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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 />

vii

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