Luchino Visconti and the Alchemy of Adaptation

Description

Examines the place of book-to-film adaptations by one of Italy's most famous postwar film directors. Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Preface Introduction: Literary Sources, Cinematic Frameworks Authors, Auteurs, Adaptation Cryptographs and Code-Breakers: Tradition and Invention Part I Neorealist Interiors in Word and Image 1 La terra trema (The Earth Trembles, 1948): Inhabiting The House by the Medlar Tree, from Verga to Visconti Visconti and Political Neorealism before Gramsci: “The Creative Treatment of Actuality” The Home in The House by the Medlar Tree and the Aesthetics of Fragmentation 2 Ossessione (Obsession, 1942): In from the Outside: Literary Interiors in Neorealist Exteriors The Invention of Landscape(s), from Italy to France Public, Private, and Places in Between 3 Senso (1954) and Le notti bianche (White Nights, 1957): Voice and Body: Books through Stars of the Screen Senso: Boito and Valli, Betrayal and History Narrating White Nights, from Him to Her Visconti’s First Super Spectacle Part II The Super-Spectacle Adaptations 4 Rocco e i suoi fratelli (Rocco and His Brothers, 1960): Passion and Pugilism in Visconti’s Boxing Film From Adaptation to a Grammar of the Boxing Film Rocco and His Brothers: Arthouse or Italian Blockbuster? 5 Il Gattopardo (The Leopard, 1963) and Il lavoro (The Job, 1964): Wedding Bestseller with Blockbuster Marriage, Present and Past: Matrimony and Transaction in The Job Readers at the Theater: History, Heritage, and Historical Films 6 La caduta degli dei (Götterdämmerung) (The Damned, 1969): A Queer Macbeth in Nazi Uniform Macbeth, Titan of Industry: Visconti and a Modern Shakespeare Mother to Son: The Damned’s Queer Inheritance Night of the Long Knives Part III The Late Works, Page to Screen 7 Vaghe stelle dell’Orsa (Sandra, 1965) and L’Innocente (The Intruder, 1976): D’Annunzio, Decadence, and Tragic Masculinity The Intruder: Decadence Remastered Volterra: From D’Annunzio to the Gothic Giallo 8 Lo straniero (The Stranger, 1967): Crime and Punishment in a “Failed” Adaptation The Reception of The Stranger, the Film that Illustrated the Novel At the Courthouse: Visconti, Existentialism, and the Transmuted Legal Drama Genuflecting at the Altar of Literature: Worshiping a Novel 9 Morte a Venezia (Death in Venice, 1971): Ode to the Elegant Art of Adaptation Versions of Death in Venice Mahler and Mann, Visconti and His Mother Conclusion: Adaptations of Life and Literature Bibliography Filmography Index