Capt. Dirigible
Rogue Ætherlord
 United Kingdom
Shirts?.....I got plenty at 'ome.
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« on: July 17, 2012, 11:38:51 am » |
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I'm somewhat horrified to discover that a number of classic novels have been re-published in which extra 'erotic' sections have been added. Apparently the success of so called 'mummy porn' book '50 Shades of Grey' has given rise to this. In each case the original text is complete but extra erotic/porn passages have been added. So we have books like Dracula, Treasure Island, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, The Three Musketeers, Phantom of the Opera, Pride and Prejudice,and Sherlock Holmes-A Study In Scarlet re printed with added straight, gay, menage a trois and BDSM sex!! I mean..come on! Jane Eyre and Mr Rochester engaging in bondage! Holmes and Watson as gay lovers!!
I know we've recently had Jane Austen classics re-written with added zombies and beasties..and various respected historical figures have been portrayed as vampire and demon hunters(which is done with it's tongue formly in it's cheek)..but do we really need these beloved characters portrayed as sexually voracious, gay or into BDSM!? This sort of thing has been available (I gather) as 'fan porn' for a while on the Internet but now it's coming off the 'net and into bookshops and I for one think it's not only degrading the original material but is really tacky.
I mean...here's an example:
'How could I explain that the softness of a woman did not appeal? To bring another man to the brink, knowing he enjoyed my touch, was what I wanted' said Dr Watson.
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« Last Edit: July 17, 2012, 11:42:13 am by Capt. Dirigible »
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I say, Joe it's jolly frightening out here.
Nonsense dear boy, you should be more like me.
But look at you! You're shaking all over!
Shaking? You silly goose! I'm just doing the Watusi
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Captain Braid
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« Reply #1 on: July 17, 2012, 01:34:49 pm » |
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Totally agree, Tacky and Pathetic in the extreme.
Typical of tallentless hacks cashing in on other dead writers works.
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Experienced enough to know my limitations,
Old enough to know better,
Relaxed enough not to care.
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Rockula
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« Reply #2 on: July 17, 2012, 03:45:02 pm » |
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The sad fact is that it sells by the bucketload and where there's a farthing to be made someone will always cash in.
So, the simple answer is that whilst it's popular with certain people others, like myself, who have no interest in it will simply ignore it or register our disapproval amongst the like-minded.
Same as it ever was.
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The legs have fallen off my Victorian Lady...
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SteamFae
Deck Hand
 Canada
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« Reply #3 on: July 17, 2012, 05:02:34 pm » |
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How sad that we must force sexuality into everything for it to please the people of today.
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Lady Chrystal
Immortal
 Wales
Lady Adventurer, Chronicler
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« Reply #4 on: July 17, 2012, 07:46:36 pm » |
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Thjankfully the copies I own are unadulterated (unadultery-ated?). Let's just hope they don't start turning them into films! Or maybe film- and TV-treatments are where it started and it's feeding back into the book world?
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"The Chrystal? Ah, now - that would be telling."
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Anastacia
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« Reply #5 on: July 17, 2012, 08:56:54 pm » |
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I doubt the publisher will hit their target audience. The people who want a sex scene from a classic would probably rather just watch the film version, and the people who would actually read through an entire classic probably wouldn't want to read about the characters tying each other up and having their various ways with them.
I know erotic fiction was published in those days, so if the author had intended for any intimacy to be spelled out so bluntly, they probably would have just done it.
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Capt. Dirigible
Rogue Ætherlord
United Kingdom
Shirts?.....I got plenty at 'ome.
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« Reply #6 on: July 17, 2012, 09:03:46 pm » |
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The thing about these books is that Fifty Shades of Grey is selling shedloads on Kindle type electronic books so that other people don't realise they're reading 'erotica'. So it's a bonus for the people who have bought and enjoyed FSOG that they can now appear to be reading 'a classic' on the Tube when in fact they're reading 'erotica'.
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Lady Chrystal
Immortal
Wales
Lady Adventurer, Chronicler
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« Reply #7 on: July 17, 2012, 10:14:36 pm » |
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Having read 50 Shades of Grey (for review) I'm horridied to think that it's influencing these older classics. Has anyone seen the covers of these ba*****ised books? Do they make it clear the books have been sexed up?
I find myself wondering what else will get this sort of treatment. I shudder to think what they'd make of:
Little Women
The Jungle Book
#sorry - my brain is now in overdrive#
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Tito Alba
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« Reply #9 on: July 18, 2012, 02:18:26 am » |
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I too wonder how far they may go down this route. Image Camus' The Outsider with added passages containing the protagonists musings on the absurd nature of man's search for meaning set against the backdrop of a brutal relationship with his newly introduced and highly unstable death row cell mate. Or maybe Kafka's Metamorphosis with added passages on the mating ritual of the dung beetle  The mind boggles at the possibilities!  |
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Anastacia
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« Reply #10 on: July 18, 2012, 02:38:20 am » |
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Nooo. You can't put your name on the cover for throwing in a sex scene, can you? That kind of suggests that the coauthor is responsible for roughly half the book. They didn't sex up half the source material, did they? |
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Kittybriton
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« Reply #11 on: July 18, 2012, 03:03:07 am » |
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I am reminded of a competition some years ago (or was it yet to come?) which sought compelling "blurbs" for respectable classics:
Robinson Crusoe: Every night was Friday night!
The Holy Bible: the book that reveals all the sins!
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pakled
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« Reply #12 on: July 22, 2012, 05:55:56 am » |
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I have heard (ahem) or maybe just wandered into the wrong section of the video store, but erotic films at least have been ripping off regular movies since who knows when...  But if it makes a buck. Mummy porn?...yeesh... Books have been done that way for a while as well (wrong section of the used book store, my sense of direction must be terrible... Most of the classics are public domain, so there's not much in the way of fees to be dealt with...gad, A Study in Leather, Wuthering Depths, Two Years before the Mast (and loving it... the mind boggles... |
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« Last Edit: July 22, 2012, 05:58:14 am by pakled »
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Capt. Dirigible
Rogue Ætherlord
United Kingdom
Shirts?.....I got plenty at 'ome.
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« Reply #13 on: July 22, 2012, 10:45:14 am » |
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I have heard (ahem) or maybe just wandered into the wrong section of the video store, but erotic films at least have been ripping off regular movies since who knows when Yes..there have been porn versions of major films for years..'Edward Penishands'...'Shaving Ryan's Privates' etc.. that's Rule 34 for you! But it's not like they're taking the established film and then editing sex scenes into it with lookalikes. If the Clandestine Classics 'authors' (and I use that word quite wrongly) want to write porn they should do it with their own characters..make up their own stories..don't steal someone else's creativity, plot and characters and besmirch it with their tacky fantasies. |
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Fairley B. Strange
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« Reply #14 on: July 22, 2012, 11:19:19 am » |
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Having recently read '50shades-of-cr*p' and '50shades-dumber' (miles from nowhere and a limited number of books to swap around) IMHO these are already 'Clandestine semi-classics'.
Taking out the formulaic pr0n scenes (instant-virgin to multi-O, never eaten an oyster but suddenly a skilled fellatrix, the sudden intro of the contract catalogue of full-on kinks without so much as a raised eyebrow, etc, etc... in fact, every cliche this side of "here to clean ze pool") leaves us with:
Maidenly young journalism student captures heart of rich powerful multi-millionaire.
Methinks it was originally titled '50 Shades of Barbara-Cartland Pink'
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Choose a code to live by, die by it if you have to.
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Crescat Scientia
Gunner
 United States
Fabricator and temporally confused.
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« Reply #16 on: July 22, 2012, 04:04:51 pm » |
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I am puzzled. Are these re-writes of the original stories, or are they simply reprints of the old stories with erotic interludes shoehorned in?
The first, at least, involves a minimal amount of work and attention to the original story. The second seems awkward and unnecessary, to say the least.
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Very rarely will he squarely push the logic of a fact to its ultimate conclusion in unmitigated act.
-- Rudyard Kipling
Have you heard? It's in the stars, next July we collide with Mars.
-- Cole Porter
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Lady Chrystal
Immortal
Wales
Lady Adventurer, Chronicler
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« Reply #17 on: July 22, 2012, 05:36:17 pm » |
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I believe Northanger Abbey is being properly re-written. Val McDermid has stated that it's fundamentally a teen novel, so I guess she's re-writing to make it readable by teenagers. The ones we were complaining about are, apparently, shoehorn jobs - as you so eloquently observed.  |
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pakled
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« Reply #18 on: July 23, 2012, 12:15:34 am » |
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Well, as with most fads, it'll probably burn itself out in a year or two.
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The Corsair
Defective Inspector
Moderator
Zeppelin Admiral
 New Zealand
Your Move
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« Reply #19 on: July 23, 2012, 01:00:45 am » |
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I actually find that the most annoying thing about this is it isn't even good smut. It's absurd that an inferior product is being sold by the bucketload while better erotica is sitting there on the internet for free. HOWEVER! Let it be said that I would pay damn good money for this:
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I think I should also mention I had a dream about this game, only Bailey was a woman...
I assure you, that incident in Singapore was all a misunderstanding. |
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Professor Hesketh
Officer
 England
Astonishist
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« Reply #20 on: July 28, 2012, 06:41:17 pm » |
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I despair. Still, at least Jane Austen's name was on top (fnurr fnurr).
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neon_suntan
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« Reply #21 on: July 28, 2012, 07:59:58 pm » |
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I'd prefer a mixture "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" with the Clandestine edition.
"Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Sex"
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W. S. Marble
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« Reply #22 on: August 25, 2012, 03:36:39 pm » |
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Oh, I don't know....
Whatever gets my kids reading must be a good th-- What's that you say? It's about WHAT?!
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Lady Chrystal
Immortal
Wales
Lady Adventurer, Chronicler
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« Reply #23 on: August 25, 2012, 03:48:14 pm » |
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Profuse apologies, I couldn't resist posting this: (Possibly offensive if you're sensitive to adult humour.) |
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Mr Peter Harrow, Esq
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« Reply #24 on: August 26, 2012, 08:58:39 am » |
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I am worried about this affecting classic SF with Fifty Shades of Grey Lensman
"10,000 pulsating members were thrust into the nights sky!"
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Proudly giving the entire Asylum The Finger!
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