This material includes affiliate links. When you purchase through these links, we might make an affiliate commission.
Julia is a expert geek who can be found in the wild lounging with books in the park in Brooklyn, NY. She has a BACHELOR’SDEGREE in International Studies from the University of Chicago and an MA in Media Studies from Pratt Institute. She enjoys fandom, theater, cheese, and Edith Piaf. Find her at juliarittenberg.com.
View All posts by Julia Rittenberg
When you read a timeless unique, there’s constantly more to find. The wealthiest books have a lot going on besides simply the primary plot line. In my viewpoint, the longest-enduring books tend to have a big and vibrant cast of characters. This provides readers various methods to hook into the narrative and analyze what’s going on through the eyes of characters who surround the leadcharacter. It makes sense that authors are interested in reassessing the culture that shaped their own writing and pick to insomecases checkout that by broadening a timeless’s universe.
The growth of a timeless’s universe is a kind of fanfiction. Fanfiction, according to Henry Jenkins, can be as much a vital commentary on the initial work as it is a love letter. On his blogsite, he composed:
I have argued that fan fiction emerges from a balance inbetween fascination and disappointment […] In most cases, the aggravation takes the type of something they would modification in the initial—a secondary character who requires more advancement, a plot aspect that is underexplored, an ideological contradiction that requires to be disputed.” Developing a secondary character and checkingout their world, both associated and unassociated to the initial timeless, is an crucial discourse in literature.
If you desire to broaden the universe of a timeless unique, there are plenty that follow precious side characters. From Shakespeare to Jane Austen to Arthur Conan Doyle, there are many conversations occurring with the classics in the present literary landscape.
Following Favorite Characters
James by Percival Everett
One of the most engaging characters in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is Jim, the older guy whom Huck befriends on his journeys post-death fabricating. In the procedure of leaving his enslavement, Jim gets captured up in Huck leaving his own daddy, offers with con artists, and needto usage his wits to endure in a world that is dead-set versus him. Experiencing the plot through James’ eyes is illuminating and amazing.
Unusual Suspects Newsletter
Sign up to Unusual Suspects to get news and suggestions for secret/thriller readers.
Thank you for finalizing up! Keep an eye on your inbox.
Adventures of Mary Jane by Hope Jahren
Another side character who grabs the spotlight in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is Mary Jane, the lady who recorded Huck’s heart along his journey. The book kicks off with Mary Jane takingatrip down the Mississippi River, accountable for her 2 young cousins. Going from North to South in the 1800s is as unsafe a journey for a young woman as you’d anticipate, and Mary Jane has to grow up quickly. By the time she runs into Huck at the tannery, she’s as canny and bold as he is.
Mycroft Holmes by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse
For Sherlock Holmes, the just guy who might stand up to his cleverness was his older sibling Mycroft. In this extension of Mycroft’s story, we satisfy him after he’s simply finished from Cambridge and simply beginning to work in the British federalgovernment. He gets drawn into a secret with his buddy Douglas when Douglas’s spouse quickly returns to Trinidad and they follow her back. The secret they discover is even more significant than Mycroft might haveactually anticipated.
A Tempest by Aimé Césaire
One of Shakespeare’s most maltreated characters is definitely Caliban in The Tempest. In this play, Aimé Césaire provides Prospero’s ruthlessness as comparable to that of the colonialists who took over his homeland of Martinique and the Francophone nests. Caliban butts heads with Ariel, cast in this play as a mixed-race male oppressed to Prospero. Caliban is dealtwith more strongly and desires to kill Prospero, however Ariel sees the scenario as more nuanced, mostlikely because he doesn’t suffer as much as Caliban. This is a traditional piece of postcolonial literature.
Remixing the Janes
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
One of the most stunning minutes of Jane Eyre is the discovery of Mr. Rochester’s otherhalf, Bertha Mason (named Antoinette in this retelling). She is the expected madwoman in the attic. Jean Rhy’s expedition of Antoinette’s life pre- and post-Thornfield Hall is a timeless in its own . It’s a remarkable representation of a lady with coupleof alternatives who weds a guy she presumes will offer her convenience.
Escaping Mr. Rochester by L.L. McKinney
In this “what-if” story, Mr. Rochester is left behind by his potential match and the lady he locked in the attic. L.L. McKinney thinksof what might have occurred if Jane Eyre discovered Bertha Mason and they teamed up. Instead of seeing Bertha as a less-than-human madwoman, Jane chooses to escape the abuse of Mr. Rochester with a lady who comprehends the discomfort.
Mrs. Wickham by Sarah Page
In some methods, I discover Lydia’s story the saddest in Pride and Prejudice. After her younger indiscretion, she’s basically banished from her household and stuck with a guy who just wed her for cash. In this retelling, she’s not delighted about her past choices, however she doesn’t feel she oughtto be so viciously excoriated, either.
Longbourn by Jo Baker
In another retelling of Pride and Prejudice, we experience the story through the eyes of a housemaid. Even however the Bennets are in a scenario of relative financial precariousness, they’re still in a class of benefit that manages them a level of convenience notavailable to most in England in the 1800s. The servants have simply as much drama and intrigue as their upstairs companies.
Magic and Mythology
I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem by Maryse Condé
Salem is a unsafe location for everybody, specifically Black females like Tituba. She enjoys on as her mom is hanged for strikingback versus a slaver who attacked her. Tituba grows up knowing magic from her neighborhood, however when she’s oppressed, that magic endsupbeing a factor to attack her from the fanatical spiritual neighborhood of Salem.
Circe by Madeline Miller
It feels practically redundant to suggest Circe, however it actually is conclusive to the category of broadening a timeless. Caught inbetween the world of gods and that of mortals, Circe understands she has powers beyond what wa