Adaptation Theory and Criticism

Gordon E. Slethaug is a professor at the University of Waterloo, Canada, where he teaches English Language and Literature and researches contemporary American literature and film, globalization and communications, and international education. He is also honorary professor in Arts at the University of Hong Kong, China, and has recently been visiting professor of English Studies at the University of Southern Denmark.

• IntroductionChapter 1. Modernism/Postmodernism and Origin/Intertextual Play in Adaptation Theory Chapter 2. Adaptation, Surplus Value, and Supplementation in Six Degrees of Separation and Short Cuts2.1 Surplus, Supplementation, and Transformation in John Guare's Six Degrees of Separation2.2 E Pluribus Unum: Raymond Carver’s Fiction and Robert Altman’s Short Cuts Chapter 3. Intertextual Doubling in The Age of Innocence, Gangs of New York, and The Great Gatsby3.1 Tribalization as Intertextual Symptom: Scorsese's The Age of Innocence and Gangs of New York3.2 Ironized Intertextuality: The Age of Innocence and The Great GatsbyChapter 4. Freeplay, Citation, and Ethnocriticism: Single and Multiple Sources in Smoke Signals, Smoke, and Do the Right Thing4.1 Ethnocriticism and Adaptation: Sherman Alexie’s The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven and Chris Eyre’s Smoke Signals4.2 From Lee to Auster and Wang: Postmodern Indeterminacy and Racial Relations in Do the Right Thing and SMOKEChapter 5. Palimpsests and Bricolage: Playful and Serious Citation in Broken Flowers and Snow White’s Offspring5.1 Palimpsest, Play, and the Myth of Filiation in Broken Flowers: Clues, Signs, and Referential Mania5.2 Snow White’s Offspring: The Hyper-PalimpsestConclusionWorks CitedIndex

Gordon E. Slethaug's ambitious and well-documented study proposes both to present a more systematic account of adaptations and the theories they have generated and to situate these texts and theories more firmly in a post-structuralist context. Whether or not they are persuaded by his analysis, readers interested in adaptation will be arguing about this book for a long time to come.