From Fiction to Libretto

This study introduces the reader to the mostly unknown world of libretto adaptations of nineteenth-century American fiction. The analysis of stage works based on Washington Irving's «Rip Van Winkle», Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, and Henry James's Washington Square explores a largely unexamined area of the reception history of these authors and narratives. As opera and drama have been interlinked throughout American theater history, the discussion of adaptations will include multiple types of spoken and musical theater. Appendices documenting the existence of over 350 stage works based on nineteenth-century American fiction further illustrate how librettists, composers, and playwrights have participated in the endeavor to understand and contextualize literary texts within cultural history.

Autorentext

The Author: Nassim Winnie Balestrini studied American and Russian literature and culture as well as mass media communication at the University of Mainz and on a one-year scholarship at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. In 2004 she completed the postdoctoral Habilitation in American Studies. The author has taught in the English Departments at the University of Mainz, the University of California, Davis, and the University of Paderborn. Her earlier book on imagery in Vladimir Nabokov's works appeared as volume 31 in this series (1995).

Zusammenfassung
"Thus, in addition to its merits as an achievement of literary scholarship, this study is also a highly productive achnowledgement of a less established field of American Cultural Studies." (Klaus-Dieter Gross, Amst, Amerikastudien)

Inhalt
Contents: Libretto studies as part of interdisciplinary cultural studies Opera in American drama, theater, and music historiography Stage adaptations of literary classics as expressions of national identity «Rip Van Winkle», The Scarlet Letter, and Washington Square between national and universal mythology, between social affirmation and political satire The role of stage adaptations in the reception history of literary texts.