Fool by Christopher Moore is a comedic re-working of Shakespeare’s King Lear as told through the Fool’s eyes. As bawdy and funny as any of The Bard’s comedies, and an excellent intro to Moore’s sense of humor.

I would also add to this list Moore’s “Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Jesus’ Childhood Pal” – not so much a parallel novel, as it tells the story of the years between 13 – 33 of Jesus’ life, but worthy of a read.

I’d add Jack Maggs by Peter Carey to the list

[...] 10 Great literary spin-offs. [...]

[...] at Flavorwire, which referred to “10″ books. They are: Grendel by John Gardner (inspired [...]

I’d toss Barabbas by Par Lagerkvist onto that list as well. Fantastic book!

The Tragedy of Arthur which spins off of Shakespeare, King Arthur and Nabokov at the same time

Nice list! Would Joyce’s “Ulysses” count here too?

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. It tells the story of Dinah, Jacob’s daughter in Genesis, from her point of view and that of her mother and aunts. Seriously good book.

funny how so many titles are inspired by last names of either the original heroes or authors… interesting pattern

David Wroblewski’s The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is a recent (2008) retelling of Hamlet. But with dogs! I liked it, and it takes a well-done retelling of Shakespeare to impress me at this point.

Katharine Weber’s 2003 THE LITTLE WOMEN is a weirdly entertaining post-modern spin on Alcott’s Little Women.

How come Gertrude & Claudius and Finn are on the same page? Was Gertrude & Claudius supposed to go on the Rosencrantz page? Either way, you know there are 11 books in this post, not 10. I dont mind–11 is also a good number of literary spin offs. Or if you put the hamlet books together you could add a few more to a couple of the pages (as suggestions have rolled in) and call it 10 Great Literary Works That Inspired Spin-offs.

I loved Finn and Wide Sargasso Sea. Here are a couple more literary spin offs that I really liked in no particular order
Drood – Dan Simmons big read about the incident that inspired ‘The Mystery of Edwin Drood’
The Red Tent – Anita Diamant – someone mentioned this – interesting take on the Old Testament tale of Dinah
Jane – by April Lindner – a young, modern take on Jane Eyre (Rochester is a rock star)
The Quality of Mercy – Faye Kellerman about a young ‘converso’ who resorts to male dress and her relationship
with a young William Shakespeare.
Lady Vernon and Her Daughter – by Jane Rubino and Caitlin Rubino-Bradway – A clever re-invention of Jane
Austen’s ‘Lady Susann’
Before Green Gables – by Budge Wilson – An interesting speculation about Anne Shirley’s pre Green Gables life
Agatha – by Kathleen Tynan – A fictionalized take on the real life disappearance of Agatha Christie
The Baker Street Letters – Michael Robertson’s entertaining tale of a London lawyer whose Baker St office comes
with a unique job of answering the letters addressed to Sherlock Holmes
Heathcliff – Jeffrey Caine’s dark tale of Heathcliff’s disappearance and return to Wuthering Heights
Spade and Archer – Joe Gores very well done prequel to The Maltese Falcon