From: wthyde1953@gmail.com   
      
   James Nicoll wrote:   
   > Adventures in the Public Domain: On Updating Out-of-Copyright Works   
   >   
   > Should we attempt to bring older works into the modern age?   
   >   
   > https://reactormag.com/adventures-in-the-public-domain-on-upda   
   ing-out-of-copyright-works/   
   >   
   I myself am much more interested in the recent phenomenon of   
   "downdating", in which a modern novel is set in the past.   
      
   Most of you, of course, will be familiar with Sir Steven Fry's "The   
   Stars' Tennis Balls", a classic tale of false imprisonment and revenge.   
      
   But just in case you are not, a recap.  A young man, about to be   
   married, is given a note by a trusted older friend.  This friend, alas   
   is involved with an underground group much frowned upon by the powers   
   that be.  Through  the machinations of various "friends" the government   
   is given cause to investigate our protagonist, who is whisked away to an   
   "insane asylum" on a remote island (were we to update rather than   
   downdate this novel, it would be a black ops site in Tajikistan).   
      
   With the aid of an older, wiser, but unhealthy fellow prisoner, our hero   
   escapes, becomes rich, and proceeds to a long process of revenge on   
   those responsible for his incarceration, one of whom has married his   
   fiancee.   
      
   A young French author of much promise has downdated this novel, cleverly   
   substituting the Bonapartist cause for the IRA, a Swiss bank account for   
   a buried hoard of treasure, and an ancient stone prison for the asylum.   
      
   It was not so easy for an unknown man to enter high society in the early   
   1800s (today all it takes is money) but the author handles the   
   prisoner's entry very well.  In fact the whole society of early to mid   
   1800s France is rendered with staggering accuracy.  I was unable to find   
   a false note.  He must have spent years in research.   
      
   The process of revenge runs in parallel with that in Fry's novel.   
   Without the internet it cannot be an exact parallel, but the author   
   works very well with the mechanisms of 19th century finance and   
   venality.  The basics of corruption do not change over time.   
      
   These are darker times than the era in which Fry's masterpiece was   
   written.  So one change our updater does make is to the ending.  Whereas   
   Fry's hero, revenge accomplished, faces at best a lonely future, our   
   downdated hero, while deprived of his one true love, finds a second,   
   much younger, love, and  resumes his intended life path as a husband and   
   presumably father.  An older but much richer one.   
      
   I for one will be looking out for new books by young M. Dumas.  He has a   
   great career ahead of him.   
      
   William Hyde   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)