Primary Source:
- Goldman, William. The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure. Harcourt, 2007.
- Reiner, Rob, director. The Princess Bride. 20th Century Studios, 9 Oct. 1987.
- Winterson, Jeanette. Frankissstein: A Love Story. Johnathan Cape, 2019.
Secondary/Theoretical Works:
- Attebery, Brian. Strategies of Fantasy. Indiana University Press, 1992.
- Birke, Dorothee, and Birte Christ. “Paratext and Digitized Narrative: Mapping the Field.” Narrative (Columbus, Ohio), vol. 21, no. 1, 2013, pp. 65–87, https://doi.org/10.1353/nar.2013.0003.
- Genette, Gérard. Palimpsests: Literature in the Second Degree. University of Nebraska Press, 1997.
- James, Edward, and Farah Mendlesohn. The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature. Cambridge University Press, 2012.
- Mendlesohn, Farah. Rhetorics of Fantasy, Wesleyan University Press, 2008. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/dickinson/detail.action?docID=1110030.
- Salter, G. Connor. “Whatever Happened to The Princess Bride?: Thoughts for Further William Goldman Research.” Mythlore, vol. 42, no. 2 (144), 2024, pp. 181–87. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/48771997. Accessed 3 Nov. 2024.
Academic Journal:
- Mythlore, vol. 42, no. 2 (144), Mythopoetic Society, 2024, pp. 3–6. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/48771986.
Keywords:
- Paratext
- Narratology
- Storytelling
- Fantasy
- Escapism
- Mythopoeia
Description:
I grew up with the movie The Princess Bride, so when I found out it was in fact inspired by a book by William Goldman, I was overjoyed. Aside from the great story, one thing that intrigued me about the novel was how Goldman presented the text. Instead of situating himself as the author, he created the pseudonym S. Morgenstern while he claimed to be abridging the story. In addition to inventing this fictional author, Goldman invents the kingdoms of Florin and Guilder, which he claims to be real places. Using paratext scattered throughout the pages, Goldman explains excerpts he cut from the “original” text and develops a history of the kingdoms and S. Morgenstern. He also reinvents his own history throughout the book, going as far as to tell readers how his father read The Princess Bride to him when he was sick as a child. Even in the novel’s added introductions for the 25th and 30th anniversary editions, Goldman continues with the charade, inventing a museum dedicated to S. Morgenstern (30th anniversary) and referencing a group of “Florinese experts” and Florin’s most popular tourist attraction: the Cliffs of Insanity (25th anniversary).
When I first read this book, I wondered why Goldman decided to present The Princess Bride in this way, instead of admitting to being the author upfront. Fueled by this curiosity, I decided to take a narratological approach to Goldman’s novel for my thesis. What is the point of inventing a fake author and incorporating personal notes into the novel? What do these elements do for the story? What do they do for the reader?
After a meeting with Professor Seiler, I learned that those “personal notes” I wanted to investigate were considered paratext, giving me my first keyword and research topic. My meeting with Professor Skalak helped me decide my other keywords, directing me to the theory of narratology and to my second through fourth secondary sources. With “Paratext and Digitized Narrative: Mapping the Field” and Palimpsests: Literature in the Second Degree I hope to further my understanding of what paratext is and how it can contribute to a text. The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature and the journal Mythlore will help me explore the fantasy genre in general and narrow my research. Using Attebery’s Strategies of Fantasy I will explore the uses narratology and storytelling within the genre. With Rhetorics of Fantasy I will examine the development of fictional worlds by various authors, which will hopefully give me some insight into Goldman’s creation of Florin and Guilder. Although the discourse on The Princess Bride is limited and mostly focuses on the movie, I plan to continue sifting through what I can find in case there is something I can apply to my own investigation.
Update:
Since my original post, I have decided to add both the film for The Princess Bride and the novel Frankissstein to my primary sources since both weave together different stories like Goldman does. With the movie we see the story of Buttercup and Westley alongside the story of the grandfather and grandson. In Frankissstein, Jeanette Winterson layers her modern Frankenstein retelling with a storyline following the creation of Mary Shelley’s novel. With both sources, I hope to explore the narratives and how the creators combine different storylines together. I have also added a specific article by Connor G. Salter from Mythlore to my secondary sources. This article not only describes the current scholarly field surrounding Goldman and The Princess Bride, but it also makes some interesting suggestions for further research. For example, this article emphasizes the idea of escapism in Goldman’s works which I had already been curious about. The article also introduced the idea of mythopoeia in connection to the novel which is something I hope to explore as I continue to research The Princess Bride.