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Film Adaptations of Russian Classics
Dialogism and Authorship
Edited by Alexandra Smith and Olga Sobolev
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Book Presentation:
The volume examines several screen adaptations of works written by mid- and late nineteenth-century authors, who constitute the hallmark of the Russian cultural brand, finding favour with audiences in Russia and in the West. It considers reimagining of Goncharov, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Chekhov and Tolstoy in different contexts.
The book examines various types of adaptation, including transposition, commentary, and analogy. It focuses on established Russian and western filmmakers’ dialogue with the classics taking place in the last 60 years. The book shows how the ideological and/or philosophical concerns of the day serve as a lens for a specific reading of the novel, the story, or the play. By foregrounding a synergetic literary-cinematic space, the book demonstrates how the director becomes a creative mediator between his audiences and the author, taking account of contemporary epistemological imperatives and the particularities of the reception by viewers.
About the authors:
Alexandra Smith is Reader in Russian Studies at the University of Edinburgh. She has published extensively on Russian literature and culture and authored several books including Poetic Canons, Cultural Memory and Russian National Identity after 1991 (co-authored with Katharine Hodgson, 2020), which was awarded the Alexander Nove 2020 Prize in Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies. Smith has also authored Montaging Pushkin: Pushkin and Visions of Modernity in Russian 20th-century Poetry (2006); and The Song of the Mockingbird: Pushkin in the Work of Marina Tsvetaeva (1994).Olga Sobolev is Director of the Language, Culture and Society Programme at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her research interests lie in comparative studies and concern nineteenth- and twentieth-century Russian and European culture. Her recent books and contributions to edited volumes include: From Orientalism to Cultural Capital: The Myth of Russia in British Literature of the 1920s (co-authored with Angus Wrenn, 2017); ‘Anna Karenina: The ways of Seeing’ (2021); ‘Representation of H. G. Wells on the Russian Stage and Screen’ (2019); The Only Hope of the World: G. B. Shaw and Russia (co-authored with Angus Wrenn, 2012); The Silver Mask: Harlequinade in the Symbolist Poetry of Blok and Belyi (2008).
Press Reviews:
An erudite study that places adaptations of less-studied works (Tolstoy’s The Forged Coupon and Dostoevsky’s The Double and "The Meek One") alongside large-scale projects like the BBC’s award-winning 2016 adaptation of War and Peace. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty.
-- A. J. DeBlasio ― CHOICE connect
An erudite study that places adaptations of less-studied works (Tolstoy’s The Forged Coupon and Dostoevsky’s The Double and "The Meek One") alongside large-scale projects like the BBC’s award-winning 2016 adaptation of War and Peace. -- A. J. DeBlasio ― CHOICE connect
This volume is indispensable for scholars of adaptation and Russian literature. What is universal and what is nationally specific about humor, death or nostalgia? The contributors answer this question, analyzing adaptations as a multi-level dialogue between different media, across various cultures and historical eras.
-- Lioudmila Fedorova, Georgetown University
This book is an excellent source of information for readers with different levels of knowledge of Russian classics, world cinema, historical context, and relevant scholarship [...] it provokes the reader to watch films, read literature, and explore more information about relevant filmmakers and historical figures.
-- Marina Rojavin ― Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema
This fine volume applies an adaptation studies lens to Russian literature with compelling results. Its authoritative case studies and theoretically sophisticated introduction provide new insights into film versions of key works from Russia’s 19th century canon, using a dialogic frame to tackle issues of huge intercultural, aesthetic, and socio-political significance.
-- Stephen Hutchings, University of Manchester
See the publisher website: Edinburgh University Press
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