Literature and Film in the Early Sound Era and Beyond: International Perspectives on Adaptation, 1927-1939, Venedig

The advent of sound in cinema opened up new possibilities for adapting literary texts for the screen. From 1927, when the first talkie (The Jazz Singer) officially appeared, to 1939, “the greatest year” in Hollywood’s history, the demand for literary works to adapt increased like never before. Adaptation, however, was to become a contested practice as notable detractors gave voice to a widespread concern about the commercialization of canonical works and the loosening distinction between high-brow and low-brow art in a period in which cinema was still considered a popular form of entertainment. The sound era saw a change in
moviegoing trends: films began to be enjoyed by a middle and upper-middle-class audience, paving the way for their subsequent recognition as proper works of art in the 1950s (“upward social mobility of films”, Aragay 2005,14). In the United States, the adoption of the Hays Code (1934-1966) arose as a form of indirect censorship that had a profound influence on adaptation practices and sanitized filmmaking in line with standards of middle-class respectability.
Film historians have shown that the sound era marked the beginning of what we today call adaptation studies and adaptation theory (Cartmell 2015), prompting reflections on the relation between text and image that would later evolve into major interpretive paradigms such as fidelity theory or medium-specificity theory (Bluestone 1957) and their subsequent
rejection in favor of broader intertextual approaches (Orr 1984).

We welcome contributions (in English) addressing the manifold forms and theorizations of adaptation in this exciting period in cinema history in order to reflect on the relations between the literary and the cinematic on an international scale. Possible topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

- Theorizing adaptation in the early sound era and beyond
- Adaptation and the literary canon (authors, genre) in the early sound era and
beyond
- Moviegoing trends: from a lower to a middle and upper-middle class audience
- Adaptation and sound (dialogues, scores)
- Subtitling and film translation

- Transitional sound films
- Sound remakes of silent films
- Adaptation and forms of censorship
- Post-adaptation effects: paratexts (book packaging: retitling, book covers, etc.)
and reception (book reviews, etc.)
- Authors/scriptwriters/producers/actors and the adaptation process

Proposals should be written in English and sent to all the organizers,
alessandrofarsetti@unive.it, simone.francescato@unive.it , stefania.sbarra@unive.it, no later
than December 30th, 2024.
Notification of acceptance will be sent no later than January 12th, 2024.

Contact Information

Stefania Sbarra, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia

Contact Email

stefania.sbarra@unive.it