Science Fiction Adapted to Film

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by Nicholas Ruddick

Type: Studies
Subject: Genre > Science Fiction
Keywords: science fiction, adaptation
Publishing date: 2016
Publisher: Gylphi
Collection: SF Storyworlds: Critical Studies in Science Fiction
Language: English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Paperback • 380 pages
5 ½ x 8 ½ inches (14 x 21.5 cm)

ISBN

978-1-78024-051-0

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Book Presentation:
The focus of this study is the adaptation of sf literature to film. Its chief purpose is to explore how sf novels, novellas, and short stories worth reading have inspired films worth watching. The book concludes with a checklist of significant films adapted from sf works, and a list of primary and secondary texts that have been cited in the study.

Reviews
Encyclopedic and eminently readable, Ruddick's study of the complex relationship between literature and cinema in science fiction will interest scholar and fan alike. Through individual case studies, the volume considers the remediations and translations that occur when the novel is fed into the projector (or DVD player) and sees what the camera does to Verne, Wells, Asimov, Bradbury, Clarke, Ballard, Dick, Crichton, Atwood, and many other major sf authors. The reader will see films such as 2001, Planet of the Apes, War of the Worlds, Blade Runner, and the hundreds of versions of Frankenstein through new eyes and with a deeper appreciation. --Kevin J. Wetmore, Jr., Professor and Chair, Theatre Arts Program, Loyola Marymount University

Like the Roman god Mercury, Nick Ruddick moves fleet-footed across a vast terrain demarcated on one hand by science-fiction prose and on the other by science-fiction cinema. Equally at home with the abominable and the above-average, he chases at the speed of thought after that elusive artistic grail: a successful film adaptation. The result is a book that will enlighten the scholar and entertain the fan, of which science fiction and Ruddick has many. --Peter Swirski, bestselling author of From Literature to Biterature: Lem, Turing, Darwin

I admire Nicholas Ruddick's lucidity not only his superbly readable style, but also the clarity of his perceptions. His coinage 'remediation' is intriguing and useful. --Christopher Priest

About the Author:
Nicholas Ruddick has taught at the University of Regina since 1982. He currently teaches undergraduate courses on science fiction, fairy tales, and horror fiction, and graduate courses on science fiction novel-to-film adaptation and on Darwinism's influence on literature. He is the author or editor of nine books. His monographs include Christopher Priest (Starmont, 1989); British Science Fiction: A Chronology 1478–1990 (Greenwood, 1993); Ultimate Island: On the Nature of British Science Fiction (Greenwood, 1993); and The Fire in the Stone: Prehistoric Fiction from Charles Darwin to Jean M. Auel (Wesleyan UP, 2009). He is the editior of the critical anthology State of the Fantastic (Greenwood, 1992), and has published scholarly editions of The Time Machine by H.G. Wells (Broadview, 2011), Ceasar's Column by Ignatius Donnelly (Wesleyan UP, 2003), The Woman Who Did by Grant Allen (Broadview, 2004), and The Call of the Wild by Jack London (Broadview, 2009). He has published book chapters and articles on a wide variety of North American, British, and European nineteenth- and twentieth-century authors from Atwood to Zola, as well as dozens of reviews. He is currently writing a book tentatively entitled Science Fiction Adapted to Film: Attack of the Mutant Parasites. Nicholas Ruddick served as Science Fiction Division Head of the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts (IAFA) from 1988-92 and then as Vice-President of IAFA from 1992–5. He was appointed Univeristy of Regina President's Scholar from 2002–4. He served as Director of the Humanities Research Institute at the University of Regina from 2003–8. He has served as Head of the Department of English at the University of Regina from 2011–14.

Press Reviews:
Encyclopedic and eminently readable, Ruddick's study of the complex relationship between literature and cinema in science fiction will interest scholar and fan alike. Through individual case studies, the volume considers the remediations and translations that occur when the novel is fed into the projector (or DVD player) and sees what the camera does to Verne, Wells, Asimov, Bradbury, Clarke, Ballard, Dick, Crichton, Atwood, and many other major sf authors. The reader will see films such as 2001, Planet of the Apes, War of the Worlds, Blade Runner, and the hundreds of versions of Frankenstein through new eyes and with a deeper appreciation. --Kevin J. Wetmore, Jr., Professor and Chair, Theatre Arts Program, Loyola Marymount University

I admire Nicholas Ruddick's lucidity – not only his superbly readable style, but also the clarity of his perceptions. His coinage 'remediation' is intriguing and useful. --Christopher Priest

This is a very thoughtful and informative study which manages to avoid all the clichés about accuracy of adoption. It should become essential reading for anyone interested in the intersections between SF and film. --David Seed

Like the Roman god Mercury, Nick Ruddick moves fleet-footed across a vast terrain demarcated on one hand by science-fiction prose and on the other by science-fiction cinema. Equally at home with the abominable and the above-average, he chases at the speed of thought after that elusive artistic grail: a successful film adaptation. The result is a book that will enlighten the scholar and entertain the fan, of which science fiction – and Ruddick – has many. Peter Swirski, bestselling author of From Literature to Biterature: Lem, Turing, Darwin

Nicholas Ruddick has given us a subtle exploration of the relationship between the words and images we use to try to capture the ineffable. And in doing so he has provided a unique glimpse of the deep structure of the science fiction imagination. Authoritative, accessible, essential. --Stephen Baxter

See the publisher website: Gylphi

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