The Art of the Framing Device

My favorite movie is The Princess Bride, and it's one of the few movies that I think is as good as or better than the book on which it's based. It's a perfect blend of adventure, comedy, and romance and I think I've seen it about 100 times. Still not tired of it.

The book is quite enjoyable in its own right. I read it in high school and just recently finished reading it again. It's written by William Goldman, who creates a persona for himself within the story as part of his elaborate framing device. "William Goldman" is a fan of the Florinese writer S. Morgenstern (I was pretty sure Florin didn't exist, and then I checked Wikipedia so now I'm 100% sure) and decides to abridge his classic The Princess Bride, which "Goldman's" father read to him when he was a child. Prior to actually telling the story, he spins a yarn about how he first came across Morgenstern, his legal tangles with the estate, his arguments with publishers and, most entertainingly, the reaction from his family. Wife Helen is a "shrink" and son Jason is so fat he rolls everywhere he goes. (The actual William Goldman has two daughters and is not married to a woman named Helen). It's very clever, and it lends the book as a whole its sense of humor. It would be hard to sell an old-fashioned adventure tale about pirates and giants without some irony, and Goldman wisely creates this very early on.

He also frequently interrupts "Morgenstern" to include his own asides, at times explaining why he took out certain sections, at other times to criticize Morgenstern. It's amusing because you know that all of the writing was done by Goldman, and it's a rare writer who gets the opportunity to speak ill of his own work in this way. In a way he preempts any erstwhile critic of the work by getting to it first. It's impossible to get to wrapped up in Bride's plot because, just as soon as you do, Goldman inserts a comment. It reminds you that you're actually reading two stories: The Princess Bride, and Goldman's made-up version of how he found, abridged, and disseminated the text.

Goldman name-drops a lot of real people, including most of the cast of the movie, so at times it's not entirely clear whether he's telling the truth. There is such a thing as too many levels of meta, and by the end I think he's achieved that. So it's not a perfect book, but the story is entertaining and moves quickly, and the characters are so likable it's impossible not to root for them.