Patricia Highsmith on Screen

Description

This book is the first full-length study to focus on the various film adaptations of Patricia Highsmith’s novels, which have been a popular source for adaptation since Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train (1952). The collection of essays examines films such as The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Two Faces of January, and Carol, includes interviews with Highsmith adaptors and provides a comprehensive filmography of all existing Highsmith adaptations. Particular attention is paid to queer subtexts, mythological underpinnings, philosophical questioning, contrasting media environments and formal conventions in diverse generic contexts. Produced over the space of seventy years, these adaptations reflect broad cultural and material shifts in film production and critical approaches to film studies. The book is thus not only of interest to Highsmith admirers but to anyone interested in adaptation and transatlantic film history. Front Matter ....Pages i-xviii Introduction: Patricia Highsmith on Screen (Douglas McFarland, Wieland Schwanebeck)....Pages 1-20 The Dark Side of Adaptation (Thomas Leitch)....Pages 21-40 Front Matter ....Pages 41-41 “I Meet a Lot of Guys—But Not Many Like You”: Strangers and Types in Highsmith’s and Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train (Bran Nicol)....Pages 43-60 Strangers on a Park Bench: From Patricia Highsmith to Alfred Hitchcock to Woody Allen (Klara Stephanie Szlezák)....Pages 61-80 Tom Ripley’s Talent (Murray Pomerance)....Pages 81-97 Ripley Under Ground and Its Illegitimate Heirs (Wieland Schwanebeck)....Pages 99-118 Front Matter ....Pages 119-119 Queer Ripley: Minghella, Highsmith, and the Antisocial (David Greven)....Pages 121-137 The Price of Salt, Carol, and Queer Narrative Desire(s) (Alison L. McKee)....Pages 139-157 “Easy Living”: From The Price of Salt (78) to Carol (EP) (Robert Miklitsch)....Pages 159-174 Front Matter ....Pages 175-175 Adapting Irony: Claude Chabrol’s The Cry of the Owl (Douglas McFarland)....Pages 177-192 With Friends Like These: Wim Wenders’ The American Friend as Noir Allegory (Christopher Breu)....Pages 193-210 Hans Geissendörfer’s Psychological Noir: West-German Adaptations of Patricia Highsmith Novels (Erin Altman, William Mahan)....Pages 211-223 Authorship and Scales of Adaptation in Chillers (Kristopher Mecholsky)....Pages 225-242 The Two Faces of January: Theseus and the Minotaur (Catherine Schultz McFarland)....Pages 243-260 Front Matter ....Pages 261-261 Memories of The American Friend (Wim Wenders)....Pages 263-266 “Highsmith Really Writes Films” (Hans W. Geissendörfer)....Pages 267-270 “An Interesting Lack of Sentimentality” (Hossein Amini)....Pages 271-274 “Highsmith Was the Queen of Guilt” (Phyllis Nagy)....Pages 275-279 Correction to: Patricia Highsmith on Screen (Wieland Schwanebeck, Douglas McFarland)....Pages C1-C1 Back Matter ....Pages 281-294