movies and literature

Episode 78: Literary Adaptations / A Quiet Passion

THE DEAD (1987) by John Huston

THE DEAD (1987) by John Huston

Description

On the first segment of today’s show, host Tom Breen talks with New Haven Review publisher Bennett-Lovett Graff all about movie adaptations of works of literature: what makes for a good movie adaptation of a novel, short story, or play? What are some of the challenges and benefits of making that transition from printed page to screen? What are a few examples of our favorite literary adaptations? This conversation focuses in particular on one such literary adaptation, The Dead, a 1987 film directed by John Huston and adapted from the 1914 short story by James Joyce.

On the second segment of the show, Breen is joined by Connecticut-based poet and teacher Kate Rushin to talk about A Quiet Passion, Terence Davies’ new biopic about 19th century American poet Emily Dickinson. Although not a direct adaptation of any particular written work, A Quiet Passion offers another perspective on representing literature through movies in the way that it closely interweaves Dickinson’s poetry with her life, underscoring her preoccupations with fame, truth, beauty, and death.

Links

New Haven Review website: http://www.newhavenreview.com/

Institute Library website: http://institutelibrary.org/
 

Episode 38: Jordan Brower / The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby (2013)

The Great Gatsby (2013)

How to Listen

First Segment

Guest: Jordan Brower
0:00 - 52:02 - discussion of the Hollywood studio system's influence on early 20th century American lit with Jordan Brower, followed by a discussion of the THE GREAT GATSBY and its various movie adaptations.

Description

On today's episode of Deep Focus, host Tom Breen talks about literature and the movies with Jordan Brower, a recent Yale PhD whose dissertation looks at the profound influence of the Hollywood studio system on the development of American literature in the early 20th century. Breen and Brower focus on one particular work of American modernist fiction, F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel The Great Gatsby, and discuss style and impact of the text side by side with its 1974 and 2013 movie adaptations.

Video Links

The Great Gatsby 2013 Scene - Gatsby & Daisy Meeting

Screne from the 1974 version of THE GREAT GATSBY