Adaptation in Contemporary Culture: Textual Infidelities

by Rachel Carroll (Editor)

Adaptation in Contemporary Culture: Textual Infidelities seeks to reconfigure the ways in which adaptation is conceptualised by considering adaptation within an extended range of generic, critical and theoretical contexts. This collection explores literary, film, television and other visual texts both as ‘origins' and ‘adaptations' and offers new insights into the construction of genres, canons and ‘classics'. Chapters investigate both ‘classic' and contemporary texts by British and American authors, from Jane Austen, Edgar Allen Poe and Charles Dickens to Bret Easton Ellis, P.D James and Sarah Waters. A diverse range of literary, film and television genres is examined, from romance to science fiction, the Western to the ‘women's picture' and the heritage film to postmodern pastiche. With a thematic focus on key critical paradigms for adaptation studies - fidelity, intertextuality, historicity and authorship - this collection expands the field of adaptation studies beyond its conventional focus on ‘page to screen' adaptations to include film remakes, video games, biopics, fan fiction and celebrity culture.

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Tara Brabazon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating edited collection that provides a strong entree into Adaptation Studies. The easiness with which the writers move between cultural studies, screen studies and literary studies is welcome.

The only issue with the book is that each chapter is based on a particular case study - Rebecca, the Austen obsession, the Western, children's media. It would have been beneficial to have a concluding section that presents tropes and strategies for the study of adaptations more generally.