others that I’ve missed! <3