ADAPTING TRISTRAM SHANDY by Adria Young Submitted in ...

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manipulates the conventions within which it functions. To adapt Tristram Shandy, then, all of these elements of the text have to be retained to make the transfer to new media identifiably Shandean. The Shandean elements of the text operate on the conceptual level of adaptation, because it is the “spirit” of the work that is recognizable in the adaptation, and not always the work itself. Thus, for a text that is apparently impossible to adapt, there are two successful adaptations of Tristram Shandy that adhere to this method of adaptation because it is the only way to represent the spirit of the text. To adapt Tristram Shandy is to remediate the original qualities of the novel into a new medium.Thus, the unadaptable and “unfilmable” (Voigts-Virchow 149) experimental novel is adapted into a graphic novel and film in the conceptual, Shandean way. In the first chapter, I pursue a definition of the Shandean, which, I suggest, is a series of combined qualities that convey the Shandean sense of things: experimentation, conversation, and titillation. Sterne's play with conventions, identities, and criticisms, the convergence of the visual and the textual, and the good humour at the heart of Tristram's jokes are elements of Tristram Shandy that make the text exuberantly unique. These qualities can be adapted into a new medium, and indeed, only in a new medium would a Shandean adaptation succeed. By situating Shandyism as the spirit of the text, we can see how the graphic novel adaptation and the film adaptation of Tristram Shandy are true to that Shandean spirit of artistic creation. In the second chapter, I explore the ways that Rowson adapts Tristram Shandy as a graphic novel. Since the conventions of the genre prohibit a direct transfer, Rowson experiments with comic book conventions to recreate the Shandean sense of self- reflexivity and self-awareness. Rowson manipulates the conventions of comic book 6
narrative in the same way that Sterne manipulates the conventions of novel narrative. Rowson also incorporates the text and intertext of Tristram Shandy through visual icons and signifiers, rather than through the word, which captures Sterne's attention to the convergence of media forms and the multimodality of the text. Because the graphic novel as a medium offers the same kind of reading experience as Tristram Shandy, Rowson's adaptation prioritizes the image over the word, and remediates the textuality with visuality. While Rowson's graphic novel is its own work, it enacts the spirit of the text through its incorporation of the elements of the text that are uniquely Shandean. In the third chapter, the principles of film adaptation are challenged by Winterbottom's cinematic version of Tristram Shandy. Through a mixture of cinematic genres and their respective conventions, which all relate in some way to the Shandean elements of the text, Winterbottom presents an adaptation of Tristram Shandy that, like the novel, calls attention to the process of its creation. The Shandean elements are retained in the adaptation to remediate the novel's properties into a new format, which, given its contemporaneous setting, makes the text recognizable. Interestingly, Melvyn New argues that “everything bad” about Tristram Shandy “seems to have been retained” in A Cock and Bull Story (New 580). And, while New's criticisms about the film's “lack of execution” (581) are meant to chastise Winterbottom's efforts, New accidentally acknowledges that there are certain elements of the text that survive the transfer; even if those elements are the 'worst' ones, we still sense the spirit of Sterne through the screen. What we have, then, is a theory of adaptation that privileges the conceptual elements of the original source. In these two adaptations of Sterne's novel, the Shandean elements of the text are remediated, and the spirit of the text is retained to make the 7
Page 1 and 2: ADAPTING TRISTRAM SHANDY by Adria Y
Page 3 and 4: AUTHOR: Adria Young TITLE: Adapting
Page 5 and 6: TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES v
Page 7 and 8: ABSTRACT Laurence Sterne’s The Li
Page 9 and 10: CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Given its r
Page 11 and 12: notion of a literal fidelity” (7)
Page 13: Cruel Intentions (Kumble 1999), and
Page 17 and 18: CHAPTER 2: ADAPTING THE SHANDEAN Of
Page 19 and 20: The critical tradition surrounding
Page 21 and 22: digressive, and it is progressive,
Page 23 and 24: contexts and manipulated to a great
Page 25 and 26: Shandean, and are hitherto unseen t
Page 27 and 28: and sale occupied less than five pe
Page 29 and 30: (Sterne 580). Neither do we receive
Page 31 and 32: himself was dying of, and died from
Page 33 and 34: “new depth” and it was Sterne w
Page 35 and 36: Widow Wadman’s preoccupation with
Page 37 and 38: (Sterne 472), alluding to both the
Page 39 and 40: to adaptation are the method or the
Page 41 and 42: Hutcheon’ s theory effectively si
Page 43 and 44: about the act of reading the novel.
Page 45 and 46: (Weiner 17). Critics began to value
Page 47 and 48: Figure 4.Rowson's homage to Gin Lan
Page 49 and 50: work, aided by the relationship bet
Page 51 and 52: adaptation is in the “mixture of
Page 53 and 54: (Rowson np), as a reference to Joyc
Page 55 and 56: Commentary about Tristram Shandy mi
Page 57 and 58: or does not relate at all; however,
Page 59 and 60: Sentimental Journey as a textual
Page 61 and 62: Yorick is drawn as the likeness of
Page 63 and 64: spirits” (Sterne 1.1), and thus a
Page 65 and 66:
Rowson also illustrates context via
Page 67 and 68:
andRowson and Pete are drawn in a p
Page 69 and 70:
we are aware that we are watching a
Page 71 and 72:
critically approached. Fidelity as
Page 73 and 74:
critical interpretation (what ideol
Page 75 and 76:
associations and recognitions made
Page 77 and 78:
etween chapters and volumes (just a
Page 79 and 80:
fictionalized autobiography, and Wi
Page 81 and 82:
cutting room floor (even though we
Page 83 and 84:
fucking camera! He can be emotional
Page 85 and 86:
at “realism.” Coogan replies,
Page 87 and 88:
[Al] Pacino stand in for [David] Ga
Page 89 and 90:
properties of different media make
Page 91 and 92:
modes and conventions. On the abstr
Page 93 and 94:
fictional autobiography, a military
Page 95 and 96:
Figure 21: The final page of Rowson
Page 97 and 98:
11 Even this is tricky, and potenti
Page 99 and 100:
36 See Melvyn New. “Job’s Wife
Page 101 and 102:
59 Sterne had many Modern and Postm
Page 103 and 104:
86 That is, the “lack of formula
Page 105 and 106:
� Bibliography Allen, Dennis W.
Page 107 and 108:
Noble, 1978. Print. Corliss, Richar
Page 109 and 110:
Joyce Goggin and Dan Hassler-Forres
Page 111 and 112:
Hutcheon, Linda. A Theory of Adapta
Page 113 and 114:
McFarlane, Brian. “Part I: Backgr
Page 115 and 116:
---------- “Interview with Alex F
Page 117:
University of Adelaide, 2011. Web.
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