Can a modern rewrite of a classic novel ever truly capture the essence that made the original a classic in the first place?

I think it can. My answer is based on no empirical knowledge and so can be discarded if you disagree.

I am thinking of classics such as The Iliad, Odessey, Beowulf, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Njal’s Saga and so many others.

My first point is translation. Classical Greek, is a struggle for me but I get by, Saxon…. I get one word in three, Any Chinese language… I know nothing. Icelandic…one word in ten. So the majority of these novels I have read are translated and a better translation can often be found. Seamus Heaney the revered poet and Nobel winner translated Beowulf again and even he, wonderful as he was, lost much in his translation.

My second point; a story is nothing other than a story. Remember these tales no matter how important or ancient they may be are nothing other than stories. They are not history. Rewrites of these ancient tales are often wonderful, many writers have improved on the original story adding drama, pathos or a completely different take on the classics. I particularly enjoy the writers who are imagining Clytemnestra, Medusa, Circe from a female point of view.

Lastly (you will be glad to know) Modernisation, Much that was true hundreds or thousands of years ago is no longer acceptable to modern audiences. “Oedipus Rex” seems like a horror tale to us now, to the Greeks it was normal. Spartan philosophy seems abhorrent to the modern Man. Icelandic laws that the strongest rule is barbaric yet each of these things are true.

We hope that as a civilization we have moved on from there. We hope that we have truly become cosmopolitan and civilized. But have we?

Scots history and horror.