Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Preface

Introduction: Literary Sources, Cinematic Frameworks

Part I: Neorealist Interiors in Word and Image

1. La terra trema (The Earth Trembles, 1948): Inhabiting The House by the Medlar Tree, from Verga to Visconti

2. Ossessione (Obsession, 1941): In from the Outside: Literary Interiors in Neorealist Exteriors

3. Senso (1954) and Le notti bianche (White Nights, 1957): Voice and Body: Books through Stars of the Screen

Part II: The Super-Spectacle Adaptations

4. Rocco e i suoi fratelli (Rocco and His Brothers, 1960): Passion and Pugilism in Visconti's Boxing Film

5. Il Gattopardo (The Leopard, 1963) and Il lavoro (The Job, 1962): Wedding Bestseller with Blockbuster

6. La caduta degli dei (Götterdämmerung) (The Damned, 1969): A Queer Macbeth in Nazi Uniform

Part III: The Late Works, Page to Screen

7. Vaghe stelle dell'Orsa (Sandra, 1965) and L'Innocente (The Intruder, 1976): D'Annunzio, Decadence, and Tragic Masculinity

8. Lo straniero (The Stranger, 1967): Crime and Punishment in a "Failed" Adaptation

9. Morte a Venezia (Death in Venice, 1971): Ode to the Elegant Art of Adaptation

Bibliography
Filmography
Index

About the Author

Brendan Hennessey is Associate Professor of Italian in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at Binghamton University, State University of New York.

Reviews

"…the book has an admirable range and supplies a convincing account of the director's work in its Italian social context and of international film culture in the postwar decades." — CHOICE