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Jason Mark Ward. The Forgotten Film Adaptations of D. H. Lawrence's Short Stories. Leiden: Brill Rodopi:, 2016. Pp. viii + 280. 72 Colorând B&W illustrations. euro82 ($106) (cloth).
Lawrence wouldn't necessarily approve of our theorizing about film and short stories, even though he was a literary critic and theorizer if ever there was one. Moreover, Lawrence hated the cinema for its mechanization and appeal to narcissism. Ronald Granofsky says it best, in D.H. Lawrence and Survival: "Film presents the illusion of life through moving picture. ... Cinema, then, is a symptom of a people who resist the life-enhancing experiences of otherness and blood knowledge in favor of sameness and ocular titillation." Yet, how much of Lawrence, and of his ever-relevant themes, are brought to us today by thirty minutes in a darkened room with Mark Partridge's Odour of Chrysanthemums, or Anthony Pelissier's The Rocking-Horse Winner? Jason Mark Ward's new book, The Forgotten Film Adaptations ofD. H. Lawrence's Short Stories, also brings us pleasure in his analytical comparison of source materials and adaptations of three of the most popular of Lawrence's short stories ("The Horse-Dealer's Daughter" is the third).
I have only one negative criticism of this book. Its first two chapters are heavy on theory, which is a pity, because when Ward finally starts analyzing films and stories, at page 59, he grabs one's attention and holds it. Adding another chapter on adaptations of a fourth story, in place of the second chapter on theory, would be welcome to this reader. Ward's meticulous breakdown of everything in the mise-en-scene as well as the textual history of the adapted story is so well done that reading the two long introductory chapters is rewarded when we finally arrive at theory's application. Ward feels the need to justify producing another book on Lawrence film adaptations by proving that newer film theory replaces antiquated ideas of fidelity. His argument is sound, but it will never replace the average viewer's cry, "but it's nothing like the book, and the book is better!" Perhaps it is only in the academy that we can jettison that sentiment of fidelity to originals.
Nevertheless, the academic machine grinds on, and new adaptation theory (though tracing its origins to earlier ideas, such as reader response...