Let’s Talk Bookish: Can There Be Too Many Retellings?

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme that was originally created and hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books starting in August 2019, and was then cohosted with Dani @ Literary Lion from May 2020 to March 2022. Book Nook Bits has hosted since April 2022.

If you’ve been following this blog for a while, firstly, thank you, secondly, you might now that I can’t resist a retelling. I think when done well, they can make something old seem fresh and new. So I was quite excited when I saw today’s Let’s Talk Bookish topic!

Let’s Talk Bookish April 12th
Can There Be Too Many Retellings?

Prompts: There is no end to the fictional retellings out there. From fairytales to Shakespeare to mythology all over the world, there are many stories that have been retold countless times in countless ways. Do you like reading retellings? What are some of your favorites? Are there any stories you’re tired of seeing retold? Do you think that there can be too many retellings?

I do like retellings, when they’re done well (but really, who likes a bad one?). With the right writer, a retelling can give you something fresh in the story, maybe a take on characters you thought you knew, or commentary on contemporary topics through a retelling lens. However, some feel like they maybe don’t have enough of the original to truly be a ‘retelling’, while others feel like they follow so closely to the original plot it becomes almost…pointless.

As a whole, I adore the Twisted Tales series, and think there’s some great retellings, reimagining’s, and twists in these takes on Disney tales. Reflection has to be my favourite, and the author’s non-IP debut Spin the Dawn is just as great. A Curse So Dark and Lonely might be the cause for a lot of Beauty and the Beast retellings that followed after, but again, it’s one I adored. Sarah Pinborough’s Tales of the Kingdoms series includes three great retellings of different fairy tales, and Kalynn Bayron has an excellent take on Cinderella in Cinderella is Dead.

I really could go on. I don’t think I’ve gone overboard, really, in reading too many of the same sort of retellings – I think they go through cycles, and sometimes with a bit of a gap it’s nice to see newer writers tackling the same story. It feels like we’ve moved on a little from fairy tales, which were everywhere for a while, especially Beauty & the Beast. There’s been a rise in Greek mythology retellings focusing on Persephone and Hades. But I don’t think anything is overdone until we get margenalised perspectives on it, too, and I think even when we’ve had too much of one, it’ll likely re-emerge further down the line in some shape or form – there’s a reason the stories themselves are so enduring, after all, and often they come with so many different versions of the original, what’s one more, really?

So, I don’t think there can be too many. I think there can be good and bad ones, and I think sometimes what feels overdone now will feel fresh with a few more years distance. There are so many different ways of telling the same story (look at how many ‘Hero’s Journey’ stories are out there!) and so many different perspectives that often get overlooked, I think it’s less that things get ‘overdone’ and more than once something hits, you can get quite a few poor imitations, and I think if you pick up badly done retellings for the same story too many times, it starts to feel overdone, but that’s not to say you have to keep working through them! Try something different, and maybe put aside those kind of retellings for now to come back to later.