Novels
In 1959, the novel Psycho was published. The novel was loosely based on the Wisconsin serial killer and cannibal Ed Gein. Author Robert Bloch lived 40 miles away from Gein's farmhouse and liked the idea of somebody being able to kill people in a small community and get away with it for years without being caught. The character of Norman Bates was very different in the novel than in the film version. In the novel, Bates is overweight, in his early 40's and drinks heavily. When Joseph Stefano adapted the novel into the screenplay, he made the character of Norman young, attractive and vulnerable. In 1982, Bloch wrote a sequel novel called Psycho II which had nothing to do with the 1983 film version. In the novel, Norman Bates escapes the mental institution and goes to Hollywood to stop the production of a film based on his life. Many critics and fans described the novel as being silly and weird and couldn't have possibly been made into a film. In 1990, due to the pressure from his publishing company Bloch wrote a third novel called Psycho House. However according to horror writer David J. Schow, when writing it Bloch originally called it Psycho 13. In the novel, the Bates mansion and motel are bought as tourist attractions and a series of murders begin to take place.
Read more about this topic: Psycho (film Series)
Famous quotes containing the word novels:
“Of all my novels this bright brute is the gayest.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“Compare the history of the novel to that of rock ‘n’ roll. Both started out a minority taste, became a mass taste, and then splintered into several subgenres. Both have been the typical cultural expressions of classes and epochs. Both started out aggressively fighting for their share of attention, novels attacking the drama, the tract, and the poem, rock attacking jazz and pop and rolling over classical music.”
—W. T. Lhamon, U.S. educator, critic. “Material Differences,” Deliberate Speed: The Origins of a Cultural Style in the American 1950s, Smithsonian (1990)
“The novels are as useful as Bibles, if they teach you the secret, that the best of life is conversation, and the greatest success is confidence, or perfect understanding between sincere people.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)