The Princess Bride
What you may not know is that The Princess Bride was first published not by William Goldman but by S. Morgenstern — a Florinese author writing in the sixteenth century. Goldman has merely abridged it. This is, of course, entirely untrue.
What Makes This Book Essential
Goldman's great trick is the frame narrative: he claims to be abridging S. Morgenstern's classic Florinese novel, cutting the boring parts to leave only adventure, true love, and miraculous recoveries. The frame itself is a story: Goldman's father reading the novel to him when he was sick in bed, Goldman's own son refusing to finish it because a character dies.
Inside the frame: Westley and Buttercup, the Dread Pirate Roberts, Inigo Montoya and his quest to avenge his father, the giant Fezzik, the villain Humperdinck. Goldman is one of Hollywood's greatest screenwriters — Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men, Marathon Man — and the novel has his screenwriter's economy: every sentence earns its place.
The 1987 film adaptation is a masterpiece. The novel is funnier and more moving. Goldman's frame narrative — his relationship with his son, his bitterness about Hollywood, the emotional truth underneath the genre pastiche — is everything the film had to cut.
Read Free First — Public Domain Classics
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