Adaptations of Virginia Wolfe

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Recommended: In mrs dalloway virginia woolf defies gender norms

In approaching a topic such as adaptations, one has to first understand what exactly adaptation means and how it is applied to such works to get the product the "adapter" is trying to create and for what reasons they are "adapting" for. The American Heritage Dictionary defines Adaptation as the following:

"1(a). The act for process of adapting. 1(b). The state of being adapted.

2. A composition recast into a new form: "The play is an adaptation of a short novel."

3. An alteration or adjustment by which a species or individual improves its condition in relationship to its environment. (10)"

The definition that we'll be looking at closely is the second one; "a composition recast into a new form." The novels, The Hours, Mrs. Dalloway, and the film The Hours are three "compositions" that were recast by their creators in order to explore a different area from those mediums. Virginia Woolf, Michael Cunningham and Stephen Daldry all focused on the condition of depression and how it affects a woman and what that woman goes through while trying to live a life of "normalcy." Cunningham and Daldry adapted their pieces from Woolf's, Mrs. Dalloway not only because it was a work by Virginia Woolf, but because it was a story that could be told from many point of views, universally, and timelessly; one could say that Cunningham and Daldry transcended generations with their characters thanks to Woolf's novel. Though all of the pieces are strikingly different in the way they are presented, one thing remains true to all of them: All of the characters were trying to make sense of their lives while coping with their depression.

Mrs. Dalloway is a drama based on the psychological condition of Clarissa Dallowa...

... middle of paper ...

... understandable. One could say that Cunningham and Daldry helped emphasize how Woolf's novel could be thought of as a Universal piece in which any one, not just women could relate to at some point in their lives.

Works Cited

Caldwell, Sarah. "Adaptation Revisited." (Manchester University Press; Manchester and New York 2002). 11-15.

Cunningham, Michael. The Hours. (Farrar, Straus and Giroux. New York, NY 1998.) 43-44, 91, 12, 34-35.

Woolf, Virginia. Mrs. Dalloway. (London, England: Harcourt, Inc. 1981.) 166-194.

The American Heritage Dictionary. Fourth Ed., Dell Publishing, 2001. Houghton Mifflin Company. 10, 710.

IMDB.COM. The Hours. Directed by Stephen Daldry. Written by Michael Cunningham (novel) and David Hare (screenplay), 2002. http://imdb.com/title/tt0274558.

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