The Princess Bride

I read William Goldman's, The Princess Bride, whilst on holiday with my family last week. The italicized interruptions, where he details his troubles with his fictional family (cold psychiatrist wife and fat son, whereas in reality he has two daughters and no sons), the S.Morgensten estate (he claims to be merely abridging Morgenstern's original), 'Florinese' scholars (who supposedly criticise his abridgement) and Hollywood, are as entertaining as the main narrative itself. They demonstrate not only a wonderfully inventive story telling technique but also that the frustrations of the intellectual property landscape existed well in advance of our current digital age.

His tales of woe regarding the abridgement have a seriously authentic feel but there are loads of clues like the name of the Morgenstern estate's lawyer, Kermit Shog. In the 25th anniversary edition of the book he includes a story about his now athletic son convincing him to write a sequel, Buttercup's Baby. After years of lawsuits with estate, a timely peace offer arrives, coincidently just as he decides to do it. The peace offer has a sting in the tail, though, as they are only offering to drop all the lawsuits in exhange for his public blessing for a sequel written by Stephen King. The estate is keen to cash in on royalties and King sells more books. Total fiction, as Stephen King himself relates on his own website.

The book or at least the interludes should be required reading for students of intellectual property, amateur or professional.