Film and Literature Review

8/11/2019 Film and Literature Review

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Film-Philosophy 17.1 (2013)

Film-Philosophy ISSN 1466-4615 480

Review: Timothy Corrigan, ed. (2012) Film and Literature: An Introduction and Reader , 2nd Edition. London and New York:Routledge.

Shawn Loht 1

A leading introductory reader in the burgeoning field of adaptation studies,this monograph substantially updates and expands upon the first edition,which appeared in 1999. This new edition features an increased selection ofhistorical and contemporary readings in adaptation studies, including manycontemporary writings from recent literature. The texts central section ofreadings is bookended with major sections written by Corrigan that are

principally student-centered.

As a whole, this work sketches key historical and theoretical viewson the relationship of film and literature. Its reading level is tailored towardintermediate and advanced undergraduate students. The books targetaudience is two different but related course demographics: 1) film studiescourses on film adaptation, and 2) English or other literature studies courseson literature in film. However, the delivery of this texts content and thefocus of its chapters suggest a definite slant toward film and adaptationstudies. Corrigans introductory section, some forty pages long, places

particular emphasis on the theoretical question of adaptation and on the

historic overlap of film and literature as interrelated adaptive media. Thetexts most substantial reading selections treat the relation of film andliterature from the angle of film studies and assume the priority of film as anindependent art form. All in all, the text is most suitable for a film studiesaudience with a primary interest in the topic of adaptation, though someinstructors of literature and film may also find it useful as a main coursetextbook.

In the texts first main section (Part 1) Corrigan provides a brief butvery rich history of cinema examined from the perspective of itslongstanding association with literature. This section is divided into sixloosely chronological chapters. Corrigan begins with a consideration offilms historic origins in literature and concludes with a look at the topic ofadaptation in wider contemporary media. This part offers a very accessibleand concise introduction to the legacy of films relation to literature, and ingeneral it makes a compelling case for regarding adaptation as a bona fide scholarly topic in film and literature studies.

The texts second and main section (Part 2) compiles essays andexcerpts from seminal works in film and media studies, as well ascontemporary writings from recent books and scholarly articles. This part

1 Mercer University: [email protected]


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of the text is broken up into six subsections on both general and specialisedtopics, totaling 28 different readings, with each reading made into its ownchapter. Corrigan includes at the end of every chapter study questions orsuggested discussion and project topics. The study questions in particular

are well-formulated and will be useful for enhancing student review of thereadings.Aside from Corrigans historical introduction in Part 1, the

theoretical readings in Part 2 of the book are its best and most importantfeature. Especially noteworthy are the five selections in the first,! Adaptation Studies subsection. These five readings do a fine job ofintroducing the historical and contemporary dialogues on adaptation and theinteractivity of literature and film. Readings from Andr Bazin, DudleyAndrew, Robert Stam, Lawrence Venuti, and Thomas Leitch give a broad

but focused look at the topic of adaptation in film. Leitchs essay in particular is an elegant, philosophically rich defense of the film genre, juxtaposed against traditional claims of films status as an often derivativeart form that cannot equal the achievement of literature. The selectionsfrom Stam and Venuti likewise provide sophisticated yet accessibledefenses of adaptation as a legitimate and serious artistic achievement infilm. These two contributions illustrate the theoretical complexity ofadaptation and will appeal to those studying film with a philosophical bent.

The other subsections of Part 2 examine more specific topics inadaptation. The second subsection, entitled ! Adaptations in History,

presents several historical writings that, while not directly engaged with thetopic of adaptation as such, have significance for adaptation studies. Thecollective purpose of this particular set of readings is in large part left up tothe reader to discern, as Corrigan does not preface the subsection divisionswith any kind of leading discussion or vignette. This subsection appears toaim at presenting historical analyses of films relationship to the filmed, inorder to stimulate thought regarding precisely what and how film adapts itssubject matter. Notable reading selections here include excerpts fromVachel Lindsay, Hugo Mnsterberg, and Sergei Eisenstein. Also includedis a substantial portion of Walter Benjamins second version of ! The Workof Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility. As a whole, thissubsection seems a bit disparate and unmotivated in comparison with thefirst subsections much stronger theoretical focus.

The third subsection, entitled ! Authors and Auteurs, takes up inthree chapters the historically important topic of film authors and directorsconsidered as auteurs. Those interested in the philosophical question of

precisely what constitutes film authorship and the nature of the sources afilm auteur adapts will find in these chapters some gainful, though basic,texts. The fourth subsection consists of readings that evaluate the formaldifferences of cinema and other media such as theatre, fiction writing, andnon-fiction. Of note in this subsection are substantial readings that excerpt


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George Bluestones Novels into Film and Andr Bazins What is Cinema? The reading from Bluestone considers the boundaries and intersection

points of film and the fictional novel; the piece from Bazin evaluates thedifferences of film acting and theatrical acting. Rounding out this

subsection of the text is an excerpt from Corrigans recent monograph onthe essay film genre. The excerpt may be of interest to film-philosophersfor its engagement with the concept of the literary ! essay in the tradition ofMichel de Montaigne and for its exploration of the philosophical essaysgrafting onto film. Among all of the texts divisions, this and the fifthsubsection ( ! Major Writers/Major Films) will be of most service forstudents and scholars of literature in film.

The last two subsections of Part 2 are more applicative and extra-disciplinary. The fifth subsection ( ! Major Writers/Major Films) takes acase-study approach, honing in on Shakespeare and Austen as two seminalexamples of literary authors whose work has provided a continuousfoundation for adaptive film. Shakespeare and Austen are ostensibly chosen

because their legacies comprise adaptive genres unto themselves. The twocomparative readings on Shakespeare examine adaptive aspects of Macbeth in film. The second of the two readings, written by Courtney Lehmann, will

provide an especially rich source for introducing students to the sheervariety of adaptive modes a work such as Macbeth facilitates. The twochapters on Austen consider film adaptations of Emma . Like the chapterson Shakespeare, these selections give a brief but very fruitful look at the

various frames of reference in which Austen has been adapted to the screen.As a collection, these four chapters will provide an elementary but thoroughfoundation for instructors of English literature who want to discuss theintertextual potential of the great English authors translations into film.

The sixth subsection, entitled ! Beyond Film and Literary Texts, is a bit spottier in its focus. It contains three readings from works by SimoneMurray, Linda Hutcheon and Henry Jenkins. Viewed together, the threereadings seek to locate issues of film adaptation amidst larger conversationsin media studies and cultural anthropology, and their inclusion shows thecross-disciplinary importance of adaptation beyond just its role for film-creation. But individually the topics of these three readings are somewhatnarrow, and their underlying messages regarding the interdisciplinarydimensions of adaptation are already sufficiently addressed in Corrigansearlier introductory chapters. This last subsection of the texts main partmay be better off left out of the next edition of Film and Literature , unless itis to be expanded and rendered into a more organic whole.

Part 3, the third and last main section of the text, is an appendix. Alittle over twenty pages in length, it contains an analytic glossary ofhistorically important concepts in film studies and a brief discussion of therelevance of these concepts for adaptation studies. Part 3 also includes ashort how-to guide for students writing essays on film and literature.


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