This document provides an overview of Michelle Jayasinghe's research presentation on the visual appeal of fantasy literature. Some key points: - Jayasinghe is an M.Phil candidate at the University of Visual and Performing Arts presenting her research at their 2015 Research Symposium. - Her research topic examines the limitless visual appeal of fantasy literature and the process of adapting these works for other mediums like film. - She discusses different theories around adaptation, including fidelity to the original work, contextualizing the work for modern audiences, and artistic interpretation. - Jayasinghe analyzes several classic and modern fantasy works, and how elements like mythology, history, and timelessness impact their adaptation.

1. The Presentation for the Research Symposium 2015.
Post Graduate Unit.
University of Visual and Performing Arts.
Research Topic – The Limitless Visual Appeal of Fantasy Literature
Michelle Jayasinghe
(BA Hons)
M.Phil Candidate, University of Visual and
Performing Arts

2. “FANTASY IS ESCAPIST, AND THAT IS ITS GLORY. . .IF WE VALUE THE
FREEDOM OF MIND AND SOUL, IF WE'RE PARTISANS OF LIBERTY, THEN IT'S
OUR PLAIN DUTY TO ESCAPE, AND TO TAKE AS MANY PEOPLE WITH US AS
WE CAN!”
― J.R.R. TOLKIEN

3. INTRODUCTION
• The adaptation of literature is a vast and difficult process.
• The adaptation of fantasy literature all the more so due to its creative range.
• The success of these adaptations depends on many deciding factors which this study
hopes to discover and analyze.

4. FANTASY LITERATURE
• “ A fantasy is a story based on and controlled by an overt violation of what is generally
accepted as possibility: it is the narrative result of transforming the condition contrary to
fact into ‘fact’ itself”. (14)
• Rosemary Jackson (1981)

5. The Influence of Mythology in
the Formation of Fantasy
Literature
Greek Mythology
Eastern
Mythology

6. HISTORICAL FANTASY TEXTS
• The Epic of Gilgamesh.
• Beowulf.
• The Princess and the Goblin – George Macdonald.
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Charles Dodgson.

7. MODERN FANTASY
• The Chronicles of Narnia (1950) – C. S. Lewis
• The Lord of the Rings (1954) – J. R. R. Tolkien
• The Once and Future King (1958) - T. H. White
• Harry Potter (1997 – 2007) – J. K. Rowling
• The Inheritance Cycle (2002 – 2012)– Christopher Paolini

8. ADAPTATION
• “The truth is that all adaptations are complex analogies” (16)
• Christa Albrecht-Crane and Dennis Cutchins (2010)

9. THEORIES ON ADAPTATION
• Fidelity:
The very nature of fantasy literature ensures that no adaptation can possibly be
completely faithful to the original text.
It is therefore common that many adaptors chose to alter manipulate or avoid
altogether, certain sections of the source text.
• Context:
The context of much of fantasy literature does not steadily coincide with the
modern world. However it is arguable that the very ‘timelessness’ of fantasy lends
it to modern contextual interpretation.
• Interpretation:
Interpretation bridges the divide between fidelity and context. An adaptation thus
can be measured depending on its fidelity to the source text, its contextuality or on
its interpretation of these two concepts which then is displayed on screen.

10. FIDELITY
• The adaptation was constantly considered second and secondary to the original work.
There was no circumstance under which the adaptation was considered as a separate
and equal work of art. Despite overwhelming developments in the field of cinema, if a
particular film was an adaptation it was always a mere companion to the written work.
• “…the literary work was conceived of as the valued original, while the film adaptation was
merely a copy, and where fidelity merged as the central category of adaptation studies”
Aragay (2005)

11. CONTEXT
• “ Specific adaptations need to be approached as acts of discourse, partaking of a
particular era's cultural and aesthetic needs and pressures and such an approach
requires both historical labour and critical acumen”
Aragay (2005)
• The context of much of fantasy literature does not steadily coincide with the modern
world. However it is arguable that the very timelessness of fantasy lends it to modern
contextual interpretation. It also follows that much of fantasy literature is indeed
analogous to that of modern times despite its timelessness.

12. INTERPRETATION
• “Adaptation… negotiates the past/present divide by recreating the source text – as well
as its author, historical context and … a series of intertexts” (25)
Aragay, 2005
• Interpretation bridges the divide between fidelity and context. An adaptation thus can be
measured depending on its fidelity to the source text, its contextuality or on its
interpretation of these two concepts which then is displayed on screen.

13. • It would be interesting to discover whether or not an artistic interpretation of a fantasy text
on canvas, would provide an adequate adaptation, more suited to the genre than the
cinemascope.

14. THANK YOU.