Synopses & Reviews
Jane Austen on Screen is a collection of essays exploring the literary and cinematic implications of translating Austen's prose into film. Contributors raise questions of how prose fiction and cinema differ, of how mass commercial audiences require changes to script and character, and of how continually remade films evoke memories of earlier productions. The essays represent widely divergent perspectives, from literary 'purists' suspicious of filmic renderings of Austen to film-makers who see the text as a stimulus for producing exceptional cinema. Theoretical issues are explored in balance with the practical concerns of literature-to-film conversions: casting choices, authenticity of settings, script 'amputations' of the original prose, anachronisms, relevance for modern mass audiences, and the intertextuality informing the production of much-remade works. This comprehensive study, including an exhaustive Austen bibliography and filmography, will be of interest to students and teachers alike.
Review
"Jane Austen on Screen might have accomplished the difficult task of juggling film, literature, and feminism with greater success." The Women's Review of Books
Review
"Raises a number of issues that are pertinent to the many debates that center around the translation of nineteenth-century fiction into film more generally...excellent essays..." Kate Flint, Studies in English Literature"Jane Austen on Screen might have accomplished the difficult task of juggling film, literature, and feminism with greater success." The Women's Review of Books
Synopsis
This collection of essays explores the literary and cinematic implications of translating Austen's prose into film. It considers how prose fiction and cinema differ; how mass commercial audiences require changes to script and character; and how continually remade films evoke memories of earlier productions. The essays represent widely divergent perspectives, from literary "purists" suspicious of film renderings of Austen to film-makers who see the text as a stimulus for producing exceptional cinema. The comprehensive study will be of interest to students as well as teachers.
About the Author
Gina Macdonald teaches at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana. Her books include James Clavell (1996) and Robert Ludlum (1997).Andrew Macdonald teaches at Loyola University in New Orleans. He is the author of Howard Fast (1997).