14 LGBT Retellings of Classics
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Sometimes the cover is better than the original. For a lot of people, the cover is even better if it comes out queer. Singers who don’t change pronouns are fighting the good fight, for sure. A gay film version of Romeo and Juliet seems fresh and new. And authors rewriting the tales as old as time are doing more than just zhuzhing them up a bit. LGBT fairytale retellings – and other types of LGBT book retellings, for that matter – can give us something we’ve always been missing. They are the same classic stories we’re used to, in a fresh and more relatable package.
If the reception of Love, Simon tells us anything about queer narratives, it may be that the community is ready for old tricks done by a new dog. LGBT rom coms are just as exciting on the page as they are on the screen. Books like Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel, and the upcoming graphic novel Check, Please! make use of romcom tropes which are somehow new and surprising when the characters aren’t straight. It feels good to get excited about storylines which could otherwise be stale. It’s the excitement of getting to experience a well-loved trope, in a way which feels personalised and inviting. Representation does matter.
Getting more specific than mere tropes, there is also the potential to completely retell a well-loved story with a queer filter. We’ve all seen the tweets and the Tumblr posts – what if Grease was remade with Kristen Stewart as Danny? What if there was a lesbian version of Pride and Prejudice? What if Nick and Gatsby were really the ones in love?
These wonderings express a desire to be included in classic stories, and to see ourselves reflected in the tales that we love. It feeds into this wider notion that “we were always here” – a pride catch-cry that reminds the world that queer people have always existed but have been silenced in insidious and insoluble ways. There is healing to be done, though. Authors are filling those gaps in our literary history and giving us those cherished stories with exactly the kind of queerness we’ve been hoping for. Here are 14 LGBT book retellings to whet your appetite.
Retelling: Macbeth
Robin Talley takes the much-studied story of murder and megalomania to an exclusive private school, with power couple Maria and Lily thirsting after the Cawdor Kingsley scholarship and willing to go to any lengths to secure the futures they dream of. There is death, and underhanded bargaining, and all of the hauntings we might expect from a Macbeth adaptation – but there are also Characters of Colour, and a lesbian relationship at the centre of it all.
Retelling: The Tempest
The subtitle of this Tempest retelling is “a sci-fi novella”, and if that doesn’t hook you in, I don’t know what will. As a novella, it’s a more condensed version of the play, but still packs in all the key beats. On the planet of Gale, differences are punished, so Miranda keeps her seizures and visions a secret – especially the one of a girl coming down from the clouds like lightning. Despite the ever-watchful authorities, she works to figure out the meaning of her visions. A lot of nice familiar nods for fans of the play.
Retelling: The Winter’s Tale
Part of the Hogarth Shakespeare canon of cover versions, The Gap of Time was a pleasant surprise for me. I confess that I picked it up based only on the cover and Jeanette Winterson’s name. It excites me because it is one of the lesser-known Shakespeare plays. It’s handled with Winterson’s typical deftness and engrossing prose. Like all Shakespearian tragedies, the plot is complex: a London-based titan of industry banishes his newborn daughter to the American city of New Bohemia, believing that the child is not his own.
Retelling: The Little Mermaid
Combined with Norse mythology, this retelling of the classic fairytale has mermaid Ersel falling in love with shield-maiden Ragna. When a suitor of Ersel’s discovers their romance, he threatens them with exposure and punishment. Ersel turns to the trickster god Loki for help. Of course, the deal isn’t quite as simple as it seems.
Retelling: Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast for modern times. It is a more complex exploration of what it really means for others to view you as a beast. Dylan is an outcast at his school, rejected for being bigger and hairier than the other kids his age. He falls off his roof and is directed towards group therapy for self-harmers, where he meets the beautiful Jamie. The two become more than just friends, but Jamie isn’t sure how Dylan will react when he finds out that she is transgender. It’s a raw and honest story that is sure to give any reader food for thought.
If the reception of Love, Simon tells us anything about queer narratives, it may be that the community is ready for old tricks done by a new dog. LGBT rom coms are just as exciting on the page as they are on the screen. Books like Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel, and the upcoming graphic novel Check, Please! make use of romcom tropes which are somehow new and surprising when the characters aren’t straight. It feels good to get excited about storylines which could otherwise be stale. It’s the excitement of getting to experience a well-loved trope, in a way which feels personalised and inviting. Representation does matter.
Getting more specific than mere tropes, there is also the potential to completely retell a well-loved story with a queer filter. We’ve all seen the tweets and the Tumblr posts – what if Grease was remade with Kristen Stewart as Danny? What if there was a lesbian version of Pride and Prejudice? What if Nick and Gatsby were really the ones in love?
These wonderings express a desire to be included in classic stories, and to see ourselves reflected in the tales that we love. It feeds into this wider notion that “we were always here” – a pride catch-cry that reminds the world that queer people have always existed but have been silenced in insidious and insoluble ways. There is healing to be done, though. Authors are filling those gaps in our literary history and giving us those cherished stories with exactly the kind of queerness we’ve been hoping for. Here are 14 LGBT book retellings to whet your appetite.
