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Chapter 7 - Comics Adaptations

Fidelity and Creativity

from Part II - Readings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 August 2023

Maaheen Ahmed
Affiliation:
Universiteit Gent, Belgium
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Summary

Literary adaptions in comics are not a recent phenomenon, but until recently the cultural status of this kind of work has always been very low, and a certain distrust has dominated the debates for many decades, the main reason of this suspicion being the fear that “fidelity” to the adapted model might jeopardize the proper creative possibilities of the adapting medium. More and more recent examples from the graphic novel field, which aims at becoming a literary practice itself, do not only show that literary adaptations can be very valuable, they also demonstrate that it is possible to use the notion of fidelity itself in highly creative ways. Taking its departure from specific case studies, Olivier Deprez’s adaptation of Kafka’s The Castle (2003), Paul Karasik (script) and David Mazzuchelli’s adaptation of Paul Auster’s City of Glass (2005), Simon Grennan’s adaptation of Anthony Trollope’s John Caldigate (2015), and Sébastien Conard’s adaptation of Samuel Beckett’s Watt (2019), this chapter examines the most important techniques that can be used to transfer a novel into a visual narrative in print. It pays particular attention to the visuality of the text as it is transferred from one medium to another (typography, page layout, text as drawing).

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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References

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  • Comics Adaptations
  • Edited by Maaheen Ahmed, Universiteit Gent, Belgium
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Comics
  • Online publication: 17 August 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009255653.011
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  • Comics Adaptations
  • Edited by Maaheen Ahmed, Universiteit Gent, Belgium
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Comics
  • Online publication: 17 August 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009255653.011
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Comics Adaptations
  • Edited by Maaheen Ahmed, Universiteit Gent, Belgium
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Comics
  • Online publication: 17 August 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009255653.011
Available formats
×