Philip Roth on Screen

A fresh approach to Roth that is both focused and expansive, this collection illuminates the unique cultural contexts that have shaped cinematic interpretations of his work, and invites us to think more deeply about the ways Roth belongs to a larger conversation about the limits and possibilities of adaptation itself. * Maggie McKinley, Professor of English, Harper College, USA *
Filling a conspicuous gap in the scholarship on Philip Roth’s writing, Derek Graf and Clayton Dillard offer a superb collection of multidisciplinary essays exploring Roth’s 'afterlife' on screen. Addressing every adaptation produced to date, the volume’s astute, deeply researched, highly readable chapters examine how filmmakers interpret and reconfigure Roth’s voice, modes of expression, and ethical, psychological, and historical concerns in order to reshape his work for visual media. The essays uncover filmmakers both exploring the limits and capitalizing on the strengths of cinematic representation – and illustrate, too, why readers and filmmakers keep returning to Roth’s fiction. Some contributors consider how Roth’s thematic preoccupations, including historical representation, the politics of liberalism, the tension between imagination and reason, and his notorious interest in the repellent, translate to the screen. Others take up the ethical, epistemological, and commercial implications of adapting the writer’s forms; chapters explore filmmakers’ reflections on staged dialogue, depictions of Roth’s recurrent narrator and of his unruly, unresolved narratives, and the tensions arising between adaptation and prestige filmmaking. Throughout, Philip Roth on Screen rewards readers with fascinating new perspectives on Roth’s fiction and on the process of adaptation itself. * Debra Shostak, Mildred Foss Thompson Professor Emerita of English Language and Literature, The College of Wooster, USA *