Thomas Hardy on Screen

Cambridge University Press, 1/5/2006
EAN 9780521840811, ISBN10: 0521840813

Hardcover, 230 pages, 23.5 x 15.9 x 2 cm
Language: English

The novels of Thomas Hardy have often been regarded as cinematic in their scope and power, and they have inspired some of the most absorbing adaptations of fiction for the big screen. This collection of essays by prominent international Hardy scholars explores both successful and unsuccessful attempts to transfer Hardy's novels to the screen. It provides a fascinating illustrated history of the interpretation and recreation of Hardy's work, from the silent era to television. The essays highlight the challenging nature of Hardy's work, which finds its most powerful reflection in films by controversial directors such as Roman Polanski and Michael Winterbottom. Adaptations on screen have revived Hardy's reputation for new generations of readers, and have reinforced the continuing relevance of his works. This collection offers a stimulating starting-point both for the study of Hardy's novels as films, and of the ways in which cinema and television adaptations illuminate the novels.

Introduction T. R. Wright
1. Hardy as a cinematic novelist
three aspects of narrative technique T. R. Wright
2. From painting to cinema
visual elements in Hardy's fiction Roger Webster
3. Wessex on film Simon Gatrell
4. The silent era
Thomas Hardy goes way down east Peter Widdowson
5. Screening the short stories
from the 1950s to the 1990s Roy Pierce-Jones
6. All fall down
Hardy's heroes on the 1990s cinema screen Judith Mitchell
7. Far from the Madding Crowd in the cinema
the problem of textual fidelity Keith Wilson
8. Staging the Native
aspects of screening The Return of the Native Rosemarie Morgan
9. Screening the flashback
three ways of opening The Mayor of Casterbridge Philip Allingham
10. The Woodlanders
the conflicting visions of Phil Agland and Thomas Hardy Dale Kramer
11. Dissonance, simulacra and the grain of the voice in Roman Polanski's Tess of the d'Urbervilles John Paul Riquelme
12. Romancing the text
genre, indeterminacy and televising Tess of the d'Urbervilles Richard Nemesvari
13. Adapting Hardy's Jude the Obscure for the screen
a study in contrasts Robert Schweik
Filmography
Bibliography
Index.