THREE SCREENPLAYS: DANIEL, RAGTIME, LOON LAKE - Scarce Fine Copy of The First Hardcover Edition/First Printing

Doctorow, E. L. (Author/Screenwriter) & Levine, Paul (Editor/Contributor)

ISBN 10: 0801872014 / ISBN 13: 9780801872013

Published by Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003, 2003

About this Item

1st Printing. 464 pages. Published in 2003. Collection of screenplays. One of E. L. Doctorow's finest and most underrated achievements. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions, particularly the Softcover Edition. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only by a University Press. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents E. L. Doctorow's "Three Screenplays: Daniel, Ragtime, Loon Lake". Doctorow's achievement as a playwright and screenwriter, finally recognized. "Adapting novels for movies is a tricky and often thankless endeavor. Because Doctorow is profoundly intrigued with film's seductiveness, he has performed this task to fine effect. Here are the screenplays for 'Daniel' (produced in 1983 under the direction of Sidney Lumet), 'Ragtime', a magnificent adaptation that perfectly mirrors the panoramic novel, but was never made (a much shorter screenplay was commissioned for the Milos Forman film), and 'Loon Lake', which has yet to be produced. Doctorow's remarks, meticulous commentary by Film and American Literature Professor Paul Levine, and Interviews with Doctorow and Lumet coalesce to form a provocative inquiry into the process of artistic alchemy that attempts the nearly impossible: The translation of fiction into film" (Booklist). "History is the present. That's why every generation writes it anew. But what most people think of as history is its end product, myth. So to be irreverent to myth, to play with it, let in some light and air, to try to combust it back into history, is to risk being seen as someone who distorts truth" (E. L. Doctorow). An absolute "must-have" title for E. L. Doctorow collectors. This title is a great collection. This is one of few copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce copy thus. Winner of the very first National Book Critics Circle Award in 1976 for "Ragtime". Winner of the National Book Award in 1986 for "World's Fair". Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, Winner of the PEN/Faulkner, and a second National Book Critics Circle Award in 2006 for "The March". One of the greatest writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER E. L. DOCTOROW TITLES IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 0801872014. Seller Inventory # 19874

Bibliographic Details

Title: THREE SCREENPLAYS: DANIEL, RAGTIME, LOON ...

Publisher: Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003

Publication Date: 2003

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: Fine

Signed: no

Edition: 1st Edition.

About this title

Synopsis:

E. L. Doctorow is one of America's most accomplished and acclaimed living writers. Winner of the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award (twice), the PEN/Faulkner Award, and the National Humanities Medal, he is the author of nine novels that have explored the drama of American life from the late nineteenth century to the present. Doctorow has also played an active role in transforming his novels into films, writing screenplay adaptations of three of his works― The Book of Daniel, Ragtime, and Loon Lake. Published here for the first time, his scripts reveal a new aspect of this writer's remarkable talents and offer film students and other cineastes unique insight into the complex relationship of literature and motion pictures.

Each of these screenplays has undergone a different fate. Doctorow's script for Daniel was made into a feature film by director Sidney Lumet in 1983. The monumental Ragtime screenplay he wrote for director Robert Altman was to have been filmed as either a six-hour feature film or a ten-hour television series. When Altman was replaced on the project by Milos Forman, a shorter, more conventional script was commissioned from another writer. In 1981, Doctorow adapted Loon Lake, but this challenging work has yet to be filmed.

For this book, Doctorow has revised his dazzling Ragtime screenplay, making clear how different the film might have been, and has written a preface about the art of screenwriting. In addition, editor Paul Levine provides a general introduction to Doctorow's fiction and specific introductions to each screenplay; interviews Lumet about making Daniel; and talks with Doctorow about his abiding interest in the art and craft of cinema.

From the Back Cover:

"Three Screenplays is of interest as much for the stories of films that didn't get made as for any insight on the translation from novel to screenplay."-Times Literary Supplement

"A provocative inquiry into the process of artistic alchemy that attempts the nearly impossible, the translation of fiction into film."-Booklist

One of America's most accomplished and acclaimed contemporary writers, E. L. Doctorow has played an active role in transforming his novels into films, writing screenplay adaptations of three works: The Book of Daniel, Ragtime, and Loon Lake. These scripts reveal a new aspect of Doctorow's remarkable talents and offer unique insight into the complex relationship between literature and motion pictures. Doctorow revised his Ragtime screenplay for this book and wrote a preface on the art of screenwriting.

E. L. Doctorow's novels are Welcome to Hard Times, The Book of Daniel, Ragtime, Loon Lake, Lives of the Poets, World's Fair, Billy Bathgate, The Waterworks, and City of God. Among his honors are the National Book Award, two National Book Critics Circle awards, the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Edith Wharton Citation for Fiction, the William Dean Howells Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the National Humanities Medal. Paul Levine is a professor of American literature at Copenhagen University.