The BBC showed Doctor Zhivago this afternoon. The plot summary for it made me laugh out loud. It was the following, nothing more:
A doctor (Omar Sharif) falls in love with the mistress of a political opportunist.
It's not wrong: it is an accurate summary of the plot as far as it goes; but the bald, blunt reductiveness is absurd compared to the famous epic drama it is describing. It's like calling St. Peter's Basilica "a church in Rome" or Shakespeare "a well-known writer from the Midlands."
It got me thinking about doing the same - absurd summaries - to other classics. Here are some I thought of:
Anna Karenina
A married Russian noblewoman embarks on an affair with an army officer.
Twelfth Night
A shipwrecked young woman decides to enter the service of a local aristocrat disguised as a man; various complications ensue.
King Lear
A king unwisely divides his kingdom between two of his daughters, and subsequently goes mad.
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| 'A Study in Scarlet', the first ever Sherlock Holmes story, appeared in Beeton's Christmas Annual for 1887. |
A Study in Scarlet
A quite thin man solves a crime.
Casino Royale
A civil servant from London takes part in a game of cards.
Can you think of any ?
Hamilton: fast-talking, mixed race revolutionary has affair, dies in duel.
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