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Adapting Margaret Atwood
The Handmaid's Tale and Beyond
Edited by Shannon Wells-Lassagne and Fiona McMahon
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Book Presentation:
This book engages with Margaret Atwood’s work and its adaptations. Atwood has long been appreciated for her ardent defence of Canadian authors and her genre-bending fiction, essays, and poetry. However, a lesser-studied aspect of her work is Atwood’s role both as adaptor and as source for adaptation in media as varied as opera, television, film, or comic books. Recent critically acclaimed television adaptations of the novels The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu) and Alias Grace (Amazon) have rightfully focused attention on these works, but Atwood’s fiction has long been a source of inspiration for artists of various media, a seeming corollary to Atwood’s own tendency to explore the possibilities of previously undervalued media (graphic novels), genres (science-fiction), and narratives (testimonial and historical modes). This collection hopes to expand on other studies of Atwood’s work or on their adaptations to focus on the interplay between the two, providing an interdisciplinary approach that highlights the protean nature of the author and of adaptation.
About the authors:
Shannon Wells-Lassagne is author of Television and Serial Adaptation (2017), and the co-editor of Adapting Endings (2019), and Screening Text (2013). Her work has appeared in Screen, The Journal of Adaptation in Film and Performance, Critical Studies in Television, and The Journal of Popular Film and Television. Fiona McMahon is Professor of American Literature at the Université Paul Valéry-Montpellier 3, France, and editor of the series Profils américains at the Presses universitaires de de la Méditerranée. She is the author of Charles Reznikoff : une poétique du témoignage (2010), H.D. Trilogy (2013) and co-editor of Penser le genre en poésie contemporaine (2019).
Press Reviews:
"The sixteen pieces in this volume, partly illustrated with colored stills and screenshots, photographs, diagrams, or musical scores, build a comprehensive piece of conducted research about the texts of Margaret Atwood … . The fact that a great number of fans, academics, readers, or artists keep returning to the creative output of Margaret Atwood … Atwood’s alchemy leaves no doubt that her magic ‘has to do, in one word, with relevance’ … ." (Sandra Danneil, AAA, Arbeiten aus Anglistik und Amerikanistik, Vol. 47 (1), June, 2022)
"This volume sheds light on the legacy in which Atwood inserts herself, and on the legacy she leaves for others to reinterpret through their perspectives and sensitivities. Articles as well as interviews offer insight into the subversive aspects of literary fiction, and enhance the political necessity of adapting and updating these narratives in the light of contemporary events." (Laura Benoit, Interfaces, Vol. 48, 2022)
"Students will love this book, and for readers anywhere it will stimulate a fresh creative engagement with Atwood’s imagined worlds." (Coral Ann Howells, British Journal of Canadian Studies, Vol. 34 (2), 2022)
See the publisher website: Palgrave MacMillan
> From the same authors:
Adapting Endings from Book to Screen (2021)
Last Pages, Last Shots
Dir. Armelle Parey and Shannon Wells-Lassagne
Subject: Technique > Adaptation
Screening Text (2013)
Critical Perspectives on Film Adaptation
Dir. Shannon Wells-Lassagne and Ariane Hudelet
Subject: Technique > Adaptation
> On a related topic:
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Film Adaptations of Russian Classics (2024)
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Hemingway and Film (2024)
Reflections on Teaching, Reading, and Understanding
Dir. Cam Cobb and Marc K. Dudley
Subject: Technique > Adaptation
English Classics in Audiovisual Translation (2024)
Dir. Irene Ranzato and Luca Valleriani
Subject: Technique > Adaptation
But Have You Read the Book? (2023)
52 Literary Gems That Inspired Our Favorite Films
Subject: Technique > Adaptation
Uncanny Fidelity (2023)
Recognizing Shakespeare in Twenty-First-Century Film and Television
by James Newlin
Subject: Technique > Adaptation
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