Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2007.
Call No: 753(04) WEL
Author: Walsh, James M.; Lev, Peter
Source: US
Place: Maryland
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
PubDate: 2007
PhysDes: xxviii, 361p. ; 23cm
Subject: ADAPTATIONS; ADAPTATIONS. SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM; APOCALYPSE NOW (US, Francis Ford Coppola, 1979); MOBY DICK (UK, John Huston, 1956); WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S ROMEO + JULIET (US, Baz Luhrmann, 1996); HOUSE OF MIRTH, THE (UK, Terence Davies, 2000); BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA (US, Francis Ford Coppola, 1992); VERTIGO (US, Alfred Hitchcock, 1958); MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, THE (US, John Frankenheimer, 1962); MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, THE (US, Jonathon Demme, 2004); QUIET AMERICAN, THE (US, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1957); RIDE WITH THE DEVIL (US, Ang Lee, 1999)
Summary: From examinations of Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now to Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, The Literature Film Reader: Issues of Adaptation covers a wide range of films adapted from other sources. The first section presents essays on the hows and whys of adaptation studies, and subsequent sections highlight films adapted from a variety of sources, including classic and popular literature, drama, biography, and memoir. The last section offers a new departure for adaptation studies, suggesting that films about history—often a separate category of film study—can be seen as adaptations of records of the past. The anthology concludes with speculations about the future of adaptation studies.
Several essays provide detailed analyses of films, in some cases discussing more than one adaptation of a literary or dramatic source, such as The Manchurian Candidate, The Quiet American, and Romeo and Juliet. Other works examined include Moby Dick, The House of Mirth, Dracula, and Starship Troopers, demonstrating the breadth of material considered for this anthology.
Although many of the essays appeared in Literature/Film Quarterly, more than half are original contributions. Chosen for their readability, these essays avoid theoretical jargon as much as possible. For this reason alone, this collection should be of interest to not only cinema scholars but to anyone interested in films and their source material. Ultimately, The Literature Film Reader: Issues of Adaptation provides an excellent overview of this critical aspect of film studies.
Notes: Includes index and bibliographic references
ISBN: 9780810859494
Contents: Introduction: Issues of screen adaptation : what is truth? / James M. Welsh -- It wasn't like that in the book-- / Brian McFarlane -- Literature vs. literacy : two futures for adaptation studies / Thomas M. Leitch -- Adaptation studies and the history of ideas : the case of Apocalypse now / Donald M. Whaley -- Adaptation studies revisited : purposes, perspectives, and inspiration / Sarah Cardwell -- The Cold War's "undigested apple-dumpling" : imaging Moby-Dick in 1956 and 2001 / Walter C. Metz -- Trying harder : probability, objectivity, and rationality in adaptation studies / David L. Kranz -- What is a "Shakespeare film," anyway? / James M. Welsh -- Returning to Naples : seeing the end in Shakespeare film adaptation / Yong Li Lan -- Pop goes the Shakespeare : Baz Luhrmann's William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet / Elsie Walker -- Reframing adaptation : representing the invisible (on The house of mirth, directed by Terence Davies, 2000) / Wendy Everett -- Sucking Dracula : mythic biography into fiction into film, or Why Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula is not really Bram Stoker's Dracula or Wallachia's Dracula / James M. Welsh -- Vertigo, novel and film / Peter Lev -- Heinlein, Verhoeven, and the problem of the real : Starship troopers / J. P. Telotte -- Literary hardball : the novel-to-screen complexities of The Manchurian candidate / Linda Constanzo Cahir -- The oak : a balancing act from page to screen / Odette Caufman-Blumenfeld -- Adaptation and the Cold War : Mankiewicz's The quiet American / Brian Neve -- All the quiet Americans / C. Kenneth Pellow -- Camille Claudel : biography constructed as melodrama / Joan Driscoll Lynch -- W. C. Handy goes uptown : Hollywood constructs the American blues musician / John C. Tibbetts -- Memoir and the limits of adaptation / William Mooney -- Getting it right : the Alamo on film / Frank Thompson -- "Plains" speaking : sound, sense, and sensibility in Ang Lee's Ride with the devil / John C. Tibbetts -- Where are we going, where have we been? / Thomas M. Leitch -- The future of adaptation studies / Peter Lev.
