ADAPTING TRISTRAM SHANDY by Adria Young Submitted in ...
ADAPTING TRISTRAM SHANDY by Adria Young Submitted in ...
ADAPTING TRISTRAM SHANDY by Adria Young Submitted in ...
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ABSTRACT<br />
Laurence Sterne’s The Life and Op<strong>in</strong>ions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, has<br />
been noted as an unconventional eighteenth-century novel and it has long been<br />
considered unadaptable and unfilmable. In the last decade, however, two popular<br />
adaptations of Tristram Shandy have appeared <strong>in</strong> new media forms: Mart<strong>in</strong> Rowson’s<br />
1996 graphic novel and Michael W<strong>in</strong>terbottom’s 2005 film. S<strong>in</strong>ce Sterne’s text denies the<br />
k<strong>in</strong>d of transfer typical of literary adaptations, Rowson and W<strong>in</strong>terbottom adapt the<br />
conceptual elements. Through adaptation and media theory, this thesis def<strong>in</strong>es the<br />
Shandean elements of Sterne’s novel and locates the qualities of the text reta<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong><br />
adaptation. Rowson and W<strong>in</strong>terbottom adapt the conceptual properties of Tristram<br />
Shandy, ‘the spirit of the text,’ <strong>in</strong>to two dist<strong>in</strong>ct mediums. In an exploration of the<br />
conventions of each medium, this thesis argues that the adaptations of Tristram Shandy<br />
are true to its spirit, and both successfully adapt the unadaptable novel.<br />
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