Literature and Film - by Robert Stam & Alessandra Raengo (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Literature and Film is a cornucopia of vibrant essays that chart the history and confluence of literature and film. It explores in detail a wide and international spectrum of novels and adaptations, bringing together the very latest scholarship in the field.

From the Back Cover

Literature and Film is a superb collection of vibrant essays that chart the history and confluence of literature and film. Bringing together the very latest scholarship in the field, this guide contains astute and readable contributions - both theoretical and thematic - on the translation of literary into filmic texts.

Subjects range from established classics including The Last of the Mohicans, through consecrated genre works like Cape Fear, to contemporary classics such as The English Patient and Beloved. Almost all of the essays are originals, especially composed for this volume, and written by leading international scholars on both literature and film. The book features an ambitious introductory essay tracing the theory and practice of adaptation, providing the ideal entry point for students or scholars exploring this dynamic and multifaceted field.

Review Quotes

"Stam and Raengo's Literature and Film offers a wonderful collection of approaches to the multifaceted and sometimes contradictory relationship between the written word and the filmic image, bringing into the discussion a refreshing series of examples drawn from international and minority cinemas."

Richard Pea, Columbia University

About the Author

Robert Stam is University Professor at New York University. His many books include Film Theory: An Introduction (Blackwell, 2000), Unthinking Eurocentrism: Multiculturalism and the Media (with Ella Shohat, 1994), and Subversive Pleasures: Bakhtin, Cultural Criticism and Film (1989). With Toby Miller, he is the editor of Film and Theory (Blackwell, 2000) and The Blackwell Companion to Film Theory (2000).

Alessandra Raengo is finishing her PhD in the Cinema Studies Department at New York University. Her dissertation explores race and vernacular social criticism in American culture between 1945 and 1968. Among her publications are The Birth of Film Genres (1999) and The Bounds of Representation (2000), both multilingual volumes edited with Leonardo Quaresima and Laura Vichi.