From Fathers and Sons to Fathers and Children A Case in Adaptation Theory.

Date of Award

2004

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Cuomo, Glenn

Keywords

Turgenev, Ivan, Adaptation Theory, Fathers and Sons

Area of Concentration

Literature

Abstract

In its focus on the art of adapting a novel into a screenplay, this thesis project is divided into an analytical component and a work of creative fiction. The f'irst chapter is both a history of the theory of adaptation and a criticism of the faults that it has been plagued with. Synthesizing both film and literary theory, it suggests a new way of looking at cinematic adaptation that would supplant the old prejudices that continue to pervade this relatively new field of study. Specifically, it refutes the belief in literature's inherent superiority to cinema and the emphasis on fidelity to the source material that results from that belief. The second chapter supports one of the arguments from the first � namely, that there is no definitive interpretation of a text to remain faithful to � by way of a case study. Taking as its source Ivan Turgenev's 1862 novel, Fathers and Sons, the chapter focuses how individuals in different cultural contexts have chosen to focus on different elements of the novel. The remainder of the thesis is creative writing that is founded on the principles discussed in the academic component. The third chapter is a complete, feature-length screenplay derived from Turgenev's novel; and the fourth is an explanation of how that adaptation operates. The chapter discusses all of the elements kept and omitted in the screenplay in terms of the theoretical priorities outlined in the first chapter. This project comes from a love of both literature and cinema and was initiated in the hope that studying the relevant theory would provide a comfortable synthesis of interests. Yet, it ultimately became dedicated to asserting film's prestige as a highly complex and independent art form. In the study of film theory, specifically that of adaptation, the subtle filtering of literature and film into a high-culture/low-culture dichotomy becomes surprisingly ubiquitous; and this thesis is an attempt to dissolve that attitude in some small way by building a new aesthetic of the novel-to-film transformation.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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