Framed as an abridgment of a beloved old adventure novel, Goldman's tale follows farm girl Buttercup and her true love Westley through pirates, giants, swordsmen, and a scheming prince, narrated with constant winking commentary from the "abridger" himself.
Books mentioned in The Princess Bride (13)
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville: “Just as the chapters on whaling in Moby Dick can be omitted by all but the most punishment-loving readers, so the packing scenes that Morgenstern details here are really best left alone.”
The Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum: “Morgenstern's Florinese version came before Baum wrote The Wizard of Oz, so in spite of the fact that he was the originator, he comes out just the other way around.”
Time and Again by Jack Finney: “I read recently that the fine Jack Finney novel Time and Again has taken close to twenty years and still hasn't made it to the screen.”
The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky: “Can you imagine cornering Dostoyevsky and begging him for funny stuff about The Idiot?”
The Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper: “"Cooper maybe," she'd say, so off I went into The Deerslayer and all the Leatherstocking stuff, and then on my own one day I stumbled onto Dumas and D'Artagnan.”
The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin: “I am going mad having meetings on Ira Levin's The Stepford Wives, which I am adapting for the Silver Screen.”
Marathon Man by William Goldman: “Take Szell, the Nazi dentist in Marathon Man (Olivier in the movie, and wasn't he great?)”
The Body by Stephen King: “Rob's career really took off with Stand By Me, another work by King (a novella called The Body).”
The Temple of Gold by William Goldman: “When I was twenty-six, my first novel, The Temple of Gold, was published by Alfred A.”
Boys and Girls Together by William Goldman: “in my book-writing career, only Boys and Girls Together got a worse savaging.”
No Way to Treat a Lady by William Goldman: “(No Way to Treat A Lady was first published under a pseudonym, Harry Longbaugh, the real name of the Sundance Kid.)”
Brothers and Sisters by Edith Neisser: “she wrote terrific books about how we screw up our children— Brothers and Sisters was one of her books, The Eldest Child was another.”
The Eldest Child by Edith Neisser: “she wrote terrific books about how we screw up our children— Brothers and Sisters was one of her books, The Eldest Child was another.”
Books that mention The Princess Bride (1)
The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai: “I couldn’t resist adding The Princess Bride.”