Why has "the brick" seen continued revival and adaptations? Examine the ways that history made the novel so anticipated and "famous", but also the themes that might connect with the renditions. For example, was there a political reason to have the most recent 2012 movie adaptation? Or is there a political reason that there was/is a lasting "fandom" around the original text? I feel like there are few classics that have a cult following. Perhaps there could also be a comparison between Les Misérables adaptations and Sherlock Holmes adaptations.
I think it would be good to compare Les Mis to other stories that have taken the same path of this majorly popular musical. – natelemburg9 years ago
What I mean by controversial is unusual, original, thought-provoking…How do these books break with the tradition of children's literature, or play with it in some way? How do they refer to modernity and explain contemporary problems? A Monster Calls, a children's book about cancer, or This Is Not My Hat' are particularly good examples.
I think this would be a very interesting article! Maybe you could talk about how society as a whole feels about these books. Do they find the modernity suitable for children or is it considered too mature for them? – sarajean2219 years ago
May I suggest 'Tango Makes Three' as a possible example too? It's a marvellous tale of homosexual love in penguins. – mattdoylemedia9 years ago
Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49 was published in 1965, three years after the Cuban missile crisis, twenty-four years after the first atomic bombs hit Japan, and during the Cold War period that sent America into a “red scare.” American foreign policy called for a system of containment, aimed at spreading Democracy and expelling Communism, while propagating a state of mass consumption on the home front. Yet, this means of containment moved to American soil once McCarthyism struck and the nation was sent into a state of panic based on suspicion of the “other.”
Though this time in history has been viewed as a time of prosperity, the disintegration that occurred between fellow citizens due to a lack of trust led to an exacerbated state of disorganization and intense paranoia. In the years proceeding this novella, American culture was overwrought with Vietnam reportage and the Watergate scandal–signifying the original story we had been told about America had completely fallen apart, and it was time to reflect on alternative stories of culture to find meaning.
Embedded within the novella are the themes of communication, language, and semiotics. For example, the name of the protagonist, Oedipa, can be divided into two widely known systems of language: OED: The Oxford English Dictionary filled with the etymologies and various meanings of words, and IPA:The International Phonetic Alphabet comprised of symbols representative of the sounds of oral language. Is Pynchon critiquing this period of suspicion and alluding to linguistics as a means of suggesting a new form of communication? Can this really be connected with McCarthyism, or is this a far-reaching thesis? Also, "Crying of Lot-49?" What is the significance of the number 49?
With the release of the new Maze Runner movie, The Scorch Trials, analyze the relationship between the plot of a book and its movie adaption. Do writers use movie adaptions to change their past mistakes? For example, James Dashner, the author of the Maze Runner Trilogy. Some fans said the Maze Runner movie erased some aspects of the novel that didn't make sense or weren't well received. Do you agree or disagree with this theory? How does the continuance of book adaptations into movies effect this idea? Will we see more authors adapting their novels of errors on the big screen?
This could be great to explore a multitude of movie adaptations. I definitely think movies aim to fix some flaws in books by eliminating or changing them. I find the Game of Thrones show did a good job of it, not in needing to change some characters, but that the books themselves would have been easier to understand and more compelling had certain main characters taken on the roles of more minor ones (there were a lot of minor characters who were not needed). For example, having Shae by Sansa's handmaid added a lot more complexity than her being Lolys', intensifying the "love triangle" with Tyrion. And just look at the last Twilight movie, the book's ending was too boring so they added in a huge fight scene that never happened in a vision for the movies. – Slaidey9 years ago
I agree with the comment above. It is always hard to tell how readers will read a story. Authors may have one interpretation in mind that they are trying to get the reader to make, but really have no idea how an individual reader is going to feel about their piece. Therefore, if a writer is lucky enough to have their work transformed into film, then I believe they do in fact make changes after they have a chance to reflect and reconsider. However, the adaptations that are made when a written piece is turned into a visual piece may just have to do with the simple fact that they are very different mediums. For example, it is nearly impossible to turn a 500-page novel into a two hour movie without cutting some corners and removing some details that aren't "essential" to the story. – RickDiculous9 years ago
I think this is a great point, especially about the Maze Runner movie, The Scorch Trials. I was actually confused about how much had changed during the movie from the books, and had to re-read the book after. Sometimes it seems like ideas in books are better portrayed in words than they would be through scenes in a movie. For example, some scenes in books span several pages, but when converted to film, could take half an hour or more to effectively portray. I wouldn't always agree with film adaptations being used to fix an author's mistakes, but rather to improve where they have received feedback that they did not have before the book was published. – mcolleary9 years ago
Who here can tell me the similarities of Wordsworth's Romanticism and Lao Tzu's Daoism. Reveal the similarities between the two and how they relate to environmentalism today.
This has gotten me very intrigued. I've become more and more interested in drawing connections between Romantic and Victorian literature and Eastern philosophy, and this topic would be an ideal place to start. I could also envision this topic applying to Coleridge. There could certainly be lessons drawn about environmentalism, but I would also perhaps be more interested in focusing on nature as a pathway to mindfulness and meditation, poetry as a form of meditation, etc. For environmentalism, it would make more sense to look at works like "Walden." So perhaps I could look at Wordsworth or Coleridge and Daoism, with an emphasis more on how Eastern philosophical thought has had and can continue to have great impact on Western thought, art, and society. I hopefully will be back soon to snatch this topic. Thank you for the inspiration! – Rachel Watson9 years ago
The literary renditions inspired by the character of Sherlock Holmes require an alphabetical Wikipedia list just to cover them all. The numerous movie versions about Holmes, right from the first film interpretations in the 1930's, have secured the imagination of new generations of watchers who have become devout Holmes’ fans over the years. What is it about this creation by Arthur Conan Doyle that has produced such an intense and prolonged fascination with the character of Sherlock Holmes? How does such a character become larger than his original beginnings and what keeps his popularity growing?
While looking into the fascination with Sherlock Holmes, you could also consider mentioning the character of Watson and his different renditions. The side kick has also taken on some interesting popularity among people as well. You could explore this. – amandajarrell9 years ago
I believe one reason Sherlock Holmes has reached such a wide audience is its pertinence to so many topics. Literary it is well written, Doyle develops his characters well and the sentence structure varies nicely. The theme is interesting to readers who are simply looking for a book to get lost in. The novels have also been turned into movies which increases the fan base widely. – bethanycoates9 years ago
The Sherlock Holmes series lends itself to modern adaptations. The themes—crime, curiosity, justice—are equally as relevant and captivating today as they were when the books were first penned. I stumbled upon a recent adaptation, the series Elementary (from 2014 I believe) that I found interesting because it casts women in traditionally male roles, such as Watson and Moriarty (particularly interesting is Lucy Liu as Watson). It's interesting to see how this changes the dynamic between characters, but also how it doesn't change the attitude of the series all that that much. Maybe that says something about how relevant Doyle's books are to everyone, not just white men who can directly relate to the main characters. If the same basic premise can be executed by a wide variety of people, there's probably some universal elements that make it appealing to everyone. – Ali Van Houten9 years ago
I think a lot of it has to do with the universal appeal of logic. Sherlock Holmes was written at a time when Gothic fiction, and the related obsessions with mysticism and the unknown, were very prominent. Arthur Conan Doyle himself had an obsession with the mystical, and a completely illogical belief that magicians like Harry Houdini were real. It could be interesting to incorporate elements of his biography into this piece, and discuss how Holmes was logical and even-tempered in a way that Doyle and, for that matter, most readers, will never be -- hence his appeal. – agombar9 years ago
An interesting viewpoint of this would be the implications of the different Holmes incarnations over time; for example, just in recent years, we have the adventure hero Sherlock Holmes portrayed by Robert Downey, Jr., and the "austistic genius" archetype detective played by Benedict Cumberbatch. What do the many interpretations of Conan Doyle's story say about the times they were made? What keeps these reinterpretations fresh? – lilbengt9 years ago
"Sherlock Holmes's War of the Worlds," an early cross-over before the dawn of endless movie reboots, highlights a great reason why the character is revered since his logic can save planets. Superman is too unattainable, but Holmes is only a mental breakthrough or moment of enlightenment away. – Michael J. Berntsen9 years ago
A concept that is and continues to be used in various works of art, literature, and in our lives. But can it be related to the theory of Existentialism? For example in "The Stranger" by Albert Camus the main character is impassioned and has this sense of being nothing and nothing and nothing in this world. So could we say that infinite is "nothing" because it is such a vast number of time that time is ruled out because it is beyond us. So an accumulation of infinite would turn to be nothing since it is impossible to measure it's feat? What is infinite and can it be compared or connected to Existentialism?
In the wake of postmodernism, especially in America, from Don DeLilo to David Foster Wallace to Mark Z. Danielewski, the traditional novel appears to be dying. The question is, has it died? If not, why not, and what makes the novel the novel and what keeps it alive?
I would not have said that the novel was even close to dead. I haven't seen any sort of sign that novels are on their way out, but that's my perspective. I'm curious: What makes you say that the novel is dead? What do you even mean by dead? – OddballGentleman9 years ago
I agree with OddballGentleman. If you were to write this topic, I'd suggest maybe talking about the reasons why you think novels are dying/dead. Does it have to do with other forms of entertainment (ex: film, tv)? What have you read/seen that makes you ask this question? – kcutler9 years ago
I definitely don't think the novel is, or ever will be, dead. What is probably on the way out is the printed word which could be just as sad. – Catherine Conte9 years ago
