From: petertrei@gmail.com   
      
   On 1/21/2026 10:02 PM, Titus G wrote:   
   > On 22/01/26 14:34, William Hyde wrote:   
   >> 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-updating-   
   >>> 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.   
   >   
   > I am not. Because I was impressed with Fry from television, I tried to   
   > read this decades ago but vaguely recall that I didn't get very far.   
   >   
   >> 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   
   >   
   > Based on your summary it appears that the clever Fry has downdated   
   > Bester's The Stars My Destination, which was first published sometime in   
   > the 25th Century.   
      
   I may be being Mr. Obvious here, but isn't the Bester based on The Count   
   of Monte Cristo?   
      
      
   pt   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)