Novel

The novel Dead Poets Society was written by N. H. Kleinbaum in 1996, five years after the movie came out. The novel is based on an earlier version of the script, so there are several differences from the film, even though the main action remains the same. The novel adds nothing new to the film, and there is little extra character development. 

The book contains some scenes that were considered largely irrelevant to the main story, so they were removed from the final version of the script due to time constraints. For instance, the novel describes in more detail what happens when Knox visits the Danburrys. There is also a subplot where Charlie falls in love with Ginny Danburry, Chet’s sister. Ginny Danburry was initially supposed to be a character in the movie, but her scenes were deleted from the final version, and the only mention of her is when Chris tells Knox that Ginny is at the party too. Another scene has Todd helping Neil rehearse lines for the play.

Some of the changes from the movie throw a different light on the characters. For instance, the scene in the movie where Knox kisses a sleeping Chris on her forehead is changed in the book to Knox grabbing her breasts while she is...