Henry James Goes to the Movies - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0813121914 ISBN 13: 9780813121918

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky, 2001

Synopsis

Why has a nineteenth-century author with an elitist reputation proved so popular with directors as varied as William Wyler, François Truffaut, and James Ivory? A partial answer lies in the way many of Henry James's recurring themes still haunt us: the workings of power, the position of women in society, the complexities of sexuality and desire.

Susan Griffin has assembled fifteen of the world's foremost authorities on Henry James to examine both the impact of James on film and the impact of film on James. Anthony Mazella traces the various adaptations of The Turn of the Screw, from novel to play to opera to film. Peggy McCormack examines the ways the personal lives of Peter Bogdanovich and then-girlfriend Cybill Shepherd influenced critical reaction to Daisy Miller (1974). Leland Person points out the consequences of casting Christopher Reeve―then better known as Superman―in The Bostonians (1984) during the conservative political context of the first Reagan presidency. Nancy Bentley defends Jane Campion's anachronistic reading of Portrait of a Lady (1996) as being more "authentic" than the more common period costume dramas. Dale Bauer observes James's influence on such films as Next Stop, Wonderland (1998) and Notting Hill (1999). Marc Bousquet explores the ways Wings of the Dove (1997) addresses the economic and cultural situations of Gen-X viewers. Other fascinating essays as well as a complete filmography and bibliography of work on James and film round out the collection.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

“Move over, Jane Austen: here comes Henry James,” the New York Times declared at the release of the late 1990s film adaptations of Henry James’s novels Portrait of a Lady, The Wings of the Dove, and Washington Square.

In Henry James Goes to the Movies, Susan Griffin has assembled fifteen of the world’s foremost authorities on the writer to examine both the impact of James on film and the impact of film on James. Anthony Mazella traces the various adaptations of The Turn of the Screw, from novel to play to opera to film. Peggy McCormack examines the ways the personal lives of Peter Bogdanovich and then-girlfriend Cybill Shepherd influenced critical reaction to Daisy Miller (1974). Leland Person points out the consequences of casting Christopher Reeve—then better known as Superman—in The Bostonians (1984) during the conservative political context of the first Reagan presidency.

Nancy Bentley defends Jane Campion’s anachronistic reading of Portrait of a Lady (1996) as being more “authentic” than the more common period costume dramas. Dale Bauer observes James’s influence on such films as Next Stop, Wonderland (1998), and Notting Hill (1999). Marc Bousquet explores the ways Wings of the Dove (1997) addresses the economic and cultural situations of Gen-X viewers. Other fascinating essays as well as a complete filmography and a bibliography of work on James and film round out the collection.

Why has a nineteenth-century author with an elitist reputation proved so popular with directors as varied as William Wyler, François Truffaut, and James Ivory? A partial answer lies in Henry James’s recurring themes: the workings of power, the position of women in society, the complexities of sexuality and desire.

“A well-informed, well-written book which extends the way we think about Henry James and his work...includes the best established and newer voices in James studies.”-Greg W. Zacharias

About the Author:

Susan M. Griffin, professor of English at the University of Louisville, is the editor of the Henry James Review.

About this edition

• Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0813121914
• ISBN 13: 9780813121918
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 400
• Editor: Griffin Susan M.