>From the Blank Page to the Silver Screen: Re-adaptation
May 31-June 1, 2007, University of South Brittany, Lorient, France

In the 2007 edition of “From the Blank Page to the Silver Screen”, a conference organized jointly by the University of South Brittany and the University of Paris 3 â€" Sorbonne
Nouvelle, we hope to examine exactly what leads screenwriters, directors, and production companies to re-adapt already adapted literary works. What makes a text, an author,
or even a character endlessly re-adaptable, or on the contrary speak more clearly to one generation than to another? This need to reinterpret an already adapted novel, play or
story can reflect a desire to improve on or perfect the first (or second, or third) version, or simply a belief that each generation needs its Hamlet (or that each generation’s
actors feel a need to interpret the role). How does new criticism on the original work motivate new adaptations (Mira Nair’s Vanity Fair)? Are these films made simply to cash in
on a tried-and-true formula or backstory or are they seeking to renew the interpretation and appreciation of a given work, especially in light of new technological advances
that make adaptations of fantasy narratives more feasible, for example (Lord of the Rings, Planet of the Apes, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) or the representations of the
past more “authentic”? The difference between a new adaptation and a remake may be difficult to establish; we can sometimes wonder if these re-adaptations do not reinvent
the previous cinematic versions, rather than (or in addition to) the original text (Kenneth Branagh’s Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein). Do the past versions of the literary work
influence the conception of the new film, causing it to choose between adapting the previous film or the original text, or on the contrary does it position itself in opposition to
both, presenting an entirely new vision of the original story? To what extent do these different adaptations of a given work influence and enrich our own interpretations of the
source text?

We welcome analyses of any of the following topics:
• Social, economic, or literary explanations for the phenomenon of readaptation
• Extended analysis of the various adaptations of a given text or author
• Adaptation of literature, re-adaptation, or remake?
• The success of the re-adaptation
• Re-adaptation across different visual media: comparing television series, mini-series and feature-length adaptations
• Cross-cultural re-adaptation of literature in English (Kurosawa’s adaptations of Shakespeare, recent Indian adaptations of Jane Austen or Shakespeare, American teen movies
like Clueless or O)
• Extended dialogue and “cross-fertilization”: a text leads to a film, in turn leading to a book (from Pride and Prejudice to its BBC miniseries adaption to Bridget Jones’s Diary
and its film adaptation; from Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood and Richard Brooke’s adaptation to the two biographies of Truman Capote and their recent film adaptations)

Of course, this list is not exhaustive.

Please send abstracts of 300 words or less in French or in English to Ariane Hudelet (ariane.hudelet_at_wanadoo.fr) and Shannon Wells-Lassagne (shannon.wells-lassagne_at_univ-
ubs.fr) by January 15th, 2007. Further information about the conference is available on our website: http://www.adaptationconference.org

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Received on Wed Nov 08 2006 - 12:14:31 EST