Literature Through Film: Realism, Magic, and the Art of Adaptation

Written by a leading figure in film and literary studies, this accessible textbook offers a first–rate analysis of the process and the art of literature–to–film adaptations. Provides a lively, rigorous, and clearly written account of key moments in the history of the novel from Don Quixote and Robinson Crusoe up to Lolita and One Hundred Years of Solitude Emphasizes both the literary texts themselves and their varied transtextual film adaptations Examines numerous literary trends – from the self–conscious novel to magic realism – before exploring the cinematic impact of the movement Reinvigorates the field of adaptation studies by examining it through the grid of contemporary theory Brings novels and film adaptations into the age of multiculturalism, postcoloniality, and the Internet by reflecting on their contemporary relevance

List of Illustations. Preface. Acknowledgments. Introduction. 1. A Cervantic Prelude: From Don Quixote to Postmodernism. 2. Colonial and Postcolonial Classics: From Robinson Crusoe to Survivor. 3. The Self–Conscious Novel: From Henry Fielding to David Eggers. 4. The Proto–cinematic Novel: Metamorphoses of Madame Bovary . 5. Underground Man and Neurotic Narrators: From Dostoevsky to Nabakov. 6. Modernism, Adaptation, and the French New Wave. 7. Full Circle: From Cervantes to Magic Realism. Index

Robert Stam is University Professor at New York University. His many books include Film Theory: An Introduction (Blackwell, 2000), Unthinking Eurocentrism: Multiculturalism and the Media (with Ella Shohat, 1994), and Subversive Pleasures: Bakhtin, Cultural Criticism and Film (1989). With Toby Miller, he is the editor of Film and Theory (Blackwell, 2000) and The Blackwell Companion to Film Theory (2000).

“Robert Stam helps us better understand two of the most important art forms of our time – film and the novel. In so doing, he brings to light new sources for the distinctiveness of each. The general method guiding his particular analyses of movement from one medium to the other is itself a major contribution to translation theory.” Michael Holquist, Yale University