Modern books with classical literature “companions”

[Anonymous]

I read James recently and obviously the companion is Huck Finn.

I haven’t read Demon Copperhead (or David Copperfield) yet but obviously those pair up.

I’m now reading Wild, Dark Shore and - while the link isn’t as direct - the mentions of Jane Erie and the general vibe making me want to reread Jane Eyre.

What are some others (bonus if you enjoyed them / would recommend them) where there are modern stories with good companions in classic English / American literature?

[Anonymous]

On Beauty - Zadie Smith
Howards End - E.M. Forster

Not as tied as the books above. I read On Beauty many years ago and liked it. I have never read Howards End - but have seen adaptations.

[Anonymous]

I feel like I should be able to name a lot of these, but it's difficult to remember!

Here are a couple that haven't been mentioned:
The Magician by Colm Toibin and Death in Venice by Thomas Mann
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett and Passing by Nella Larsen
Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie is based on Antigone
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain and A Moveable Feast by Hemingway

I'm going to keep thinking about this.

[Anonymous]

To say nothing of the dog by Connie Willis and Three men in a boat by Jerome K Jerome

Or Longbourn by Jo Baker and Pride and Prejudice

[Anonymous]

Phillip Pullman''s "His Dark Materials" => Paradise Lost

[Anonymous]

Circe / The Odyssey

[Anonymous]

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (Jane Eyre)

Ahab's Wife by Sana Jeter Naslund (Moby Dick)

Hello, Beautiful by Ann Napolitano (Little Women)

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley (King Lear)

Longbourn by Jo Baker (Pride and Prejudice)

[Anonymous]

The Hours and Mrs Dalloway

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I read James recently and obviously the companion is Huck Finn.

I haven’t read Demon Copperhead (or David Copperfield) yet but obviously those pair up.

I’m now reading Wild, Dark Shore and - while the link isn’t as direct - the mentions of Jane Erie and the general vibe making me want to reread Jane Eyre.

What are some others (bonus if you enjoyed them / would recommend them) where there are modern stories with good companions in classic English / American literature?

If you like naughty, check out the American Queen trilogy. It's King Author...with a twist.

[Anonymous]

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys and Jane Eyre. I believe it's the story of Rochester's first wife.

[Anonymous]

Edgar Sawtelle and Hamlet

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like I should be able to name a lot of these, but it's difficult to remember!

Here are a couple that haven't been mentioned:
The Magician by Colm Toibin and Death in Venice by Thomas Mann
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett and Passing by Nella Larsen
Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie is based on Antigone
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain and A Moveable Feast by Hemingway

I'm going to keep thinking about this.

NP. I really liked The Paris Wife. I didn't think I would. I loved A Moveable Feast too. Both were very moving, in completely different ways.

[Anonymous]

William Kennedy's "Ironweed" (1984 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction) and Dante's "Divine Comedy"

[Anonymous]

Geralidne Brooks' "March" => Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read James recently and obviously the companion is Huck Finn.

I haven’t read Demon Copperhead (or David Copperfield) yet but obviously those pair up.

I’m now reading Wild, Dark Shore and - while the link isn’t as direct - the mentions of Jane Erie and the general vibe making me want to reread Jane Eyre.

What are some others (bonus if you enjoyed them / would recommend them) where there are modern stories with good companions in classic English / American literature?

If you like naughty, check out the American Queen trilogy. It's King Author...with a twist.

Lots of great Arthurian legend spin offs, like the first told from the POV of a woman, Marion Zimmerman Bradley's
"The Mists of Avalon."