Conference: Science Fiction across Media: Adaptation/Novelisation
28-30 mai 2009
This conference wants tobring together scholars from science fiction studies, adaptation studies andliterary studies to share their expertise and shed new light on science-fictionadaptations and novelisations.
Besides film adaptation, there will be a special focus on theunderdiscussed phenomenon of novelisation. Basically, novelisations are novelsadapted from or based on a film, a TV series, a video game, or other media. Incontrast to the more common adaptation process from book to film, novelisationsare usually padded versions of screenplays. At least in its commercial orindustrial form, a novelisation is released more or less concurrently with thefilm, as a marketing tool, in order to heighten visibility and awareness of thetitle. On the book market, however, the general public may easily confusenovelisations with novels adapted into films, as the latter are normallyrepublished as tie-ins to film adaptations. As the study of novelisations andcinéromans has already progressed substantially in the French and Italiandepartments, this conference will be centred on English-language novelisationsespecially.
The conference also seeks to extend the adaptation debate on twoterrains. First, genre is a dimension that has been fairly disregarded inadaptation studies. In particular, we shall investigate not only the relationsbetween sf literature and sf cinema, but also how the focus on one genrecontributes to our understanding of typical adaptation issues such as fidelityor the supremacy of the original text. Concerning science-fiction novelisations,it will be interesting to see how they relate and/or do not relate to sfliterature and cinema. And while the success of novelisations and spin-offnovels is considered partly responsible for the niche science-fictionliterature has been pushed into, some of the most interesting novelisations ingeneral belong to the science-fiction genre.
Second, we would also like to encourage analyses that approach adaptationfrom the narratological concept of space. Since narrative has traditionallybeen associated with temporality rather than spatiality, space has alwayslagged behind in narrative theory. As it can be connected with othernarratological concepts as well as paratextual and cognitive aspects, it isperhaps ideally suited to balance different mediatic representations againsteach other.
We invite papers from different perspectives and disciplines tocontribute to the discussion on science-fiction adaptation and novelisation.The conference will be held in English.
Please send proposals,including a 300-word abstract, a brief CV, institutional affiliation, ande-mail address, to:
Thomas.VanParys_at_arts.kuleuven.be
The deadline for proposalsis February 1, 2009.