Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

12-1995

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

English

Major Professor

Charles J. Maland

Committee Members

H. Phillips Hamlin, Norman Sanders, Mary Papke

Abstract

This study investigates the ten cinematic adaptations which have been made from five Edith Wharton novels--The House of Mirth, EthanFrome, The Age of Innocence, The Old Maid, and The Children. Based on extensive archival research, its primary aim is to recover and present the previously unrecognized rich history of these films. In contrast to traditional approach to adaptation that focuses almost solely on the extent of a film's fidelity to its literary source, this study adopts a synthetic critical approach to illuminate the adaptation process. In This approach examination of the cinematic adaptations combines neo-formalist textual analysis of the individual films with other critical approaches, like genre and auteur criticism, and with contextual analysis of the production of the films and their source novels.Awide variety of contextual factors and documents are considered in an attempt to analyze the adaptations, such as Wharton's papers at theBeinecke Library; the history of critical responses to Wharton's work;exchanges between the Production Code Administration and studio filmmakers; studio production records; technological changes within the film industry; changing modes of production in American cinema from the1920s to the present; contemporary reviews of the adaptations; the effects of commercial pressures and concerns; and the influences of the broader American culture. The blend of critical perspectives varies from chapter to chapter, in part to demonstrate the possibilities of this synthetic approach to the study of cinematic adaptation. The Various critical viewpoints have been tied together by emphasis on a core theme from the source novels: the struggle between individual desires and the constraints of social conventions and expectations.her "Foreword" to the dramatization of Ethan Frome by Owen and DonaldDavis, Wharton comments that the adaptation "gives a new lease of life to 'Ethan'" (viii). This study contends that the cinematic adaptation of these five Wharton novels all bring original, varied, and richerleases of life to the characters and fictions she created.

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