The ecological thought of Thomas Hardy: a comparative study of his selected novels and their movie adaptations

Benyoucef, Djouher (2021) The ecological thought of Thomas Hardy: a comparative study of his selected novels and their movie adaptations. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

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Abstract

‘The Ecological Thought of Thomas Hardy: A Comparative Study of his Selected Novels and their Movie Adaptations’ is an inter-textual analysis of Hardy’s novels and their movie adaptations from an ecocritical perspective. My study explores the ways in which verbal and audio-visual narratives engage with human and non-human relationships, and thus offer alternative perceptions of nature in a historical era marked by an escalating ecological crisis and environmental anxiety. I examine the possibility of human and non-human co-existence as well as various modes of human and non-human entanglement and connection: labour-related, material, acoustic, semiotic, corporeal, as well as emotive.
This study is interdisciplinary in nature, drawing on an eclectic mix of theories, mainly ecocriticism, eco-cinema and adaptation studies. The conceptual framework developed here identifies convergent and divergent ecocritical strands of thought between the novels and their movie adaptations. My project recognizes the complexity of both the verbal and the audio-visual narratives, illuminating complex eco-centric and occasionally anthropocentric visions across the fiction as well as the movies. While highlighting similarities and dissimilarities between novels and their movie adaptations, my project recognizes the originality and autonomy of movie adaptations as well as the artistic creativity of their respective directors.
Hence, my research contributes and expands ecocritical studies of Hardy’s narrative prose fiction as well as the existing scholarship on adaptations of his works. By analyzing adaptations in ecocritical terms, my project extends debates about eco-cinema, seeking the possibility to push beyond a study of environmental documentaries and wildlife films. With this aim in my mind, I hope to encourage a better, more nuanced engagement with the natural and the non-human in the related field of the film industry, especially representations of the natural world in adaptations.

Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
Qualification Level: Doctoral
Keywords: Thomas Hardy, ecocriticism, eco-cinema, adaptation.
Subjects: P Language and Literature > PR English literature
Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Critical Studies
Supervisor's Name: Borthwick, Dr. David and Radford, Dr. Andrew
Date of Award: 2021
Embargo Date: 20 July 2024
Depositing User: Miss Djouher Benyoucef
Unique ID: glathesis:2021-82195
Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
Date Deposited: 19 May 2021 15:00
Last Modified: 20 Jul 2021 08:02
Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.82195
URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/82195

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