What do we want when we revisit a beloved story? Sarah Chihaya suggests we’re drawn back by contradictory desires: on the one hand we want to relive what we experienced the first time, but we also want something fresh and new. From recent movie sequels and remakes to the experimental novel Life After Life, Sarah shows how revisiting familiar stories can be a cynical ploy to make money, but can also be an under-appreciated source of artistic inspiration.
Bonus clip
Click here to listen to a bonus clip of Sarah discussing Zadie Smith’s novel On Beauty, and the experience of gradually realizing that the story you’re reading is reworking a story you already know – in this case E. M. Forster’s novel Howards End.
Works mentioned
– Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
– Ali Smith, Artful
– Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
– P. D. James, Death Comes to Pemberley
– Seth Grahame-Smith, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
– Danny Boyle (director), Trainspotting
– Danny Boyle (director), T2 Trainspotting
– Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise (directors), Beauty and the Beast
– Bill Condon (director), Beauty and the Beast
– Kate Atkinson, Life After Life
– Zadie Smith, On Beauty
– E. M. Forster, Howards End
Further reading
Sarah Chihaya at Los Angeles Review of Books – Just Like the First Time? Revisiting “Beauty and the Beast” and “Trainspotting”
Sarah Seltzer at Flavorwire – Why We Can’t Stop Reading — and Writing — Jane Austen Sequels
Drew Taylor at Vulture – Welcome to the Remake Kingdom
Marjorie Garber at London Review of Books – I’ll be back