The Cambridge Companion to Literature on Screen

A collection of essays covering many different aspects of literature on screen.

Deborah Cartmell (Edited by), Imelda Whelehan (Edited by)

9780521614863, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 10 May 2007

290 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.43 kg

"endeavors to change readers' notions of film adapatations as inferior to their literary counterparts...Summing up: Recommended."
-J.C. Tibbetts, University of Kansas, Choice

This Companion offers a multi-disciplinary approach to literature on film and television. Writers are drawn from different backgrounds to consider broad topics, such as the issue of adaptation from novels and plays to the screen, canonical and popular literature, fantasy, genre and adaptations for children. There are also case studies, such as Shakespeare, Jane Austen, the nineteenth-century novel and modernism, which allow the reader to place adaptations of the work of writers within a wider context. An interview with Andrew Davies, whose work includes Pride and Prejudice (1995) and Bleak House (2005), reveals the practical choices and challenges that face the professional writer and adaptor. The Companion as a whole provides an extensive survey of an increasingly popular field of study.

Introduction: Literature on screen: a synoptic view Deborah Cartmell and Imelda Whelehan
Part I. Theories of Literature on Screen: 1. Reading film and literature Brian McFarlane
2. Literature on screen, a history: in the gap Timothy Corrigan
Part II. History and Contexts: 3. Gospel narratives on silent film Judith Buchanan
4. William Shakespeare, filmmaker Douglas Lanier
5. The nineteenth-century novel on film: Jane Austen Linda V. Troost
6. Modernism and adaptation Martin Halliwell
7. Postmodern adaptation: pastiche, intertextuality and re-functioning Peter Brooker
Part III. Genre, Industry, Taste: 8. Heritage and literature on screen: Heimat and heritage Eckart Voigts-Virchow
9. 'Don't let's ask for the moon!': reading and viewing the woman's film Imelda Whelehan
10. Post-classical fantasy cinema: The Lord of the Rings I. Q. Hunter
11. Adapting children's literature Deborah Cartmell
12. Literature on the small screen: television adaptations Sarah Cardwell
Part IV. Beyond the 'Literary': 13. Classic literature and animation: all adaptations are equal, but some are more equal than others Paul Wells
14. High fidelity? Music in screen adaptations Annette Davison
15. From screen to text: novelisation, the hidden continent Jan Baetens
16. A practical understanding of literature on screen: two conversations with Andrew Davies Deborah Cartmell and Imelda Whelehan.

Subject Areas: Films, cinema [APF]