The most dramatic example of revision that I’m aware of is from Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.

”Whitman published the first edition of Leaves of Grass in 1855. He produced varied editions of the work ending with the ninth, or “deathbed” edition, in 1891–1892. What began as a slim book of 12 poems was by the end of his life a thick compendium of almost 400. Whitman regarded each version of Leaves as its own distinct book and continuously altered the contents. He added new poems, named or renamed old ones, and, until 1881, repeatedly regrouped them. He developed the typography, appended annexes, reworded lines, and changed punctuation, making each edition unique.”

https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/whitman/leavesofgrass.html

Library of America publishes a volume which includes both the initial 1855 and final 1892 versions.

https://www.loa.org/books/76-poetry-amp-prose/

Stephen King revised The Gunslinger (1982) quite heavily in 2003, to bring the continuity in line with the later books in the Dark Tower series.

I’m currently revising my own first novel, after realizing that, as proud of it as I am, the original version could have been better.

Authors have updated their works e.g. Frankenstein rewrite in 1831, Dickens also updated at least A Tale of Two Cities possibly some others.

There was a thing in the 1980s or so, when Ted Turner bought up a bunch of classic black and white movies, and started colourizing them. People got really up in arms. George Lucas, and Woody Allen testified in front of some sort committee, and I believe a law was passed prohibiting the alteration of films without the consent of the original creators.

Personally, if it’s done by the author, or with their consent, I see no problem. But if not, then it should be left alone. With one exception: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/58398068

Yeah I recall The Iliad is getting a new translation so as to be more resonant with nowadays’ culture. The sub was in a big cheer about it.

There are retellings of classic stories that have become public domain and some are reimagined in the modern world. IIRC things become public domain 100 years after being published.

Although I recently got into reading some classics and read the original Dracula, not at all what I expected but I’m glad I read it. I also thoroughly enjoyed Shirley Jackson’s Haunting of Hill House. If a story really interests you I recommend checking it out at the library and giving it a shot - some writing styles can be hard at first but you get used to them after a few chapters. You might be surprised how different some details are from everything you’ve heard!

Well, there are copyright laws to deal with, so in most cases not. Especially if the author is still alive. If they’ve died, it’s up to the estate.

Stephen king released an expanded version (added like 200-300 pages) and slightly edited version of “The Stand” like a decade after the original was published.

I don’t think either of the reasons you suggest as being worthy of “updating” a book are actually good reasons at all. Dune was not trying to predict future technology. Its language is a major part of its character. These aspects are true for all books.

I recently started reading E.E. “Doc” Smith’s highly influential book, The Skylark of Space. I looked up the original publication date, and found it was serialized in 1928. That felt right at the beginning of the book, but then more and more terminology crept in that sounded too modern. When he expressed explosive power in megatons, I knew something was wrong. I went on archive.org to look up scans of the original magazines where it was published, and sure enough, it had been heavily rewritten. When it was published as a book in 1946, he adjusted a bunch, and apparently changed and modernized even more in subsequent 1950 and 1958 editions. Unfortunately it looks to me like he was also under pressure to shorten it, and in the process left some scenes so curtailed as to make little sense compared to what happened in them in the original.

I believe the Riddles in the Dark chapter in The Hobbit got rewritten after LOTR was published. How Bilbo came to be in possession of the One Ring was changed to be more in line with the story of LOTR.

Like, mostly all of the plays of William Shakespeare, for example?

Only problem is, today Shakespeare would get his pants sued off for “copyright infringement” using the characters and "world " of any just about any writer whose work is within copyright. Modern slogan of publishing is: authorized rewrites only!

So the only way you could do such a book (if the original story is within copyright) is to go beg permission from the publisher or author or descendants of the author if they’re no longer alive. They probably won’t grant permission. If they do, they will most often demand a big share of the revenue from the book. If they don’t give permission, courts will censor the book, preventing it from being sold.

Quite a deterrent to this sort of project.

Magician (Riftwar saga) was rewritten by Raymond E Feist some years after the series was completed. I’ve only read the original so don’t know how different it was.

Thomas Hardy edited some of his novels later on. Some versions I’ve read have footnotes with the original words. They are only subtle word or phrase changes.

Stranger in a Strange Land was first released completely gutted because it was controversial. The unabridged version wasn’t released until after Heinlein’s death.

Yeah, a few years back John Scalzi rewrote the book Little Fuzzy, by H Beam Piper, as Fuzzy Nation. The original book was set hundreds of years in the future, but was written in the 1960s, and would have references to things like tape recordings, and film that had to be developed.

Dante’s Inferno had a modern translation a few years back.

Also, not quite the same thing, but in response to the classic sci-fi story “The Cold Equations,” about an engineering problem with no humane solution, a later author wrote a story called “The Cold Solution,” which presents the same scenario, but solves the problem differently.