Does anyone know of any books that are homages to other easily-recognisable books? Or plays etc?
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YA books that are homages?
- Thread starter Morwen Edhelwen
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I like to think that HOW I LIVE NOW is a homage to I CAPTURE THE CASTLE.
(of course, just a theory--not proven.)
(of course, just a theory--not proven.)
How would it be a homage? Plot? I can't see the similarities. I'm writing a homage to a play and trying to make the plot and characters my own, that's why I'm asking this.
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It TOTALLY is! That's exactly what I thought. Quiet teen desperation and horniness in a weirdo family living in the squalorous remains of a castle. The books have the exact same feel. Love both of those books.
Wait, what? in How I Live Now they live in a castle? (I haven't read it so I don't know. But I think they might have it in my local library.)
Oh, I wasn't paying attention! I was thinking of A Brief History of Montmaray, which I think is a homage to I Capture the Castle! 
Oh, I wasn't paying attention! I was thinking of A Brief History of Montmaray, which I think is a homage to I Capture the Castle!
Is that meant to be good? another poster suggested I read homages to see how they rework the originals.
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Though not really YA, but I mention it because Neil Gaiman is awesome - The Graveyard Book is an homage and adaption of The Jungle Book.
And there are a tons of books out there (including more than a fistful of YAs) that are homages to Pride and Prejudice, fairytales, and Shakespeare.
Oh, and on a truly unique note - Kody Keplinger's Shut Out is a contemporary homage to Aristophanes' Lysistrata.
And there are a tons of books out there (including more than a fistful of YAs) that are homages to Pride and Prejudice, fairytales, and Shakespeare.
Oh, and on a truly unique note - Kody Keplinger's Shut Out is a contemporary homage to Aristophanes' Lysistrata.
I know Rosie Rushton has written a series of Austen homages. My favourite is The Dashwood Sisters' Secrets of Love, a homage to Sense and Sensibility. (Slightly off-topic) Actually, has anyone here written or is anyone here(other than me) writing or trying to write a homage?
Can an entire book be an homage? How are we differentiating between an homage, a re-telling and something simply inspired by something else?
I am curious how people use the term "homage" when it comes to literature. I've really only heard it used in film.
I am curious how people use the term "homage" when it comes to literature. I've really only heard it used in film.
I've heard some people (not just on this board) use it or the term "appropriation", which means the same thing.
(Tell me if I'm being condescending) The way I'd explain the differences between homage, retelling, and inspired by is this: A "retelling" would be something like a straight adaptation of something like a Shakespeare play, maybe to another setting, small changes in the dialogue etc. A homage would be taking an idea and acknowledging it's source through use of the same character names, allusions in titles etc, along with changes to plot, just enough to make it unrecognisable. Something inspired may just have the idea and/or plot,with no other connection.
For example, The Lady's Got Potential, which I'm working on, is an homage. It has an allusion to the source in the title- "The Lady's Got Potential" is a song from the movie adaptation of the musical Evita, sung by Antonio Banderas- and the plot is changed (Eva has children, which she didn't have in either real life or the musical, (which heavily fictionalises history) and her cult is manipulated by the military, the United Fruit Company plays a role among other things). The protagonist's name is Che. Almost anyone who read this would instantly know where the idea comes from through the characters' names and the title.
OTOH, a retelling would be something like putting out Romeo and Juliet in novel form rewritten in modern English, with no changes to the plot or setting other than rewriting the play into contemporary language. Inspired by is taking the plot of the play and getting rid of all obvious connections beyond that. Homage uses obvious connections, in the hope the reader will recognise them. Inspired by doesn't. It's probably more complex than that though. That's how I see it anyway.
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I'm lazy (sorry) so I'll just copy paste from a review I did:
It's a bit thin, yes. But the two lines quoted above really increased my attention to the similarities of I capture the castle/ how I live now. It's not so similar that it's a retelling, but there are elements, and the feel is just about right.
(okay, I may be being hopeful here, because it would just be perfect in my mind if this was true. ICtC is one of my favorite books, and how I live now is glorious.*fan theories*)
Kitty Pryde's mention of A Brief History of Montmaray is a much more credible. It's much more of a recognized/ intentional homage then my little how I live now/ I capture the castle pairing
ETA: just saw the posts on homage vs. retelling vs. inspired by.
okay, I am definitely being hopeful now--it does not fit the definition of homage that OP provided, so just ignore my derailing posts in this thread, ha.
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I'm lazy (sorry) so I'll just copy paste from a review I did:
It's a bit thin, yes. But the two lines quoted above really increased my attention to the similarities of I capture the castle/ how I live now. It's not so similar that it's a retelling, but there are elements, and the feel is just about right.
(okay, I may be being hopeful here, because it would just be perfect in my mind if this was true. ICtC is one of my favorite books, and how I live now is glorious.*fan theories*)
Kitty Pryde's mention of A Brief History of Montmaray is a much more credible. It's much more of a recognized/ intentional homage then my little how I live now/ I capture the castle pairing
I think the similarity is in the war element and the English countryside element. You did that review? You're really good! (BTW, when I read the plot synopsis, I thought of Tomorrow When The War Began.
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I agree about those two things being the similarities...maybe we can attach an "inspired slightly by ICtC" label to How I Live now?
(goodness, I feel like I'm aggressively shipping two books here, ha.)I haven't read Tommorow, yet, but I'll have to add it to my TBR pile.
And thank you so much!
I used to do book reviews a lot, but don't so much anymore.ETA: I swear I'll add something useful to this thread sometime, ha. There's a book pairing that I'm sure is a homage that I've forgotten about just now.
you're welcome. definitely read "Tomorrow", which has an Australian rural setting. I think I should read ICTC too.
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First, and I mean this with total respect, but why not do some research for yourself? I advised you of two recent novels that are recognized homages. So...you could now google one of the titles with homage and read for yourself. It would benefit you to develop those skills.
Second, in my opinion, an homage is an homage - I don't get your question of "what kind." looking up at your earlier post, I think you are splitting hairs, but ... they would both fit your definition for homage.
So...you can now look at them more closely, if you are interested.
Second, in my opinion, an homage is an homage - I don't get your question of "what kind." looking up at your earlier post, I think you are splitting hairs, but ... they would both fit your definition for homage.
So...you can now look at them more closely, if you are interested.
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Not to derail, but how soon do you think you can write a homage of something?
For instance -- I'm halfway done writing a book. I read Norwegian Wood, pubbed in 1987, a few weeks ago. I started writing the book in Jan '11. (Yeah, I'm a slow writer)
The similarities are crazy, down to the MC's main love interest being unable to have sex for a short period of time, and the MC's both being Japanese, dealing with the effects of suicide. It's different, for sure, but creepily similar, so much that I feel like it's almost a modern day homage, and I don't even like Murakami.
Technically, the novel is a classic, but is 24 years too short a time to write a retelling/homage/whatever?
For instance -- I'm halfway done writing a book. I read Norwegian Wood, pubbed in 1987, a few weeks ago. I started writing the book in Jan '11. (Yeah, I'm a slow writer)
The similarities are crazy, down to the MC's main love interest being unable to have sex for a short period of time, and the MC's both being Japanese, dealing with the effects of suicide. It's different, for sure, but creepily similar, so much that I feel like it's almost a modern day homage, and I don't even like Murakami.
Technically, the novel is a classic, but is 24 years too short a time to write a retelling/homage/whatever?
Not YA, but Zadie Smith's On Beauty is a modern-day retelling of Howards End - which is still in copyright in the UK, so this shows that homage/reference/retelling is legally allowable. That's good news to me, as I have a YA idea that riffs off Of Mice of Men, which is also still in copyright.
Back to YA, Mal Peet's Exposure retells Othello in the context of a South American football club.
Melvin Burgess has done retellings more than once: Bloodsong and Bloodtide reference the Volsung Saga. Nicholas Dane references Nicholas Nickleby.
Back to YA, Mal Peet's Exposure retells Othello in the context of a South American football club.
Melvin Burgess has done retellings more than once: Bloodsong and Bloodtide reference the Volsung Saga. Nicholas Dane references Nicholas Nickleby.