Adapting Spanish Classics for the New Millennium
by Linda M. Willem
The twenty-first-century's turn away from fidelity-based adaptations toward more innovative approaches has allowed adapters from Spain, Argentina, and the United States to draw upon Spain's rich body of nineteenth-century classics to address contemporary concerns about gender, sexuality, race, class, disability, celebrity, immigration, identity, social justice, and domestic violence. This book provides a snapshot of visual adaptations in the first two decades of the new millennium, examining how novelistic material from the past has been remediated for today's viewers through film, television, theater, opera, and the graphic novel. Its theoretical approach refines the binary view of adapters as either honoring or opposing their source texts by positing three types of adaptation strategies: salvaging (which preserves old stories by giving them renewed life for modern audiences), utilizing (which draws upon a pre-existing text for an alternative purpose, building upon the story and creating a shift in emphasis without devaluing the source material), and appropriation (which involves a critique of the source text, often with an attempt to dismantle its authority). Special attention is given to how adapters address audiences that are familiar with the source novels, and those that are not. This examination of the vibrant afterlife of classic literature will be of interest to scholars and educators in the fields of adaptation, media, Spanish literature, cultural studies, performance, and the graphic arts.
Hardcover
English
Brand New
Back Cover
The twenty-first-century's turn away from fidelity-based adaptations toward more innovative approaches has allowed adapters from Spain, Argentina, and the United States to draw upon Spain's rich body of nineteenth-century classics to address contemporary concerns about gender, sexuality, race, class, disability, celebrity, immigration, identity, social justice, and domestic violence. This book provides a snapshot of visual adaptations in the first two decades of the new millennium, examining how novelistic material from the past has been remediated for today's viewers through film, television, theater, opera, and the graphic novel. Its theoretical approach refines the binary view of adapters as either honoring or opposing their source texts by positing three types of adaptation strategies: salvaging (which preserves old stories by giving them renewed life for modern audiences), utilizing (which draws upon a pre-existing text for an alternative purpose, building upon the story and creating a shift in emphasis without devaluing the source material), and appropriation (which involves a critique of the source text, often with an attempt to dismantle its authority). This examination of the vibrant afterlife of classic literature will be of interest to scholars and educators in the fields of adaptation, media, Spanish literature, cultural studies, performance, and the graphic arts. Linda M. Willem is the Betty Blades Lofton Professor of Spanish at Butler University (USA).
Author Biography
Linda M. Willem is the Betty Blades Lofton Professor of Spanish at Butler University (USA).
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: Retelling Ala's La Regenta.- Chapter 3: Revisualizing Galdós's Marianela.- Chapter 4: Reconfiguring Blasco Ibáñez's Arroz y tartana and Flor de Mayo.- Chapter 5: Remixing Galdós's Realidad, Doña Perfecta, and Tormento.- Chapter 6: Reimagining Valera's Pepita Jiménez and Galdós's Fortunata y Jacinta.- Chapter 7: Retracing Galdós's Tristana and Pardo Bazán's Insolación.- Chapter 8: Reworking Galdós's Tristana and Pardo Bazán's Pazos de Ulloa.- Chapter 9: Conclusion.
Feature
Examines not only cinematic and televised adaptations but also stage plays that form part of live-theater renaissance Applies an unusually wide variety of theoretical approaches, drawing upon current scholarship on adaptation Provide a snapshot of the opening decades of the new millennium
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