Durham E-Theses 'Shadowy Copies'? Film Adaptations of the Second Austrian Republic FIRTH, CATRIONA,ALISON How to cite: FIRTH, CATRIONA,ALISON (2010) 'Shadowy Copies'? Film Adaptations of the Second Austrian Republic, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/407/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 ‘SHADOWY COPIES’? FILM ADAPTATIONS OF THE SECOND AUSTRIAN REPUBLIC CATRIONA FIRTH THESIS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DURHAM UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MODERN LANGUAGES AND CULTURES 2010 i ABSTRACT ‘SHADOWY COPIES’? FILM ADAPTATIONS OF THE SECOND AUSTRIAN REPUBLIC CATRIONA FIRTH For many years adaptation has been passed between literature and film studies, frequently dismissed as ‘shadowy copies’ and parasitic reproductions, the unwanted bastard child of the disciplines searching in vain for an academic home. Despite the emergence of insightful new scholarship into the development of Austrian film in the twentieth century, the role of the adaptation genre within Austria’s film industry and literary landscape remains an academic blind spot. This study aims to address this gap in critical knowledge, reviewing the potential function of filmic adaptations within the field of Austrian studies. Through five case studies of canonical works of post-war Austrian literature, this thesis sets out to establish adaptation both as a critical tool through which to approach literature and as an object of academic interest in its own right. Drawing on psychoanalytic theory and its application in film studies, these studies compare and contrast the position occupied by the film’s implied spectator with the relationship of the implied reader to the literary text. Rereading the novels retrospectively in light of their adaptations, this approach has the ability to ‘light up dark corners’ of the novels, illuminating those aspects hitherto left in the shadows by literary criticism. It will be argued that adaptation is uniquely positioned to hold up a mirror to literary texts, reflecting their concerns not through the filters of established grand narratives and generic taxonomies but through their creative, cinematic reworking of the novels. In challenging those assumptions that have become commonplace within Austrian literary history, this study calls for a more nuanced approach to literature of the Second Republic and proposes adaptation as the means by which this may be achieved. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My greatest thanks must go to my supervisor, Jonathan Long, without whose unfailing encouragement, constant support and remarkable patience this thesis would never have reached completion. I owe further thanks to my second supervisor, Peter Macardle, who has provided motivation and a sympathetic ear at all stages. This project would not been possible without the generous financial support of the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). My research has also been greatly assisted by the kind help of the staff at the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek and the Österreichisches Filmmuseum. Many thanks also to the German Department at Bristol University for providing a stimulating, supportive and enjoyable environment in which to complete my thesis. Finally, thank you to all the staff and postgraduates of Durham’s School of Modern Languages and to Van Mildert MCR. Finally, I would like to thank all those friends, family and colleagues who have supported me throughout this project. Whilst it would be impossible to mention them all individually, I would like to thank in particular David, for his patience, diplomacy and willingness to debate; Phil for his unique combination of constructive criticism and humour; and finally my family, Mum, Dad and Morna for their endless support and encouragement. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii ‘SHADOWY COPIES’? - INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER I: ‘DIE LEERE MITTE’: NARRATIVE DESIRE AND LOSS 29 GERHARD FRITSCH AND GEORG LHOTZKY’S MOOS AUF DEN STEINEN CHAPTER II: FOCALISATION, IDENTIFICATION AND POWER 69 FRANZ INNERHOFER AND FRITZ LEHNER’S SCHÖNE TAGE CHAPTER III: THE VIOLENCE OF VISUAL ANTHROPOLOGY 111 GERHARD ROTH AND XAVER SCHWARZENBERGER’S DER STILLE OZEAN CHAPTER IV: COMEDY, COLLUSION AND EXCLUSION 145 ELFRIEDE JELINEK AND FRANZ NOVOTNY’S DIE AUSGESPERRTEN CHAPTER V: POST-MODERN PLEASURES 190 ROBERT SCHINDEL AND LUKAS STEPANIK’S GEBÜRTIG CONCLUSIONS 225 BIBLIOGRAPHY 230 1 ‘SHADOWY COPIES’? - INTRODUCTION Dismissed as ‘shadowy copies’ and parasitic reproductions,1 film adaptations of literary texts remain a theoretical grey area within film studies, literary criticism and most certainly within the field of Austrian studies. Whilst the latter abounds with analyses of individual adaptations, focusing on the specific relationship between one literary text and its filmic version, little attention has been paid to the potentially broader role of adaptation studies within the study of Austrian culture. Departing from existing approaches, this study seeks to review the function of adaptations and explore their revelatory potential within an Austrian context. Given that the institution of reviewing and academic criticism is crucial in the construction of the canon and therefore any literary history based on the canon, it is astonishing that the potential interpretative quality of adaptation has not yet found footing within critical discourse. Through five case studies of canonical works of post-war Austrian literature, this thesis sets out to establish adaptation both as a critical tool through which to approach literature and as an object of academic interest in its own right. As critical reworking of literature in a different medium, the adaptation is uniquely placed to reveal those elements of a text that may be overlooked in the verbal medium of academic criticism, rendering it invaluable to a reconsideration of Austrian literary history. Beginning in the late 1950s with Gerhard Fritsch’s Moos auf den Steinen, this study provides critical rereadings of five novels, each selected for its canonical position within Austrian literature. This methodological approach through case studies derives primarily from the representative function attributed to the works under consideration. Within literary history these novels are frequently called upon to function metonymically, standing in for wider genres, periods or political stances. Whilst this study cannot assume these representative values uncritically, their analysis may nevertheless be said to offer the most effective route to a wider understanding of the construction of literary history. Harnessing the extensive signifying power of these texts, this study is in a position to provide detailed analyses of novel and film, which expose the nuances overlooked by literary history. Whilst a comprehensive overview of the adaptation genre in Austria would potentially offer insight into the institutional structures and socio- 1 Imelda Whelehan, ‘Adaptations: The Contemporary Dilemmas’, in Adaptations: From Text to Screen, Screen to Text, ed. by Deborah Cartmell and Imelda Whelehan (London: Routledge, 1999), pp. 3-20 (p. 7). The concept of ‘shadowy copies’ is adopted in Whelehan’s review of George Bluestone’s seminal work, Novels into Film, and may not be taken to represent the author’s own attitude towards adaptations. 2 political factors that influence film-production, it would preclude a detailed analysis of the works themselves, replicating the very tendency in critical scholarship that this study seeks to critique. The specificity of the case study thus complements and subverts the generalising tendencies of literary history, discussed below, providing an ideal place from which to challenge generic assumptions and dominant discourses. The temporal location of Fritsch’s novel, published shortly after the creation of the Second Republic in 1955 has accorded it a privileged position within discussions of Austrian national identity. The release of its adaptation in 1968, an iconic date in post- war cultural history, places this work in a unique position to offer a detailed insight into the problematisation of identity and memory in recent literary histories of the period. The novels of Franz Innerhofer and Gerhard Roth then provide the foundation for a discussion of one of the most significant trends in post-war Austrian literature, the Anti- Heimatroman, whose entry into mainstream literature is frequently attributed to Innerhofer’s Schöne Tage. Providing a rural and urban perspective respectively, Innerhofer and Roth reveal two, perhaps opposing, aspects of provincial literature, enabling a broad investigation of rural representations and their reception in literary histories of post-war Austria. Written by one of Austria’s most (in)famous literary personalities, Elfriede Jelinek’s Die Ausgesperrten offers