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Books in Motion addresses the hybrid, interstitial field of film adaptation. The introductory essay integrates a retrospective survey of the development of adaptation studies with a forceful argument about their centrality to any history of culture-any discussion, that is, of the transformation and transmission of texts and meanings in and across cultures. The thirteen especially composed essays that follow, organised into four sections headed 'Paradoxes of Fidelity', 'Authors, Auteurs, Adaptation', 'Contexts, Intertexts, Adaptation' and 'Beyond Adaptation', variously illustrate that claim by problematising the notion of fidelity, highlighting the role played by adaptation in relation to changing concepts of authorship and auteurism, exploring the extent to which the intelligibility of film adaptations is dependent on contextual and intertextual factors, and foregrounding the need to transcend any narrowly-defined concept of adaptation. Discussion ranges from adaptations of established classics like A Tale of Two Cities, Frankenstein, Henry V, Le temps retrouv?, Mansfield Park, Pride and Prejudice, 'The Dead' or Wuthering Heights, to contemporary (popular) texts/films like Bridget Jones's Diary, Fools, The Governess, High Fidelity, The Hours, The Orchid Thief/Adaptation, the work of Doris D?rrie, the first Harry Potter novel/film, or the adaptations made by Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick and Walt Disney. This book will appeal to both a specialised readership and to those accessing the dynamic field of adaptation studies for the first time. Mireia Aragay is Senior Lecturer in English literature and film at the University of Barcelona, Spain.
E-Book Content
Books in Motion Contemporary Cinema 2 Series Editors Ernest Mathijs & Steven Jay Schneider Editorial Advisory Board: Martin Barker (University of Wales-Aberystwyth) Wanda Bershen (Founder, Red Diaper Productions) Mark Betz (University of London, King’s College) David Bordwell (University of Wisconsin-Madison) Sean Cubitt (University of Waikato, New Zealand) Roger Garcia (Former Director, Hong Kong International Film Festival) Joke Hermes (University of Amsterdam) Jim Hillier (University of Reading) Mark Jancovich (University of Nottingham) Douglas Kellner (University of California-Los Angeles) Soyoung Kim (Korean National University of Arts) Amy Kronish (Consultant in Jewish & Israeli Film) Barney Oldfield (General Manager, Angelika Entertainment) Murray Pomerance (Ryerson University, Canada) Michael Renov (University of Southern California) David Schwartz (Chief Curator of Film, American Museum of the Moving Image) M.M. Serra (Executive Director, Film-Makers Cooperative) J. David Slocum (New York University) Christina Stojanova (Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada) Kristin Thompson (University of Wisconsin-Madison) Contemporary Cinema is a series of edited volumes and single-authored texts focusing on the latest in film culture, theory, reception and interpretation. There is a concentration on films released in the past fifteen years, and the aim is to reflect important current issues while pointing to others that to date have not been given sufficient attention. Books in Motion Adaptation, Intertextuality, Authorship Edited by Mireia Aragay Amsterdam - New York, NY 2005 Institutional support: The Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies at the University of Wales-Aberystwyth The paper on which this book is printed meets the requirements of “ISO 9706:1994, Information and documentation - Paper for documents - Requirements for permanence”. ISBN: 90-420-1957-3 ISSN: 1572-3070 ©Editions Rodopi B.V., Amsterdam - New York, NY 2005 Printed in the Netherlands For Víctor, Tomàs and Òscar This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS List of Illustrations Acknowledgements 9 10<