ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book argues that Victorian playwrights established a language, theory, and practice of adaptation that was foundational to the development of narrative cinema. This roughly 70-year period witnessed a professionalization of the art of literary adaptation, and restores attention to the writers who inspired this transformation. All of the stage adaptations discussed take place prior to this 1888 verdict, and so occur in the era before copyright laws were particularly enforced. Film adaptation scholarship has enjoyed a virtual renaissance over the past two decades, as critics have challenged the paradigms, methods, and even the very language to evaluate literary adaptations. The writings of this first generation of film critics were mainly empirical rather than theoretical, and often geared towards film distributers and exhibitors rather than the general public.
