1. Abstract
Between Text and Stage: The Theatrical Adaptations of J.M. Coetzee's Foe
K.Naidoo
MA Full thesis, Department of English, University of the Western Cape
This thesis will critically analyse two theatrical adaptations of J.M Coetzee’s Foe
(1986). Primarily, this thesis will be seeking to understand the complex
relationship of the primary text to its adaptations more closely, regarding them not
only as second-order versions or interpretations of the novel, but also to consider
the way they may retrospectively construct new readings and understandings of the
source text. This thesis will not only consider the way in which Foe is used in the
adaptations but also how Robinson Crusoe (1719) influenced the adaptors and
adaptive process. Theories of adaptation will be discussed, drawing extensively on
work by Linda Hutcheon (2006) and Robert Stam (2005). One of the key ideas in
adaptation theory is that adaptive fidelity to the source text is neither possible nor
desirable, but that adaptation is a more complex, multi-layered intertextual and
intermedial interplay of fictional material.
One of the aims of this thesis is to ask whether or not Foe can be successfully
transposed to the stage. This thesis will serve as a close analysis of the two
theatrical adaptations, focusing on the beginning and endings of the respective
adaptations. This research will contribute a new approach to Coetzee studies and to
Foe in particular by exploring how these texts can lead to a broader understanding
of Coetzee’s work and the way it crosses into different media.
March 2015