It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a popular book written in days of old will be paid deserved accolades. There is also a further truth universally known that some of the accolade will be in the form of an homage, be this academic or fictional. The fictional is where an author or aspiring author wishes to continue the “story” of their beloved character and to take the reader beyond “The End”.

I cannot strongly impress on you, gentle reader, how much I loathe the “homage” novel. I don’t want to know what Darcy & Elizabeth are having for breakfast, or that Jane & Rochester are sojourning in Bath or that Cathy has come back to life and searching for Heathlcliff, or that the Bronte siblings are now zombies terrorizing their village,  or that Marguerite and Percy are separated and seeing other people…

Why such a market for these “classic” updates is beyond me. A book ends and that’s all folks, done, finished, complete. The charm or wonder of a book is that you don’t have to read about the mundane or minutiae of daily existence. The wonder of a story is the unknown future in the happily ever after. Do we really need to to make these wonderful and yes, even dull stories into more than they need to be.

It is actually quite fascinating – the psyche where some readers don’t care about “the after” of a books story resolution  and those that are really interested in the “what happens”. I wonder if any studies/papers have been done on this?