But hey, my dissertation has been submitted and accepted. It's all done, done, done. Now I have to decide if I want to walk. I'm thinking I can't afford the regalia. But I have earned my puffy hat!
Wait, I do have something to say. If you see the articles in geek circles about how William Goldman wants to write a sequel to The Princess Bride movie, don't get your hopes up. Not only has he been saying that for decades (longer than the few years the articles I've read suggest; the book was published in 1973 &; the anniversary edition with the sequel "excerpt" in 1998; the movie in 1987), but there can't be a sequel. The Princess Bride--book and film--can't be replicated, and a sequel would only disappoint because it can't be The Princess Bride. Isn't that what the whole Buttercup's Baby and accompanying metafiction is about?
If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you need to go buy the book.
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3 comments:
I successfully introduced my kid to this book when she was 12. It's now among her favorite books.
This year, though, when she re-read it, she informed me she no longer liked the Buttercup & Wesley section. Their love affair is stupid, she says. Neither of them actually love each other, she explained: both just make the other into an object, and love that object.
I have raised me a little feminist, apparently.
(She said the whole book should be about Inigo; that his story is the only really interesting one.)
Agreed. I taught the book as the finale for my fantasy class. The students did a fantastic job as their minds were blown (even the ones who had seen the film said this).
The love-story discussion was particularly good when I asked the students to start comparing the true & perfect love of B&W to the relationships and romance in the frame. Although, those that defended the B&W plot insisted that at least W fell in love with B before she became the most beautiful woman ever and was just a brat, and that B "realized" that she loved W when the countess showed him attention, not fell in love with him b/c he was pretty. They all cited textual evidence though,so I could be proud either way. :)
I love the book seven hundred times more than the movie, and I'm a big fan of the film.
"Madam, feel free to flee" is still one of the funniest, most awesome lines in that text. I can't even say "stew" without thinking about taxes. And every doorknob I touch might...just might...have a spider lurking beneath.
Congrats on the dissertation. So amazingly freaking cool.
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