The History of British Literature on Film, 1895-2015 [Hardcover]

FromThe Death of Nancy Sykes(1897) toThe Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies(2014) and beyond, cinematic adaptations of British literature participate in a complex and fascinating history.The History of BritishLiteratureon Film, 1895-2015is the only comprehensive narration of cinema's 100-year-old love affair with British literature. Unlike previous studies of literature and film, which tend to privilege particular authors such as Shakespeare and Jane Austen, or particular texts such asFrankenstein, or particular literary periods such as Medieval, this volume considers the multiple functions of filmed British literature as a cinematic subject in its own right-one reflecting the specific political and aesthetic priorities of different national and historical cinemas. In what ways has the British literary canon authorized and influenced the history and aesthetics of film, and in what ways has filmed British literature both affirmed and challenged the very idea of literary canonicity? Seeking to answer these and other key questions, this indispensable study shows how these adaptations emerged from and continue to shape the social, artistic, and commercial aspects of film history.

List of Figures

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Attractions, Tricks, and Fairy-Tales: Visual and Theatrical Culture in the Brit-Lit Film, 1896-1907
2. Crude, Vicious, and Lascivious Entertainments: The Rise of the Brit-Lit Feature Film, 1907-1920

3. Inter-Nationalizing the Brit-Lit Film: Hollywood and the World Film Market, 1920-1927

4. Sound, Studios, and Censorship: The Brit-Lit Film, 1927-1939

5. The Empire Strikes Back: Britain's Reclamation of Brit-Lit, 1939-1957

6. Traditions and Revolutions: The Brit-Lit Film, 1957-1979

7. The Brit-Lit Film after Film: 1979-2015

Notes

Bibliography