I Love Literature

Hollywood and Screenplays in the same post makes me cringe, haha. I think it's a shame that so many interesting works of art don't get the attention they deserve. I find it very hard to find good music, writing, and films these days because all of the easy and wealthy people take the front stage, so to speak.

My partner writes a few screenplays, and I find them interesting to read. That's awesome that you've written 12!

Thanks for the encouragement. I fear that my attention span has been destroyed due to too much multitasking, which is why I struggle to open a book or even read more than a few pages before putting it down. And, it's not like the books aren't interesting. My brain just shuts down.

Maybe you could chat with some Canadians in an online community and bounce ideas off them or work with them?

I'd love to find a community like that.

Actually I'd love to move to Canada, but I'm retired and they won't let me in.

Ireland has a plan where you prove that you have enough means, and you buy you own health care, I've heard $1500 per year.

Oh, I have to tell you, I'm older than my profile. If I put may right age in, absolutely no one talks to me.
Such is life in these here Unitey States.

What fiction would you like to see filmed ? Some examples ?

I assume you like Russian, from your name.

Chekhov is a favorite. You know, The Steppe could be filmed in Saskatchewan. Prairies ? Steppes ? Descendants of Russian immigrants ? Who knows ?

We have the English War and Peace, 1970s, with a young Anthony Hopkins. All 25 hours of it.

The biggest secret in fiction or films is characterization. If you're bored it may not be you, it may be weak characterization. Guy Gallo did the Huck Finn of 30 years ago, and it was a dandy !
He wrote a book a few years ago called "Screenwriter's Compass: Character as True North"
I was all set to have a little Email with him, and sadly he died. But....I have his book. Your partner might also like "The Art of Dramatic Writing, by Lajos Egri, a Hungarian. Woody Allen considers it the finest book on the subject he's ever read. It was given to me by Tony Ray, once a producer.

Sorry to go on so, but it's night time, and I become possessed by an as of yet unidentified ghost of a screenwriter, and he's jealous and makes me do these posts.

My list includes 5 Canadian scripts, 3 short stories and 2 novels.
Also, five Somerset Maugham stories, plus two others.

@StefanoHopkins: I'm actually not interested in seeing fiction get turned into films because most of the films that are made from novels are never as good as the book, and then many people only watch the film(s) without ever touching the original text. I also think it ruins my imagination. Of course, there are a few exceptions. I really enjoyed watching a black and white version of Anna Karenina. It was done really well, and I have an appreciation for true artistic film work. The problem is that it's so rare to come by these days. The more animated a film, the less I like it, for instance. Mind you, I rarely watch any films and have a terrible repertoire. I've read some Chekov, but obviously my favourite writer is Tolstoy. His short story "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" gets me every time.

I find it puzzling that people choose not to converse with you upon knowing your age. It's shallow and also narrows the diversity of those in which they can learn from.

Well, I'm sorry to say the world is full of airheads. Twas ever thus. When I was young, it was the same.

Novels and films made from novels are two different things, bleedin' obvious I know, but it's not just the format.

The reason why books are better is because around half of the novel gets trashed to make a two hour film.

Ah, but the Brits, for over forty years, have been making novels into series.

So, Brideshead Revisited became 12 hours, and War and Peace, as I noted above, became 25 hours.

Still, I don't like to compare the two types of stories.

There was a stellar example of an American film, two hours and ten minutes, which kept the soul of the book intact, and that was To Kill a Mockingbird. The screenplay was done by Horton Foote, who was a playwright.

If I ever taught a screenwriting class, I would probably choose that.

I simply love good films, and I don't write original stories myself, so adaptations are what works for me.

I'm going to check out the Tolstoy story.

@StefanoHopkins: The Brits might have been making novels into series, but it's so expensive to buy a television license as a university student in the UK. I just graduated, and I never got to watch much of anything at my flat.

But yes, it's fascinating to think that there are some films that have retained much of the information found in a book. I suppose I could give those a try, but I'd have to get round to reading the literature first, which brings me back to my initial problem :P

I'm glad you'll be checking out the short story! It's quite dismal, as to be expected, but I think that no one does characters as well as Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. I have yet to read a novel where someone portrays so many varieties of characters and creates dialogues in which many different points of views are expressed and debated. You can never tell exactly how the author feels about a specific topic through the portrayals of the characters. What gives away clues as to how Tolstoy and Dostoevsky felt about debatable topics is through the consistency of the main character's emotions, irony, and most importantly, tragedy versus redemption. The way the characters' lives change by the end, for better or worse, really hone in on what the authors are trying to portray.

I think I am ranting. It's just nice to passionately talk about what I love so much about Russian literature. It makes me want to go read some, which certainly helps with my "reader's block."

I just snatched Ivan Ilyich and started it on my Kindle. I will take my time as I need to adjust to Tolstoy's style.

I also started again The Steppe, by Chekhov. I have his complete stories.

I saw the film made by the Russians of it, made in maybe 1962. I saw it in 1964, so now you get an idea of my age. This was at the Brattle Theater in Cambridge Mass.

I started to fall asleep as Yegor is leaving his home and village at nine years old to go to school. He is sad and lonely.
The story became a half dream, as I saw how to film it. Retain the sense of wonder of the boy and his sharp yet youthful perceptions, keep a bit of the feeling of a dream passing by him, and the story will carry itself along, and you will retain the magic of Chekhov.

When you are changing a story, you musn't change it too much, or you will lose the magic. I thought, well, maybe Saskatchewan. It has "steppes". And some Russian descended people with memories, or import some. Well, lots of problems to be solved.

I did as story by Sinclair Ross, set there, about a boy and his horse, and how he makes his first steps into puberty.

So you were in the UK, but not of it ?

Where are you from ?

I'm from New England, Maine, but now in upstate New York.

Have you ever read a screenplay ? Once you fall into it, it goes very quickly and smoothly. The best parts of it are "between the lines." You catch the magic and bring it to life. As much as twenty years ago, I was reading Maugham and others and the cameras were rolling, in my head.

About tragedy: I have difficulty with down and out tragedy, including Shakespeare.

Fellini, in a voice over at the end of Intervista, said, "A long time ago a producer said to me, 'What, no hope ? At least give me a ray of sunshine.' So here's a ray of sunshine.
At that point we are in a soundstage, up a little, and the door is open a crack, and there is a ray of sunshine coming in.
Nice sense of humor....

I wouldn't be surprised if it was when he was making La Strada.

Also, recently re-watched Sense and Sensibility, with Emma Thompson, and Alan Rickman (sorely missed).
That wonderful explosion of ecstasy at the wedding scene at the end.

"And for what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and to laugh at them in our turn."
- - - Mr. Bennet, Pride and Prejudice.
I relate well to that line because I grew up in a small town.......

@StefanoHopkins: I prefer to be anonymous on this site in terms of where I reside. I travel a bit. It's come to a halt at the moment, but soon I shall be off again.

The only screenplay that I've read is one my partner wrote a few years ago and sent to me. It was fun to read, but he, for some reason, thinks I didn't like it. He often thinks I don't like things and is quick to assume that. I'm not sure why :/ I understand what you mean about picturing the story playing out. It is much different than the novel, which unfolds slowly, and gives little room for the reader to create on his or her own. Screenplays are for those who wish to be given the outlines of scenes, so that they can fill them in on their own.

But yes, I've read some Chekov, but I can't remember which of his stories, as it was in a Russian literature course I took some years back. I enjoyed every moment of that course.

Shakespeare is a lot to handle. I enjoy bits and pieces of his work, but I would have to be masochistic to say I enjoy his tragedies. A Midsummer Night's Dream is exceptional, I do say, however. Magical, splendid, regal. I enjoy the magic of that play most of all. When I am feeling angst I quote Hamlet's soliloquy. It gives me something to compare my moods to, and I usually feel better knowing that I am not some insane prince who is contemplating whether or not he should 'be'. An odd way of cheering myself up, I admit.

I am grateful for having not grown up in a small town for that very reason. It's not much unlike Robert Frost's poem "Mending Wall": "Good fences make good neighbors."