La valle dell’Eden: Steinbeck, Kazan, Latella

Authors

  • Vincenzo Maggitti

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13136/2281-4582/2020.i15.728

Keywords:

American studies, Steinbeck, cinemascope, adaptation studies, theatre studies

Abstract

The following essay interprets Latella’s theatrical version of Steinbeck’s novel (La valle dell’Eden) as an opportunity to reconsider some key elements of the literary text whose recognition in American Studies has been neglected up to a recent time. In order to do that, the author has also drawn from film theory, mostly concerning Cinemascope, as it was the technical, and blatantly commercial device that mainly contributed to rewrite characters’ relation for the screen in Elia Kazan’s movie with the same title (East of Eden). In the last part of the essay the focus is on how epic theatre surfaces among the intermedial perspective, connecting the building of a house on stage with the metaphorical construction of the text in Steinbeck’s rewriting of American history and its biblical foundation. 

References

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Schwartz, Delmore. "Long after Eden." Recensione di East of Eden. Partisan Review 19 (Novembre/Dicembre 1952): 701-02.

Steinbeck, John. East of Eden. New York: The Viking Press, 1952.

---. The East of Eden letters. Journal of a Novel. London: Heinemann, 1970.

Veggian, Henry. “Introduction.” East of Eden: New and Recent Essays. A cura di Michael J. Mayer e Henry Veggian. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2013. ix-xviii.

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Published

2020-06-01

Issue

Section

Articles (general section) - American language, literature, and culture