William Goldman RIP

[Onkel Neal]

My favorite contemporary American novelist. Alas.

William Goldman, Oscar-Winning Screenwriter, Dies at 87 https://dcdr.me/2K9Kj5T via @decider

[Commander Wallace]

I was a fan of his work. Most would know him from the screenplays of such great movies as ' Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and " All the Presidents men" and won Oscar's for both.

Goldman also transferred his novels, such as “Magic,” “The Princess Bride” and “Marathon Man,” to the Silver Screen as well.


Rest in Peace Mr. Goldman.

[u crank]

RIP William Goldman.

Just looked over a list of his work. Wow.

[Skybird]

I red and laughed about The Princess Bride when I red it in bed at school years, and then could not sleep. I then gave the book to my parents, which was a mistake, because then I still could not sleep: my Mum red it in bed in the other room, then laughed, and red it loud to my father, and then he laughed.

Terrible. How should one sleep as long as there are books like this...?

[Jimbuna]

A genius in his industry.

RIP

[Onkel Neal]

If you read Color of Light, you would certainly see genius. Magic is also good, Marathon Man, and of course, the Princess Bride.

Quick detail about Princess Bride. When the book was published, there is a forward where Goldman explains the original Princess Bride was written by S. Morgenstern. Princess Bride is a rediscovered classic:

If you’ve read the book—and if not, why not?—you know that William Goldman is just the editor. The real author is the mysterious S. Morgenstern from Florin, and it was Goldman’s Florinese father who used to read the book aloud to young William as a boy. When he had a son of his own, William procured a copy and was shocked to discover that his father had been abridging the narrative and changing certain parts of the story. And it turned out the original was a wordy political satire—including a 56-page scene of Buttercup packing her luggage—and it’s no wonder William’s son was unimpressed. So William excises all the dull bits and follows his father’s alterations, and that’s the version that’s being published and that I had in my fourteen-year-old hands.

Major spoiler: I dare you to avoid reading this until you have read the book, you will thank me.

 

But, the whole concept was part of the book's fiction. There was no S. Morgenstern. Goldman made that up too!

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Man, Goldman was the Master of using the printed word to manipulate the reader's expectations. There are so many examples to choose from. He could lead you down a path and then flipped everything with a sentence, and literally shock you.