The Princess Brides, Lies, and Other Fun Things

[wryness]

Okay, for those of you who have read the novel of The Princess Bride...

I asked Board Question 72881, and I'm having a hard time deciding if I want to tell my students right off that The Princess Bride isn't really an abridgement, or if I want to let them figure it out for themselves. If I let them know from the beginning, then we could discuss the "abridger asides" as a form of postmodernism, along with the ways the text plays with fairy tale conventions. I also have a hard time believing that someone in one of my classes won't look online and discover Morgenstern is a fake.

Then again, I'm sure some people would love to discover it all for themselves. I don't think I want to lie if someone asks me if Morgenstern is real, so I'm not sure what to do. How can I tastefully avoid the subject without being dishonest? Or perhaps--what's a tasteful way to reveal the truth?

[UffishThought]

I think several of them will already know, and spoil it for the rest, if you try to keep it a secret.

And some will look for years for a copy of Morgenstern's original book, because they want to read that hat scene as it was originally written, dangit, and it just doesn't occur to them that someone would lie about that. (That was my experience, anyway. I only learned it was fake when I mentioned my frustration that our local library didn't have ANYTHING by Morgenstern to my dad.)

[Tally M.]

I was one of those who didn't realize that Morgenstern wasn't the original author and spent forever trying to look up the "unabridged" edition. I haven't gone back to try and read it since...

[Whistler]

haha me too XD if some student spoils the surprise you could bring up our experiences as a leading point for discussion

Is this a high school class or college?

[Talons]

I didn't realize it wasn't true until I read it on the 100 hour board. I think you should keep it a secret as long as possible as it seems more fun that way. If you want to discuss it, you can always reveal the secret after you finish.

[vorpal blade]

I know people I cannot convince that it isn't true.

I think I might introduce the book to others as a book supposedly abridged from a longer book by Morgenstern. Let them decide on their own if Morgenstern really existed.

[Giovanni Schwartz]

^per VB's idea: Sounds like a GREAT opportunity for a persuasive essay to me.

[wryness]

Is this a high school class or college?

High school. (Eleventh-graders!) I like the suggestions you've all made so far. I guess I can just see this going a lot of different ways. I have a feeling the topic is going to come up before we can get to the end of the book, and I don't think I can lie to the students. (It really bothers me when teachers do this for the sake of "Education." My rationale if I were a student would be, if the teacher lies to us about this thing when he thinks it's convenient, why should I take everything else he says at face value?)

Anyway, I like the idea of student having to write a persuasive piece on whether Morgenstern is real or not...or if the truth's become fairly obvious, then a persuasive piece on whether all of Goldman's authorial manipulation and fabrication are ethical/good or not. Ooh, ooh--and instead of ME flat-out telling the students whether Morgenstern's real or not, I could turn it into a research activity. That sounds sort of fun, actually!

I think I'm planning on reading the book with the students first, and then showing them the movie. I think our discussion of differences in the adaptations would be richer that way. Do you guys agree, or do you think it'd be better to show the movie first?

[UffishThought]

Did I already ask what school you're at?

Also, you could also do it as a anticipation activity to head off know-it-alls. "This book is presented as the abridgement of another book, but that book doesn't exist. What, if anything, does Goldman gain by lying to us like that? Do you feel entertained or cheated? Why? Aren't all fiction text essentially lies anyway? What makes this one different?"

[Giovanni Schwartz]

I'd say watch the movie after. That way, they don't have expectations of what to get out of the book. And I like the book WAY more than the movie, so I'd rather a class of HS Juniors be disappointed in the things that the movie didn't have, as opposed to what the book had.

[S.A.M.]

I'd rather a class of HS Juniors be disappointed in the things that the movie didn't have, as opposed to what the book had.

That could lead to a great discussion about the differences required to tell the same story with visual media versus written media, where dialogue gets made up, scenes added, and some content dropped to build a cohesive story line and have it fit within a certain time constraint.